MS SQL, being a relational database management software by Microsoft, is one of the most widely used database management systems across the globe. MS Windows, as is widely known, is the most popular operating system for businesses worldwide, and the high compatibility between Windows and MS SQL makes it an excellent option. 

This relational DB system enables you to access your business’s data using structured query language – letting you perform complex assessments on the data. The unique BI Semantic model feature allows you to obtain and analyze data from different, or more technically, heterogeneous sources.

MS SQL has been around since 1989. On the other hand, MongoDB, is a relatively new addition to the market and is part of the MEAN stack, which has attracted users for various reasons. A concise way to compare MongoDB and MS SQL would be to look at their respective ranks on the DB Engines Ranking, where MS SQL is rated #3 in overall ranking compared to the #5 spot held by MongoDB. 

MongoDB uses a document-oriented storage model, whereas MS SQL uses RDBMS. Here, the decision is yours to make which storage model suits your business the best. Moving on, one should note that both MS SQL and MongoDB are written in C++. However, the server-side languages for MS SQL are TransactSQL and .NET languages, for MongoDB, you need to know JavaScript. MS SQL is only available in the commercial version. 

MongoDB, on the other hand, is available both as an open-source or commercial version. This scalable database system can be run locally at the premises or as a cloud service. MongoDB is rarely used by small-medium scale solutions as it is better suited to work with large data volumes. Large-scale deployments benefit from the horizontal scalability and better handling of large data structures offered by MongoDB.

When choosing the right database system solution for yourself or your company, there are quite a few factors that should be kept in mind. Here are the most important ones:

• The volume of data you expect to store 

• The number of users you expect to handle at once during peak time

• Scalability, availability, latency, and data consistency requirements

• Frequency of change in database schemas 

• Geographic distribution of users

• Natural “shape” of data

MongoDB is not compatible with JOIN and Global transactions, but MS SQL supports them. MS SQL solutions offered by Tentacle will fit in perfectly for all your requirements if you’re seeking a small-medium scale solution. Relational databases like MS SQL force the data into tabular schema and enable you to avoid data duplication if you utilize normalization to your advantage.  

On the other hand, MongoDB has its owns unique features and uses. They definitely have a fun TikTok account. But your business should only go for this alternative if you need to work with free-form data, schema that changes with time, or nested documents.