Unlike relational SQL-based databases, NoSQL databases don’t use conventional tables with rows and columns to store data. Instead, they organize large amounts of data using flexible techniques such as documents, graphs, pairs of values, and columns. This makes NoSQL systems ideal for applications that must process a high volume of data and therefore require flexible structures. NoSQL systems use hardware clusters and cloud servers, so capacity is evenly distributed, and the database runs smoothly even when data volumes are high. In contrast to relational databases, which rapidly lose performance as the amount of data increases, NoSQL databases are a powerful, flexible, and scalable solution even with large volumes of data.
Horizontal scaling is another special feature of NoSQL systems. Relational SQL databases are scaled vertically and run on a single server. To increase their capacity, you would have to invest in a more powerful server. This is expensive in the long term and limits the possibilities of application development. NoSQL solutions usually distribute data across multiple servers. If the amount of data increases, new servers are simply added. This allows NoSQL databases to easily store and process large amounts of data, making them ideal for big data applications.