Comparison should include a description of the two main database types:
- Relational, in which data is arranged according to a schema that allows data to be displayed as tables with rows and columns. Data integrity is of particular concern in relational databases, and relational database management systems (RDBMS) use a number of constraints to ensure that the data contained in the tables is reliable and accurate.
- Non-relational, or NoSQL (not only SQL), which can be schema agnostic, allowing unstructured and semi-structured data to be stored and manipulated. NoSQL databases fall into one or more of the following categories:
- Key-Value stores
- Wide-Column stores
- Document stores
- Graph databases
- Search engines