What database is right for you?
Jon Wood
Data Practice Lead
Choosing a database shouldn’t feel like guesswork. It’s more like designing the roads for a growing city. The right infrastructure keeps everything moving, the wrong one leads to gridlock.
To make an informed choice, you need to understand the shape of your data, the type of workloads you’re running, and the strengths and trade-offs of each database approach.
In this blog, we’ll break down the fundamentals, compare key database technologies, and help you map the route that best supports your organisation’s future.
Structured vs. unstructured data – two very different roads
Before choosing a database, it helps to think of your data like traffic moving through a city. Some traffic is orderly and predictable, some arrives in unpredictable waves and needs more flexible routes. Databases are the road systems that support those flows.
Around 80%i of enterprise data is unstructured, with emails, chat messages, documents, and videos growing at more than 60% per yearii. This is the unpredictable traffic: large, messy, fast-changing, and difficult to fit into neat rows and columns.
Structured data, on the other hand, is like a well-signed dual carriageway, orderly, defined, predictable. Customer IDs, transaction amounts, product codes. These datasets travel on clear, rigid lanes that relational databases excel at managing.
Most organisations don’t need one database that handles both structured and unstructured traffic. Instead, they choose the right road layout for the type of information their applications rely on.
From local roads to data motorways
Databases have expanded and diversified much like transport networks have, growing from simple roads into complex, multi-route systems:
- Relational databases (SQL) The traditional grid layout, predictable, reliable, perfect for well-defined routes.
- Object-oriented databases More like smart highways where data travels with built-in behaviour.
- Hierarchical databases Structured like tiered interchanges, rigid but exceptionally fast for fixed patterns.
- Network databases Multi-route junctions designed for complex “many-to-many” flows.
- Vector databases Intelligent traffic systems built for AI, capable of understanding context and meaning.
Each type is optimised for specific data traffic. Understanding those patterns helps you choose the right infrastructure.
A closer look at core database options
Let’s compare four major database systems that underpin essential business applications across industries.
Database | Type | Commonly Used For | Strengths | Limitations | Best For |
PostgreSQL (Postgres) | Open-source relational | Complex applications, analytics, geospatial use cases | Highly extensible; advanced data types; strong query power | Can be slower than lightweight alternatives; steeper learning curve | Businesses needing flexibility, scale, and powerful querying |
Microsoft SQL Server (SQL) | Relational | Enterprise ops, finance, business intelligence | Deep Microsoft ecosystem integration; excellent security; robust analytics | Licensing costs; often Windows-centric; resource heavy | Organisations built around Microsoft platforms |
MySQL | Open-source relational | Web apps, e-commerce, SaaS | Fast, simple to implement; huge community support | Less suited for advanced analytics; struggles at extreme scale | Web-driven platforms and fast-moving developers |
Informix | Relational / object-relational | Online gaming, retail, financial services, logistics, IoT | Exceptional transaction speed; low admin overhead; strong time-series & spatial support | Smaller community; specialised skills required | Markets with extreme real-time transaction demands |
Data projects don’t fail because you picked the wrong database
When systems slow down, break, or fail to deliver value, it’s rarely because the team chose the “wrong” database on day one.
More often, the issues stem from:
- Missing optimisations
- Lack of monitoring
- Configuration misalignment
- Overgrown or inefficient queries
- Slow performance only noticed when it’s too late
- Limited internal time or expertise to adapt as the business changes
Success depends less on the database you choose, and more on how well it’s implemented, managed, and evolved.
Make your data the Autobahn, not a B-road with potholes
A database isn’t just a place to put data. It’s the road network your organisation depends on. When it’s engineered well, information flows fast, safely, and reliably. When it’s not, your applications, and your users – whether they are employees or customers – feel the slowdown instantly.
Modern databases power:
- Payment processing
- Inventory tracking
- Booking engines
- Order fulfilment
- Fraud detection
- Customer experience platforms
- Real-time analytics and AI pipelines
These are your high-speed lanes, the operational backbone of your entire organisation.
At Claranet, we see databases as the infrastructure that determines whether your business moves freely or sits in traffic. A great database strategy builds motorways, not backroads, open lanes, not choke points.
Build the network your data deserves
Your database shapes how fast your organisation can think, respond, and grow. With the right architecture, and the right ongoing support, your data becomes a competitive advantage, not a traffic jam.
Claranet helps businesses design and maintain data infrastructures built for speed, resilience, and long-term scalability. We turn databases from spaghetti junction into the free and open road.
Find out more how we can help you get more from your data, or contact us below.