Are relational databases a poor fit for Node.js?

Matthew Daly picture Matthew Daly · Aug 22, 2013 · Viewed 27.9k times · Source

Recently I've been playing around with Node.js a little bit. In my particular case I wound up using MongoDB, partly because it made sense for that project because it was very simple, and partly because Mongoose seemed to be an extremely simple way to get started with it.

I've noticed that there seems to be a degree of antipathy towards relational databases when using Node.js. They seem to be poorly supported compared to non-relational databases within the Node.js ecosystem, but I can't seem to find a concise reason for this.

So, my question is, is there a solid technical reason why relational databases are a poorer fit for working with Node.js than alternatives such as MongoDB?

EDIT: Just want to clarify a few things:

  • I'm specifically not looking for details relating to a specific application I'm building
  • Nor am I looking for non-technical reasons (for example, I'm not after answers like "Node and MongoDB are both new so developers use them together")

What I am looking for is entirely technical reasons, ONLY. For instance, if there were a technical reason why relational databases performed unusually poorly when used with Node.js, then that would be the kind of thing I'm looking for (note that from the answers so far it doesn't appear that is the case)

Answer

Jonathan Lonowski picture Jonathan Lonowski · Aug 22, 2013

No, there isn't a technical reason. It's mostly just opinion and using NoSQL with Node.js is currently a popular choice.

Granted, Node's ecosystem is largely community-driven. Everything beyond Node's core API requires community involvement. And, certainly, people will be more likely to support what aligns with their personal preferences.

But, many still use and support relational databases with Node.js. Some notable projects include: