Java Embedded Databases Comparison

Question

I intend to develop a small  Java  application for managing my finances  I believe I need to use an embedded database  but I have no experience regarding this issue  I tried to look at some of the available products  but I can t decide which one would be more suitable for me  H2  HSQLDB  Derby and Berkeley DB seem to be good candidates  but I still don t see how they compare to each other  I appreciate your help comparing them and helping me decide which one to use   I intend to use Hibernate for my application  unless you would recommend using DBMS-provided API   but I also want to have the ability to edit the database easily using a SQL browsing tool  modifying schema and changing data    Thank you

User · Answer

We use HSQLDB in production as a  no-configuration  option for our application   It allows people to trial without the hassle of setting up a real database   However we do not support it for normal use   The reasons are several    Slows down proportionally to the size of the data  Difficult to access outside of our app  e g  for custom reports   Transactions   disk-sync is difficult to get right  so it s easy to lose data    For at least  2  and  3   there are ways around it but it s difficult  it s much easier to e g  install MySQL

User · Answer

I realize you mentioned SQL browsing  but everything else in your question makes me want to suggest you also consider DB4O  which is a great  simple object DB

User · Answer

I use Apache Derby for pretty much all of my embedded database needs  You can also use Sun s Java DB that is based on Derby but the latest version of Derby is much newer  It supports a lot of options that commercial  native databases support but is much smaller and easier to embed  I ve had some database tables with more than a million records with no issues   I used to use HSQLDB and Hypersonic about 3 years ago  It has some major performance issues at the time and I switch to Derby from it because of those issues  Derby has been solid even when it was in incubator at Apache

User · Answer

We use HSQLDB in production as a  no-configuration  option for our application   It allows people to trial without the hassle of setting up a real database   However we do not support it for normal use   The reasons are several    Slows down proportionally to the size of the data  Difficult to access outside of our app  e g  for custom reports   Transactions   disk-sync is difficult to get right  so it s easy to lose data    For at least  2  and  3   there are ways around it but it s difficult  it s much easier to e g  install MySQL

User · Answer

Java DB  Sun s distribution of Apache Derby  now ships in JDK 6     I ve been wanted to do something like Jason Cohen and have been thinking this looks like the easiest way being in the JDK distro  which of last week is now a requirement for my app    Or maybe I am just lazy that way

User · Answer

I guess I m a little late  a lot late -   to this post  but I d like to add Perst  an open source  object-oriented embedded database for Java  amp  NET  for your consideration  Perst is an open source   dual license embedded database for Java  The distribution is compatible with Google s Android platform  and also includes Perst Lite for Java ME  We ve even built an Android benchmark and produced a whitepaper on the subject   you can take a look here  http   www mcobject com index cfm fuseaction download amp pageid 581 amp sectionid 133  All the best  Chris

User · Answer

I am a big fan of DB4O for both  Net and Java   Performance has become much better since the early releases  The licensing model isnt too bad  either  I particularly like the options available for querying your objects  Query by example is very powerful and easy to get used to

User · Answer

What criteria will you use to evaluate these   If you don t know yet  then you don t need to decide right now  Try to make your application as database-implementation-agnostic as you can - providing the appropriate wrappers  data access objects etc   and make this decision when you have all the facts to hand and you have to decide   If you re using relational databases and SQL then the above shouldn t be too hard  using JDBC etc   Make sure you have plenty of surrounding tests so that when you want to switch between databases  you can determine that your application s functionality remains the same   I ran into the same issue some time ago  I didn t know which database to go for  so my first solution used Derby  or HSQLDB    and I was later able to switch to HSQLDB  or Derby   Can t remember which solution worked  once I d determined where I had issues  relating to performance  and which solution would really work for me

User · Answer

Good comparison tool can be found here  http   www jpab org All All All html  Notice also the Head to Head DBMS JPA Comparisons

User · Answer

What criteria will you use to evaluate these   If you don t know yet  then you don t need to decide right now  Try to make your application as database-implementation-agnostic as you can - providing the appropriate wrappers  data access objects etc   and make this decision when you have all the facts to hand and you have to decide   If you re using relational databases and SQL then the above shouldn t be too hard  using JDBC etc   Make sure you have plenty of surrounding tests so that when you want to switch between databases  you can determine that your application s functionality remains the same   I ran into the same issue some time ago  I didn t know which database to go for  so my first solution used Derby  or HSQLDB    and I was later able to switch to HSQLDB  or Derby   Can t remember which solution worked  once I d determined where I had issues  relating to performance  and which solution would really work for me

User · Answer

Most things have been said already  but I can just add that I ve used HSQL  Derby and Berkely DB in a few of my pet projects and they all worked just fine  So I don t think it really matters much to be honest  One thing worth mentioning is that HSQL saves itself as a text file with SQL statements which is quite good  Makes it really easy for when you are developing to do tests and setup data quickly  Can also do quick edits if needed  Guess you could easily transfer all that to any database if you ever need to change as well

User · Answer

We use HSQLDB in production as a  no-configuration  option for our application   It allows people to trial without the hassle of setting up a real database   However we do not support it for normal use   The reasons are several    Slows down proportionally to the size of the data  Difficult to access outside of our app  e g  for custom reports   Transactions   disk-sync is difficult to get right  so it s easy to lose data    For at least  2  and  3   there are ways around it but it s difficult  it s much easier to e g  install MySQL

User · Answer

HSQLDB is a good candidate  the fact that it is used in OpenOffice may convinced some of you   but for such a small personnal application  why not using an object database  instead of a classic relationnal database     I used DB4O in one of my projects  and I m very satisfied with it  Being object-oriented  you don t need the whole Hibernate layer  and can directly insert update delete query objects   Moreover  you don t need to worry about the schema  you directly work with the objects and DB4O does the rest    I agree that it may take some time to get used to this new type of database  but check the DB40 tutorial to see how easy it makes working with the DB    EDIT  As said in the comments  DB4O handles automatically the newer versions of the classes  Moreover  a tool for browsing and updating the database outside of the application is available here   http   code google com p db4o-om

User · Answer

Java DB  Sun s distribution of Apache Derby  now ships in JDK 6     I ve been wanted to do something like Jason Cohen and have been thinking this looks like the easiest way being in the JDK distro  which of last week is now a requirement for my app    Or maybe I am just lazy that way

User · Answer

I needed to use Java embedded database in one of my projects and I did lot of research understanding pros and cons of each database  I wrote a blog listing pros and cons of popular embedded java databases  H2  HSQLDB  Derby  ObjectDB  Neo4j  OrientDB   you can have a look at it  I chose H2 as I thought it best suited my requirements  Link for the blog  http   sayrohan blogspot in 2012 12 choosing-light-weight-java-database html Hope it helps

User · Answer

I use Apache Derby for pretty much all of my embedded database needs  You can also use Sun s Java DB that is based on Derby but the latest version of Derby is much newer  It supports a lot of options that commercial  native databases support but is much smaller and easier to embed  I ve had some database tables with more than a million records with no issues   I used to use HSQLDB and Hypersonic about 3 years ago  It has some major performance issues at the time and I switch to Derby from it because of those issues  Derby has been solid even when it was in incubator at Apache

User · Answer

I realize you mentioned SQL browsing  but everything else in your question makes me want to suggest you also consider DB4O  which is a great  simple object DB

User · Answer

If I am correct H2 is from the same guys who wrote HSQLDB  Its a lot better if you trust the benchmarks on their site  Also  there is some notion that sun community jumped too quickly into Derby

User · Answer

I d go with H2  the performance is meant to much better than Derby  Read http   www h2database com html performance html for more info

User · Answer

I personally favor HSQLDB  but mostly because it was the first I tried   H2 is said to be faster and provides a nicer GUI frontend  which is generic and works with any JDBC driver  by the way    At least HSQLDB  H2 and Derby provide server modes which is great for development  because you can access the DB with your application and some tool at the same time  which embedded mode usually doesn t allow

User · Answer

If I am correct H2 is from the same guys who wrote HSQLDB  Its a lot better if you trust the benchmarks on their site  Also  there is some notion that sun community jumped too quickly into Derby

User · Answer

HSQLDB may cause problems for large applications  its not quite that stable    The best I ve heard  not first hand experience however  is berkleyDB  But unless you opensource it  it will cost you an arm and a leg to use due to licensing   see this http   www oracle com technology software products berkeley-db htdocs licensing html for details    ps  berkleyDB is not a relational database in case you didnt know

User · Answer

neo4j is       an embedded  disk-based  fully transactional Java persistence engine that stores data structured in graphs rather than in tables   I haven t had a chance to try it yet - but it looks very promising   Note this is not an SQL database - your object graph is persisted for you - so it might not be appropriate for your existing app

User · Answer

What criteria will you use to evaluate these   If you don t know yet  then you don t need to decide right now  Try to make your application as database-implementation-agnostic as you can - providing the appropriate wrappers  data access objects etc   and make this decision when you have all the facts to hand and you have to decide   If you re using relational databases and SQL then the above shouldn t be too hard  using JDBC etc   Make sure you have plenty of surrounding tests so that when you want to switch between databases  you can determine that your application s functionality remains the same   I ran into the same issue some time ago  I didn t know which database to go for  so my first solution used Derby  or HSQLDB    and I was later able to switch to HSQLDB  or Derby   Can t remember which solution worked  once I d determined where I had issues  relating to performance  and which solution would really work for me

User · Answer

Either   HSQLDB - Used by OpenOffice  tested and stable  It s easy to use  If you want to edit your db-data  you can just open the file and edit the insert statements    or   H2 - Said to be faster  by the developer  who originally designed hsqldb  too    Which one you use is up to you  depending how much performance and how much stability you need   The developer of H2 has put up a nice performance evaluation  http   www h2database com html performance html

User · Answer

I personally favor HSQLDB  but mostly because it was the first I tried   H2 is said to be faster and provides a nicer GUI frontend  which is generic and works with any JDBC driver  by the way    At least HSQLDB  H2 and Derby provide server modes which is great for development  because you can access the DB with your application and some tool at the same time  which embedded mode usually doesn t allow

User · Answer

Most things have been said already  but I can just add that I ve used HSQL  Derby and Berkely DB in a few of my pet projects and they all worked just fine  So I don t think it really matters much to be honest  One thing worth mentioning is that HSQL saves itself as a text file with SQL statements which is quite good  Makes it really easy for when you are developing to do tests and setup data quickly  Can also do quick edits if needed  Guess you could easily transfer all that to any database if you ever need to change as well

User · Answer

We use HSQLDB in production as a  no-configuration  option for our application   It allows people to trial without the hassle of setting up a real database   However we do not support it for normal use   The reasons are several    Slows down proportionally to the size of the data  Difficult to access outside of our app  e g  for custom reports   Transactions   disk-sync is difficult to get right  so it s easy to lose data    For at least  2  and  3   there are ways around it but it s difficult  it s much easier to e g  install MySQL

User · Answer

neo4j is       an embedded  disk-based  fully transactional Java persistence engine that stores data structured in graphs rather than in tables   I haven t had a chance to try it yet - but it looks very promising   Note this is not an SQL database - your object graph is persisted for you - so it might not be appropriate for your existing app

User · Answer

I realize you mentioned SQL browsing  but everything else in your question makes me want to suggest you also consider DB4O  which is a great  simple object DB

User · Answer

Most things have been said already  but I can just add that I ve used HSQL  Derby and Berkely DB in a few of my pet projects and they all worked just fine  So I don t think it really matters much to be honest  One thing worth mentioning is that HSQL saves itself as a text file with SQL statements which is quite good  Makes it really easy for when you are developing to do tests and setup data quickly  Can also do quick edits if needed  Guess you could easily transfer all that to any database if you ever need to change as well

User · Answer

HSQLDB may cause problems for large applications  its not quite that stable    The best I ve heard  not first hand experience however  is berkleyDB  But unless you opensource it  it will cost you an arm and a leg to use due to licensing   see this http   www oracle com technology software products berkeley-db htdocs licensing html for details    ps  berkleyDB is not a relational database in case you didnt know

User · Answer

What criteria will you use to evaluate these   If you don t know yet  then you don t need to decide right now  Try to make your application as database-implementation-agnostic as you can - providing the appropriate wrappers  data access objects etc   and make this decision when you have all the facts to hand and you have to decide   If you re using relational databases and SQL then the above shouldn t be too hard  using JDBC etc   Make sure you have plenty of surrounding tests so that when you want to switch between databases  you can determine that your application s functionality remains the same   I ran into the same issue some time ago  I didn t know which database to go for  so my first solution used Derby  or HSQLDB    and I was later able to switch to HSQLDB  or Derby   Can t remember which solution worked  once I d determined where I had issues  relating to performance  and which solution would really work for me

User · Answer

I personally favor HSQLDB  but mostly because it was the first I tried   H2 is said to be faster and provides a nicer GUI frontend  which is generic and works with any JDBC driver  by the way    At least HSQLDB  H2 and Derby provide server modes which is great for development  because you can access the DB with your application and some tool at the same time  which embedded mode usually doesn t allow

User · Answer

I am a big fan of DB4O for both  Net and Java   Performance has become much better since the early releases  The licensing model isnt too bad  either  I particularly like the options available for querying your objects  Query by example is very powerful and easy to get used to

User · Answer

I have used Derby and i really hate it s data type conversion functions  especially date time functions   Number Type  lt --  Varchar conversion it s a pain   So that if you plan use data type conversions in your DB statements consider the use of othe embedded DB  i learn it too late   Latest Derby Version data type conversions

User · Answer

I am a big fan of DB4O for both  Net and Java   Performance has become much better since the early releases  The licensing model isnt too bad  either  I particularly like the options available for querying your objects  Query by example is very powerful and easy to get used to

User · Answer

neo4j is       an embedded  disk-based  fully transactional Java persistence engine that stores data structured in graphs rather than in tables   I haven t had a chance to try it yet - but it looks very promising   Note this is not an SQL database - your object graph is persisted for you - so it might not be appropriate for your existing app

User · Answer

Either   HSQLDB - Used by OpenOffice  tested and stable  It s easy to use  If you want to edit your db-data  you can just open the file and edit the insert statements    or   H2 - Said to be faster  by the developer  who originally designed hsqldb  too    Which one you use is up to you  depending how much performance and how much stability you need   The developer of H2 has put up a nice performance evaluation  http   www h2database com html performance html

User · Answer

I personally favor HSQLDB  but mostly because it was the first I tried   H2 is said to be faster and provides a nicer GUI frontend  which is generic and works with any JDBC driver  by the way    At least HSQLDB  H2 and Derby provide server modes which is great for development  because you can access the DB with your application and some tool at the same time  which embedded mode usually doesn t allow

User · Answer

neo4j is       an embedded  disk-based  fully transactional Java persistence engine that stores data structured in graphs rather than in tables   I haven t had a chance to try it yet - but it looks very promising   Note this is not an SQL database - your object graph is persisted for you - so it might not be appropriate for your existing app

User · Answer

HSQLDB may cause problems for large applications  its not quite that stable    The best I ve heard  not first hand experience however  is berkleyDB  But unless you opensource it  it will cost you an arm and a leg to use due to licensing   see this http   www oracle com technology software products berkeley-db htdocs licensing html for details    ps  berkleyDB is not a relational database in case you didnt know

User · Answer

I am a big fan of DB4O for both  Net and Java   Performance has become much better since the early releases  The licensing model isnt too bad  either  I particularly like the options available for querying your objects  Query by example is very powerful and easy to get used to

User · Answer

I have used Derby and i really hate it s data type conversion functions  especially date time functions   Number Type  lt --  Varchar conversion it s a pain   So that if you plan use data type conversions in your DB statements consider the use of othe embedded DB  i learn it too late   Latest Derby Version data type conversions

User · Answer

I realize you mentioned SQL browsing  but everything else in your question makes me want to suggest you also consider DB4O  which is a great  simple object DB

User · Answer

Good comparison tool can be found here  http   www jpab org All All All html  Notice also the Head to Head DBMS JPA Comparisons

User · Answer

Most things have been said already  but I can just add that I ve used HSQL  Derby and Berkely DB in a few of my pet projects and they all worked just fine  So I don t think it really matters much to be honest  One thing worth mentioning is that HSQL saves itself as a text file with SQL statements which is quite good  Makes it really easy for when you are developing to do tests and setup data quickly  Can also do quick edits if needed  Guess you could easily transfer all that to any database if you ever need to change as well

User · Answer

HSQLDB is a good candidate  the fact that it is used in OpenOffice may convinced some of you   but for such a small personnal application  why not using an object database  instead of a classic relationnal database     I used DB4O in one of my projects  and I m very satisfied with it  Being object-oriented  you don t need the whole Hibernate layer  and can directly insert update delete query objects   Moreover  you don t need to worry about the schema  you directly work with the objects and DB4O does the rest    I agree that it may take some time to get used to this new type of database  but check the DB40 tutorial to see how easy it makes working with the DB    EDIT  As said in the comments  DB4O handles automatically the newer versions of the classes  Moreover  a tool for browsing and updating the database outside of the application is available here   http   code google com p db4o-om

User · Answer

Either   HSQLDB - Used by OpenOffice  tested and stable  It s easy to use  If you want to edit your db-data  you can just open the file and edit the insert statements    or   H2 - Said to be faster  by the developer  who originally designed hsqldb  too    Which one you use is up to you  depending how much performance and how much stability you need   The developer of H2 has put up a nice performance evaluation  http   www h2database com html performance html

User · Answer

I needed to use Java embedded database in one of my projects and I did lot of research understanding pros and cons of each database  I wrote a blog listing pros and cons of popular embedded java databases  H2  HSQLDB  Derby  ObjectDB  Neo4j  OrientDB   you can have a look at it  I chose H2 as I thought it best suited my requirements  Link for the blog  http   sayrohan blogspot in 2012 12 choosing-light-weight-java-database html Hope it helps

User · Answer

Java DB  Sun s distribution of Apache Derby  now ships in JDK 6     I ve been wanted to do something like Jason Cohen and have been thinking this looks like the easiest way being in the JDK distro  which of last week is now a requirement for my app    Or maybe I am just lazy that way

User · Answer

Either   HSQLDB - Used by OpenOffice  tested and stable  It s easy to use  If you want to edit your db-data  you can just open the file and edit the insert statements    or   H2 - Said to be faster  by the developer  who originally designed hsqldb  too    Which one you use is up to you  depending how much performance and how much stability you need   The developer of H2 has put up a nice performance evaluation  http   www h2database com html performance html

User · Answer

HSQLDB is a good candidate  the fact that it is used in OpenOffice may convinced some of you   but for such a small personnal application  why not using an object database  instead of a classic relationnal database     I used DB4O in one of my projects  and I m very satisfied with it  Being object-oriented  you don t need the whole Hibernate layer  and can directly insert update delete query objects   Moreover  you don t need to worry about the schema  you directly work with the objects and DB4O does the rest    I agree that it may take some time to get used to this new type of database  but check the DB40 tutorial to see how easy it makes working with the DB    EDIT  As said in the comments  DB4O handles automatically the newer versions of the classes  Moreover  a tool for browsing and updating the database outside of the application is available here   http   code google com p db4o-om

User · Answer

I use Apache Derby for pretty much all of my embedded database needs  You can also use Sun s Java DB that is based on Derby but the latest version of Derby is much newer  It supports a lot of options that commercial  native databases support but is much smaller and easier to embed  I ve had some database tables with more than a million records with no issues   I used to use HSQLDB and Hypersonic about 3 years ago  It has some major performance issues at the time and I switch to Derby from it because of those issues  Derby has been solid even when it was in incubator at Apache

User · Answer

I guess I m a little late  a lot late -   to this post  but I d like to add Perst  an open source  object-oriented embedded database for Java  amp  NET  for your consideration  Perst is an open source   dual license embedded database for Java  The distribution is compatible with Google s Android platform  and also includes Perst Lite for Java ME  We ve even built an Android benchmark and produced a whitepaper on the subject   you can take a look here  http   www mcobject com index cfm fuseaction download amp pageid 581 amp sectionid 133  All the best  Chris

User · Answer

HSQLDB is a good candidate  the fact that it is used in OpenOffice may convinced some of you   but for such a small personnal application  why not using an object database  instead of a classic relationnal database     I used DB4O in one of my projects  and I m very satisfied with it  Being object-oriented  you don t need the whole Hibernate layer  and can directly insert update delete query objects   Moreover  you don t need to worry about the schema  you directly work with the objects and DB4O does the rest    I agree that it may take some time to get used to this new type of database  but check the DB40 tutorial to see how easy it makes working with the DB    EDIT  As said in the comments  DB4O handles automatically the newer versions of the classes  Moreover  a tool for browsing and updating the database outside of the application is available here   http   code google com p db4o-om

User · Answer

I have used Derby and i really hate it s data type conversion functions  especially date time functions   Number Type  lt --  Varchar conversion it s a pain   So that if you plan use data type conversions in your DB statements consider the use of othe embedded DB  i learn it too late   Latest Derby Version data type conversions

User · Answer

I have used Derby and i really hate it s data type conversion functions  especially date time functions   Number Type  lt --  Varchar conversion it s a pain   So that if you plan use data type conversions in your DB statements consider the use of othe embedded DB  i learn it too late   Latest Derby Version data type conversions

User · Answer

I use Apache Derby for pretty much all of my embedded database needs  You can also use Sun s Java DB that is based on Derby but the latest version of Derby is much newer  It supports a lot of options that commercial  native databases support but is much smaller and easier to embed  I ve had some database tables with more than a million records with no issues   I used to use HSQLDB and Hypersonic about 3 years ago  It has some major performance issues at the time and I switch to Derby from it because of those issues  Derby has been solid even when it was in incubator at Apache

User · Answer

I d go with H2  the performance is meant to much better than Derby  Read http   www h2database com html performance html for more info

User · Answer

HSQLDB may cause problems for large applications  its not quite that stable    The best I ve heard  not first hand experience however  is berkleyDB  But unless you opensource it  it will cost you an arm and a leg to use due to licensing   see this http   www oracle com technology software products berkeley-db htdocs licensing html for details    ps  berkleyDB is not a relational database in case you didnt know

User · Answer

Java DB  Sun s distribution of Apache Derby  now ships in JDK 6     I ve been wanted to do something like Jason Cohen and have been thinking this looks like the easiest way being in the JDK distro  which of last week is now a requirement for my app    Or maybe I am just lazy that way

[java] Java Embedded Databases Comparison

Examples related to java

Examples related to database

Examples related to comparison

Examples related to embedded-database