Best databases for web apps (buyer asking for advice)

We asked 10 models: I'm starting a new web app and need to pick a database. Which would you recommend? Each named its own top 10.

Asked 4 ways: List request · Buyer asking for advice · Search query · Worth paying for?. Share of voice pools every wording.

Agreement between models: 76%
Same model, run twice: 82%
Different picks: 18

When agreement between models is well below a model's agreement with itself, the split reflects real differences in taste rather than randomness.

The consensus

Each cell is the position that model gave the pick; blank means it left the pick off. Click a row for each model's reasoning.

#	Pick	Listed by	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
1	PostgreSQL	10/10	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#1) Mature, standards-compliant, handles relational and JSON workloads well; best default. GPT-6 Luna (#1) Best default: mature, reliable, extensible, and handles most web-app data needs exceptionally well. Gemini 4 Argon (#1) The gold standard for web apps: reliable, feature-rich, and handles both relational and JSON data. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#1) Default choice: free, mature, JSON support, scales to almost any web app. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#1) Best all‑around open‑source RDBMS, battle‑tested with unmatched extensibility. GLM-5.3 (#1) Best default: powerful, reliable, JSON support, huge ecosystem. Kimi K3 (#1) Default choice: relational, JSON, extensions, free, proven at every scale. MiniMax M3 (#1) Robust, mature open-source RDBMS with strong SQL, JSON, and extensibility. Mistral Large 4 (#1) Best open-source relational DB with reliability, features, and extensions. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#1) Best balance of features, reliability, and cost for most web apps
2	MySQL	10/10	2	2	4	3	5	4	2	2	5	2
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#2) Widely supported, simple to operate, huge ecosystem and hosting options. GPT-6 Luna (#2) Proven, widely hosted relational database with excellent ecosystem and straightforward operations. Kimi K3 (#2) Ubiquitous, simple, huge ecosystem; solid pick for typical web apps. MiniMax M3 (#2) Battle-tested, widely supported, easy to host with strong ecosystem. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#2) Widely supported, mature, great for read-heavy workloads Gemini 4 Argon (#4) Battle-tested, ubiquitous relational database with massive community support and proven scalability for web applications. GLM-5.3 (#4) Mature, familiar, widely supported relational workhorse. Mistral Large 4 (#5) Proven, widely supported relational database for general workloads.
3	MongoDB	10/10	4	4	5	2	3	3	4	3	2	3
Qwen 3.8 Flash (#2) Best managed document store when your data is genuinely unstructured. Mistral Large 4 (#2) Flexible NoSQL, great for rapid iteration and varied data shapes. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#3) Flexible document model when the schema keeps changing in early development. GLM-5.3 (#3) Flexible document store when schemas are still evolving. MiniMax M3 (#3) Flexible document store, great for evolving schemas and rapid prototyping. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#3) Flexible schema ideal for rapid iteration and JSON data Claude Haiku 5.5 (#4) Flexible document model suits evolving schemas and rapid early development. GPT-6 Luna (#4) Flexible document model fits evolving schemas and naturally nested application data. Kimi K3 (#4) Flexible documents when schema is fluid; mature tooling and Atlas hosting. Gemini 4 Argon (#5) The leading document database, ideal for flexible schemas and rapid iteration in JavaScript-heavy stacks.
4	SQLite	10/10	3	3	3	4	2	5	3	4	4	5
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#2) Zero‑setup embeddable database perfect for early prototypes and local‑first apps. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#3) Zero-config, excellent for small apps, prototypes, and single-server deployments. GPT-6 Luna (#3) Ideal for small apps and prototypes; simple deployment with surprisingly strong capabilities. Gemini 4 Argon (#3) Zero-configuration, blazingly fast embedded database that easily handles surprisingly large production web workloads. Kimi K3 (#3) Zero-ops embedded engine ideal for prototypes and single-server apps. MiniMax M3 (#4) Zero-config, file-based, perfect for small apps and prototyping. Mistral Large 4 (#4) Zero-setup, embedded, perfect for prototypes and edge apps. GLM-5.3 (#5) Simple, zero-config, increasingly viable for small-to-mid web apps. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#5) Zero-config, perfect for prototypes and low-traffic apps
5	Redis	10/10	5	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	3	4
Mistral Large 4 (#3) Essential in-memory store for caching, sessions, and queues. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#4) Unbeatable for caching, sessions, and real-time features Claude Haiku 5.5 (#5) Fast in-memory store ideal for caching, sessions, and queues alongside a primary database. Kimi K3 (#5) Fastest in-memory store for caching, sessions, and real-time features. MiniMax M3 (#5) Blazing fast in-memory store, ideal for caching and real-time features. Gemini 4 Argon (#6) Essential in-memory data store for lightning-fast caching, session management, queues, and real-time features. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#6) Not a primary store, but the right cache/session companion layer. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#6) In‑memory data powerhouse for caching, queues, and real‑time features alongside a primary DB. GLM-5.3 (#6) Excellent for caching and real-time features alongside a primary DB. GPT-6 Luna (#7) Outstanding for caching and ephemeral data, though rarely the sole app database.
6	Supabase	7/10		5	2	5	4	2		6	6
Gemini 4 Argon (#2) Managed Postgres with built-in authentication, real-time subscriptions, and instant APIs for rapid development. GLM-5.3 (#2) Postgres-as-a-service with auth and APIs for fast web app launches. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#4) Managed PostgreSQL with instant APIs, Auth, and real‑time, ideal for fast React projects. GPT-6 Luna (#5) Managed PostgreSQL with authentication, APIs, storage, and a fast developer experience. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#5) Managed Postgres plus auth and storage; fastest path to a working backend. MiniMax M3 (#6) Managed Postgres with auth, storage, and realtime out of the box. Mistral Large 4 (#6) Postgres with auth, realtime, storage—fastest path to ship.
7	Amazon DynamoDB	8/10	6	9	8	8		8		8	10	6
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#6) Fully managed, scales automatically; strong choice if committed to AWS. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#6) Managed NoSQL with infinite scale for high-traffic apps Gemini 4 Argon (#8) Fully managed serverless key-value and document database built for predictable performance at massive scale. GLM-5.3 (#8) Great for AWS-heavy apps needing guaranteed performance at scale. MiniMax M3 (#8) AWS-managed key-value store with predictable low-latency at scale. GPT-6 Luna (#9) Excellent managed key-value database for high-scale workloads with predictable access patterns. Mistral Large 4 (#10) Fully managed, scales effortlessly, great on AWS.
8	PlanetScale	6/10					7	7	7	10	7	8
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#7) Serverless MySQL with branching workflow—excellent for collaboration and CI/CD. GLM-5.3 (#7) Serverless MySQL with effortless scaling for web traffic spikes. Kimi K3 (#7) Serverless MySQL with branching; but it is a platform, not a database. Mistral Large 4 (#7) Serverless MySQL with branching—excellent developer experience. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#8) Serverless MySQL with branching, great developer experience MiniMax M3 (#10) Serverless MySQL with branching and excellent developer experience.
9	MariaDB	5/10	8		10				8	7		7
No reasons recorded.
10	CockroachDB	4/10	9	6	9				6
GPT-6 Luna (#6) Distributed SQL offers PostgreSQL compatibility and resilience across regions. Kimi K3 (#6) Distributed SQL with strong consistency when you outgrow one node. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#9) Distributed SQL with PostgreSQL compatibility; useful when multi-region scale is needed. Gemini 4 Argon (#9) Distributed SQL database providing effortless horizontal scaling and bulletproof resilience with PostgreSQL compatibility.
11	Neon	3/10				7	8	9
Qwen 3.8 Flash (#7) Serverless Postgres with branching; ideal for startups and preview deploys. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#8) True serverless PostgreSQL with cold‑start‑free branching; great for side projects. GLM-5.3 (#9) Serverless Postgres with branching and scale-to-zero pricing.
12	Firestore	3/10	10		7		9
Gemini 4 Argon (#7) Serverless document database offering seamless real-time client synchronization and effortless mobile and web integration. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#9) Real‑time NoSQL fully managed; blazing start for mobile/web apps with offline sync. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#10) Serverless document database with real-time sync, good for mobile and web clients.
13	Cassandra	2/10	7									9
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#7) Built for massive write throughput across regions; overkill for most new web apps.
14	Firebase	3/10						10		9	8
Mistral Large 4 (#8) Managed NoSQL with offline sync, ideal for mobile-first apps. MiniMax M3 (#9) Managed NoSQL with realtime sync, auth, and easy client SDKs.
15	Microsoft SQL Server	4/10		8		10	10					10
No reasons recorded.

3 lower-scoring picks are not shown; every ballot below lists them in full.

Most divisive

Picks most models listed, at very different positions

Redis#3 for Mistral Large 4 #7 for GPT-6 Luna
Supabase#2 for Gemini 4 Argon #6 for Mistral Large 4
Amazon DynamoDB#6 for Claude Haiku 5.5 #10 for Mistral Large 4

Hot takes

Picks that appear on only one ballot

ClickHouse at #9, only Kimi K3
Elasticsearch at #10, only Kimi K3

Every ballot

Hover a pick to find it on the other ballots. Marked picks appear on no other ballot.

Claude Haiku 5.5

PostgreSQL
MySQL
SQLite
MongoDB
Redis
Amazon DynamoDB
Cassandra
MariaDB
CockroachDB
Firestore

89% with consensus · 95% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

PostgreSQL
MySQL
SQLite
MongoDB
Supabase
CockroachDB
Redis
Microsoft SQL Server
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Aurora

87% with consensus · 92% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

PostgreSQL
Supabase
SQLite
MySQL
MongoDB
Redis
Firestore
Amazon DynamoDB
CockroachDB
MariaDB

76% with consensus · 94% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

PostgreSQL
MongoDB
MySQL
SQLite
Supabase
Redis
Neon
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Aurora
Microsoft SQL Server

86% with consensus · 57% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

PostgreSQL
SQLite
MongoDB
Supabase
MySQL
Redis
PlanetScale
Neon
Firestore
Microsoft SQL Server

79% with consensus · 71% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

PostgreSQL
Supabase
MongoDB
MySQL
SQLite
Redis
PlanetScale
Amazon DynamoDB
Neon
Firebase

81% with consensus · 80% self-consistent

Kimi K3

PostgreSQL
MySQL
SQLite
MongoDB
Redis
CockroachDB
PlanetScale
MariaDB
ClickHouse
Elasticsearch

88% with consensus · 87% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

PostgreSQL
MySQL
MongoDB
SQLite
Redis
Supabase
MariaDB
Amazon DynamoDB
Firebase
PlanetScale

97% with consensus · 88% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

PostgreSQL
MongoDB
Redis
SQLite
MySQL
Supabase
PlanetScale
Firebase
Amazon Aurora
Amazon DynamoDB

81% with consensus · 73% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

PostgreSQL
MySQL
MongoDB
Redis
SQLite
Amazon DynamoDB
MariaDB
PlanetScale
Cassandra
Microsoft SQL Server

92% with consensus · 84% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 68 (lightest) to 91 (darkest)

	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
Claude Haiku 5.5		87	76	77	72	70	91	88	70	89
GPT-6 Luna	87		80	82	78	74	89	86	72	79
Gemini 4 Argon	76	80		77	80	88	74	75	70	68
Qwen 3.8 Flash	77	82	77		81	82	74	86	85	79
DeepSeek V4 Pro	72	78	80	81		83	75	77	80	72
GLM-5.3	70	74	88	82	83		71	80	78	76
Kimi K3	91	89	74	74	75	71		86	73	85
MiniMax M3	88	86	75	86	77	80	86		81	91
Mistral Large 4	70	72	70	85	80	78	73	81		77
Nemotron 3 Ultra	89	79	68	79	72	76	85	91	77