Cluster Types

Dedicated Clusters

Create a Dedicated cluster if you want to:

• Choose a specific database configuration based on your workload requirements.

• Define database scaling behavior.

• Run high-throughput production workloads.

• Always have capacity available.

You can:

• Set the cluster tier.

• Use advanced capabilities such as sharding.

• Distribute your data to multiple regions and cloud providers.

• Scale your cluster on-demand.

• Enable autoscaling.

MongoDB bills clusters based on the deployment configuration and cluster tier.

Shared Clusters and Flex Clusters

Create a Flex cluster if you want to:

• Get started quickly with minimal database configuration and low costs.

• Have your database scale automatically and dynamically to meet your workload.

• Run infrequent or sparse workloads.

• Develop or test in a cloud environment.

Global Clusters

Create a global cluster if you want to support location-aware read and write operations. Location-aware read and write operations are ideal for globally-distributed application instances and clients.

Global Clusters are a highly-curated implementation of a sharded cluster that offer:

• Low-latency read and write operations for globally distributed clients.

• Uptime protection during partial or full regional outages.

• Location-aware data storage in specific geographic regions.

• Workload isolation based on cluster member types.

You can enable Global Writes in Atlas when deploying an M30 or greater sharded cluster. For replica sets, scale the cluster to at least an M30 tier and enable Global Writes. All shard nodes deploy with the selected cluster.

Local Deployments

Create a local deployment to try Atlas features on a single-node replica set hosted on your local computer.

Feature Support and Comparison

The following table indicates whether Dedicated clusters or Flex clusters support the listed configuration or capability in MongoDB Atlas.