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🧱

SQLite Over Hype

Installations
Billions
Active deployments
Size
750KB
Single file
ACID
Full
Transactional integrity
Speed
50K+
Inserts/sec

Key Advantages

🎯 Simplicity Wins

  • • Zero configuration - just works
  • • Single file database
  • • No network overhead
  • • No DBA needed
  • • Works everywhere

⚡ Predictable Performance

  • • Consistent query planner
  • • No query optimizer surprises
  • • Linear scalability
  • • Cache-friendly access patterns
  • • Measurable resource usage

🔧 Developer Experience

  • • First-class Python support
  • • Standard SQL (mostly)
  • • Great tooling ecosystem
  • • Easy testing and CI/CD
  • • No schema migrations hell

💰 Economic Sense

  • • No licensing costs
  • • No infrastructure overhead
  • • No DBA salaries
  • • Reduced cloud bills
  • • Faster time to market

🎯 When to Use SQLite

Web Apps
• Small to medium traffic
• Content management
• Analytics data
• Caching layer
Mobile Apps
• Offline-first design
• Local data storage
• Sync capabilities
• Background processing
Desktop Apps
• Configuration data
• Local databases
• Plugin systems
• Analytics collection
IoT/Edge
• Sensor data logging
• Edge computing
• Local caching
• Sync mechanisms

⚡ Common Objections

"It doesn't scale!"
Most apps never need to scale beyond what SQLite can handle. Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
"It's not 'real' SQL!"
SQLite implements most of SQL-92. What's missing are features you probably shouldn't be using anyway.
"No concurrent writes!"
Write-ahead logging (WAL) mode allows concurrent reads and decent write performance for most use cases.

🔄 When to Look Elsewhere

Consider alternatives when you need:
• High write concurrency (>100 writes/sec)
• Complex analytical queries (data warehouse)
• Distributed transactions across services
• Multi-region replication
• Advanced security features (RBAC, row-level security)