DocumentDB

DocumentDB is a term used for several cloud-based, document-oriented databases designed to store, index, and query JSON-like documents. The name has been used by different vendors for managed services that emphasize schema-less storage, automatic indexing, and scalable querying of semi-structured data.

Azure DocumentDB, introduced by Microsoft in 2014 as a cloud NoSQL document database, supported JSON documents, automatic indexing, and a SQL-like query language. It offered global distribution and tunable consistency levels. In 2017 Microsoft rebranded the service as Azure Cosmos DB and expanded it to support multiple data models and APIs. The original DocumentDB API remains available within Cosmos DB, but the standalone product name was discontinued.

Amazon DocumentDB is a managed service by Amazon Web Services designed to be compatible with the MongoDB API. It stores JSON-like documents, supports MongoDB drivers and tooling, and provides automated backups, scaling, and security integration with AWS. While marketed as MongoDB-compatible, it does not implement all MongoDB features and may differ in behavior compared with native MongoDB deployments.

Use cases for DocumentDB-style databases include content catalogs, user profiles, metadata stores, and other semi-structured data workloads. When evaluating options, users should consider API compatibility, feature parity, global distribution capabilities, operational costs, and integration with cloud-provider services.