Introduction to MongoDB
On this page
Welcome to the MongoDB 5.0 Manual! MongoDB is a document database designed for ease of development and scaling.
The manual describes key concepts in MongoDB such as:
The query API
Operational and administrative references
Tutorials and procedures
MongoDB offers both local and cloud-hosted deployment options:
For locally hosted deployments, MongoDB offers both a Community and an Enterprise version of the database:
MongoDB Community is the source available and free to use edition of MongoDB.
MongoDB Enterprise is available as part of the MongoDB Enterprise Advanced subscription and includes comprehensive support for your MongoDB deployment. MongoDB Enterprise also adds enterprise-focused features such as LDAP and Kerberos support, on-disk encryption, and auditing.
MongoDB Atlas is a hosted MongoDB Enterprise service option in the cloud which requires no installation overhead and offers a free tier to get started.
You can create a MongoDB database in the following environments:
MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud
MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB
MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB
To learn more about creating a MongoDB database with the Atlas UI, see Get Started with Atlas.
Document Database
A record in MongoDB is a document, which is a data structure composed of field and value pairs. MongoDB documents are similar to JSON objects. The values of fields may include other documents, arrays, and arrays of documents.
The advantages of using documents are:
Documents correspond to native data types in many programming languages.
Embedded documents and arrays reduce need for expensive joins.
Dynamic schema supports fluent polymorphism.
Collections/Views/On-Demand Materialized Views
MongoDB stores documents in collections. Collections are analogous to tables in relational databases.
In addition to collections, MongoDB supports:
Read-only Views
Key Features
High Performance
MongoDB provides high performance data persistence. In particular,
Support for embedded data models reduces I/O activity on database system.
Indexes support faster queries and can include keys from embedded documents and arrays.
Query API
The MongoDB Query API supports read and write operations (CRUD) as well as:
High Availability
MongoDB's replication facility, called replica set, provides:
automatic failover
data redundancy.
A replica set is a group of MongoDB servers that maintain the same data set, providing redundancy and increasing data availability.
Horizontal Scalability
MongoDB provides horizontal scalability as part of its core functionality:
Support for Multiple Storage Engines
MongoDB supports multiple storage engines:
WiredTiger Storage Engine (including support for Encryption at Rest)
In addition, MongoDB provides pluggable storage engine API that allows third parties to develop storage engines for MongoDB.