rqlite
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 9 distributed databases by recommenders
A fault-tolerant, highly available relational database built on SQLite, valued for giving HA and relational modeling with low operational cost. Critics note it is still server-based and slower than a single-node database.
A fault-tolerant, highly available relational database built on SQLite, valued for giving HA and relational modeling with low operational cost. Critics note it is still server-based and slower than a single-node database.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Fault-tolerant and highly available by design
“it's a fault-tolerant, highly available system. Reliability is the reason it exists.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Many Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite” “It looks far easier than the mass majority of clustered database architectures.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Twelve years of distributed SQLite” “wanting relational modeling, along with HA, but with low operational costs”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: rqlite – the fault-tolerant DB built on SQLite – v10.0 released” Used in production by builders
“We use rqlite in production, it's the database we chose for (the control plane of) an open source observability solution we're building”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Twelve years of distributed SQLite” “using it for control layer pretty happy so far”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Twelve years of distributed SQLite”
Other distributed databases people recommend
The four most recommended other distributed databases, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FoundationDB | 26 | 6 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Google Cloud Spanner | 23 | 2 | 92% | 9 | — | Approved |
| CockroachDB | 19 | 11 | 63% | 11 | — | — |
| rqliteThis page | 13 | 4 | 76% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Apache Cassandra | 12 | 15 | 44% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“don't officially support BEGIN/COMMIT”
“The rqlite docs however tell you to never use Strong mode and that Linearizable is sufficient.”
“Much slower than a 1 node db though.”
“We use rqlite in production, it's the database we chose for (the control plane of) an open source observability solution we're building”
“an excellent concept really well implemented”
“using it for control layer pretty happy so far”
“It looks far easier than the mass majority of clustered database architectures.”
“wanting relational modeling, along with HA, but with low operational costs”
“I have a hard time thinking of a real world use case.”
“rqlite does this well but it’s still server based”
“it's a fault-tolerant, highly available system. Reliability is the reason it exists.”
“the possibility of data loss - however remote - was not an acceptable trade-off”
“but it might be enough depending on your use case.”
“Terrific bit of software, BTW!”
“for small projects, SQLite, rqlite, or etcd”
“Massive fan rqlite. Awesome work!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.