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Comment by debacle | Hacker News Reader

So if Mongo is such shit and Couch is a pain in the ass to configure with not so great documentation, what can I use as a NoSQL database? From time to time, I find myself wanting a database that is flexible with document definition but every tool I've tried has kind of sucked.

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This sounds like heresy, but you can actually use Postgresql. It has a JSON column type that supports indexing!

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/datatype-json.html

Postgres also got hstore (key-value) and arrays. So, if you only need a little bit of flexibility on top, you can have that, too.

`hstore` is good if you know for sure you'll never have nesting (because the values have to be primitive types). Otherwise, JSON is probably the safer, more reliable bet, though it's slightly slower.

I'm a pretty happy camper using Postgres with hstore: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/hstore.html

You have the flexibility to store arbitrary JSON blobs when you need to, the stability, maturity, and performance of Postgres, and the ability to migrate data to a more rigid schema once your project matures to the point where data validation is more important than raw prototyping speed.

The main drawback so far is that the query interface is a little clumsy.

Have you tried RethinkDB?

Disclaimer: I used to work there.

Take a look at Riak, http://basho.com/.

Disclosure, I have recently joined up with them as a Solutions Architect.

I know that NoSQL has a bunch of advantages with super large datasets, but MySQL really is a solid technology and is underrated in how scalable and robust it is.

You'd be surprised how much MySQL can do and how great the documentation is.

I like Riak and Cassandra.

Have you tried elasticsearch?

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