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January 18, 2026·Engineering·8 min read

When SQLite is the right answer (and when it isn't)

The default of 'always Postgres' is a habit, not a decision. Here's a pragmatic guide to picking SQLite, Postgres, or one of the new kids — based on what your app actually does.

SQLitePostgresDatabasesArchitecture

"Just use Postgres" is fine advice. It's also a thought-terminator. Sometimes Postgres is wrong.

SQLite is right when - Single-writer or read-heavy workload. - Embedded in a desktop app, mobile app, or edge function. - You want zero ops. No server, no migrations service, no managed plan. - Data fits comfortably on one disk (which is more data than people think — multiple terabytes).

Postgres is right when - Multiple concurrent writers. - You need rich types, JSON columns with indexes, full-text search, geospatial. - Multiple services share a database. - You want the deepest tooling ecosystem on earth.

The new kids Turso, Neon, PlanetScale, Cloudflare D1 — each solves a specific deployment pain. Pick them when you've felt the pain, not because they're new.

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