LevelDB
Shares rank 5 of 6 key-value stores by recommenders
Simple embedded key-value store people use when they want no SQL and no new storage format. Critics say it only delays inevitable rewrites and needs an index later.
Simple embedded key-value store people use when they want no SQL and no new storage format. Critics say it only delays inevitable rewrites and needs an index later.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for simple embedded storage
“Embedded KV stores like LevelDB are great for what they are, but I've often found that I'll need to add an index”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Do You Even Need a Database?” “I'd argue for at least LevelDB over raw jsonl files”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Do You Even Need a Database?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Delays inevitable rewrites later
“Similar issue, but even worse, with LevelDB -- it will just delay the inevitable huge rewrites for later.”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Single log line is 49KB+ (ext4) / 110KB+ (btrfs) of systemd-journald disk writes” “it will just delay the inevitable huge rewrites for later”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Single log line is 49KB+ (ext4) / 110KB+ (btrfs) of systemd-journald disk writes”
Other key-value stores people recommend
The four most recommended other key-value stores, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMDB | 20 | 9 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
| RocksDB | 20 | 4 | 83% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Cloudflare KV | 9 | 12 | 43% | 8 | — | — |
| etcd | 9 | 23 | 28% | 4 | — | — |
| LevelDBThis page | 5 | 5 | 50% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Similar issue, but even worse, with LevelDB -- it will just delay the inevitable huge rewrites for later.”
“it will just delay the inevitable huge rewrites for later”
“Either way, no need to invent a new storage format.”
“a database with so many documented crash-consistency, recovery, and data-loss weaknesses for years”
“Embedded KV stores like LevelDB are great for what they are, but I've often found that I'll need to add an index”
“I'd argue for at least LevelDB over raw jsonl files”
“Eliminates the need to deal with SQL.”
“all of them have worked better for me”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.