The majority of people who are looking to start a new business believe they need database software for their business. But they’re not completely wrong. You can save money by using database software that’s free for small businesses.
If you want the satisfaction of knowing the software you use for your small business is protecting your data better than anything else, then you’re probably going to invest a lot of time and effort to make sure it’s the right choice. I know this first hand – I’ve spent a lot of money on software over the years and I’ve always been a little disappointed at how a well-designed piece of software was able to do very little. But recently, I have been trying to cut down on expenses as much as possible including where I spend my money on that type of thing. And now, I want to share with you 4 free database software solutions you can try out at home.
QUEST
Quest | IT Management | Mitigate Risk | Accelerate Results. Database management software programs to automate database management tasks, optimize database performance, and reduce administrative costs. Free Trial.
QUEST
Best Free: PostgreSQL
Cost is always a concern in the world of small business. There are free database options to choose from. When Business Pundit queried small-business owners and database experts about their favorite free database software, the overwhelming response was that PostgreSQL is the best there is.
PostgreSQL is open source and free, and Bram Jansen, chief editor of vpnAlert, calls it a bit more proficient than MySQL. He also says that it has been geared toward business-use cases—a definite advantage for small-business owners
“It is not quite in the same class as the best commercial RDBMS systems,” he cautions, “but really close.” Businesses that choose PostgreSQL will be able to use it for a long time before outgrowing it, he adds.
Milosz Krasinski from Chilli Fruit says his company uses post PostgreSQL for two primary reasons: It’s secure and it can handle huge amounts of data without many problems. “It can also deal with complex queries and is supported by tons of platforms like Amazon Web Services and Azure,” he explains in an email.
In addition, PostgreSQL uses SQL language to interact with data, says Ryan Maxwell, chief technology officer at FirstRate Data, a financial data provider. For that reason, finding developers or administrators to build or maintain the database will be cheap and relatively easy, he continues.
Technical Specifications
An open source, object-relational database system, PostgreSQL has been in development for nearly three decades, and some say it’s best used as a relational database in micro-services and serverless systems. It also holds nonessential data such as recreatable models. And since queries are very similar to other relational databases, PostgreSQL is easy to adapt for new users.
PostgreSQL also earns high marks for speed, high-volume processing, and automated data distribution. Other areas where PostgreSQL excels include multiple data types and structures, tunable structures, and support for embedding. We also like how well PostgreSQL handles cloud and hybrid deployment, security, and programmable HTAP.
There are too many PostgreSQL features to cover here. But for starters, data-type features found in PostgreSQL include primitives like integer, numeric, string, and boolean, as well as structured data like date and time, array, range, and UUID.
What’s important to know about data type in non-technical terms is how it relates to the type of data that should be stored, and how much memory to devote to the data. Data structure, on the other hand, refers to how the data is organized within the memory, and the logic by which the data is accessed. These are pretty high-level concepts, but trust us, they will be meaningful to a database administrator.
Document data supported include JSON and JSONB, XM, and key-value, or Hstore. Data integrity is unique, not null, and there are primary keys, foreign keys, and exclusion constraints. There are both explicit and advisory locks. And since security is often a significant concern for those choosing database software, PostgreSQL offers authentication like GSSAPI, SSPI, LDAP, SCRAM-SHA-256, and certificate, among others.
There’s also a robust access-control system, with both column and row-level security. There’s also multi-factor authentication with certificates plus one additional method.
What Makes it the Best?
A preponderance of user reviews call PostgreSQL among the best open-source database management solutions on the market. After conducting our own research, we agree. It’s fast, especially when it comes to read-time, with good data-processing, and there is a deep and useful set of functionalities for small-business applications.
The platform is generally recommended for data analytics as well as scenarios that rely heavily on computing. Queries are very easy to execute. They can even be executed when the database is not connected to a server. The speed of the query, in fact, is actually higher in that case, and it’s also the best way to avoid errors.
There’s a robust range of tools to work with, including both import and export. Users can also build their own custom modules, which can be integrated directly into the server. Once there, users can write their own applications around them.
When put in a head-to-head against a Linux-based gateway solution that can insert more than 1,000 rows of data per second, PostgreSQL outperformed MySQL when inserting concurrent data from multiple instances, according to reports.
In addition, PostgreSQL easily performs operations like procedure, cursor, and normal table creation and modification using queries. Schemas can also be listed by name. This is performed by connecting a single schema against the database.
What Could Be Better?
One drawback that anyone choosing PostgreSQL should be aware of is that there is no compression, resulting in more weight on a hard drive and slower performance. In addition, database systems that can keep data compressed in memory store more data in the fast access cache, which can improve performance. PostgreSQL has nothing to offer in this area, according to reports.
Unlike most analytics databases, tables are also stored by rows rather than columns. Storing data in rows helps with data compression. Since PostgreSQL doesn’t provide columnar tables, large tables need to be parsed into two or more smaller tables to increase speed. There’s also not much machine learning included with PostgreSQL, and many who choose the system often end up adding an external machine learning library.
Since PostgreSQL is a generalist database, it won’t guess you have analytics settings. Experts also caution that the query optimizer uses table statistics to form the fastest execution plan. That makes it vitally important those statistics are correct, and sometimes it won’t work right after a bulk insert. To solve this, it’s sometimes best to run queries manually instead, according to feedback from expert users.
Generally speaking, though, these limitations make PostgreSQL a good choice for datasets of up to about 100 gigabytes. Anything larger, and there are better alternatives. Migration is made easy, however, since Amazon Redshift and Greemplum are derived from PostgreSQL, just as two examples. That means small businesses looking to grow can feel confident that the system is scalable to their needs.
HubSpot: Best Free Customer Database Software
What We Like
- Free plan supports 1 million contacts and companies
- Has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- Includes lead generation tools, such as smart forms and chat
What’s Missing
- Limited support options with the free tier
- Plan upgrades can add up quickly
- No advanced project management and operational CRM features
HubSpot Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Supports an unlimited number of users
- HubSpot for Startups: Ranges from $40 to $89 per month
- Marketing Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- Sales Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- Service Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- CMS Hub: Ranges from $23 to $1,200 per month
- Operations Hub: Free for syncing HubSpot with third-party apps. Paid plans start at $45
- CRM Suite: Starts at $45 per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM that offers modules for sales, marketing, customer service, content management, and operations for an unlimited number of users. It is an excellent choice for teams looking for a cost-free customer database solution because it has a free CRM that comes with robust contact management, website activity tracking, deal management, and task management capabilities.
While HubSpot offers a free plan, its main drawback lies in its costly pricing model. Plan upgrades like adding sales automation and multiple deal pipelines could get even more expensive. Freshsales offers more features in one plan for a lower price. Nevertheless, HubSpot’s freemium plan propels it to the top spot among free customer database solutions.
HubSpot Features
HubSpot Contacts tab (Source: HubSpot)
- Easy to set up and operate
- Contact management, website activity tracking, deal management, tasks, and meeting scheduling
- Deal pipelines, simple automation, custom properties, and quotes
- Landing pages, live chat, conversational bots, forms, contact website activity, list segmentation, and email marketing
- Marketing features include optimized content, social media tools, A/B testing, website traffic analytics, and campaign reporting
- Bulk email sending, email tracking, and templates
- Track and improve customer experience using ticketing, canned responses, surveys, and insights
- Help center includes community support, a knowledge base, and video training; paid tiers offer email, chat, and phone support
Conclusion
Small businesses tend to struggle more with their database management. They struggle more to understand the commands of a database and rely on costly software for managing their business data. Their decisions can be limited if they don’t have a complete understanding about their business data. If you think this is true for you, then I will show you how simple it is to build a database with twenty tables in your WordPress site without any programming knowledge.