Question 1

What's the difference between a database and a data warehouse?

Accepted Answer

A database is built for day-to-day application work (creating, updating, and reading records quickly), often called OLTP. A data warehouse is optimized for analytics (large scans, aggregations, reporting), often called OLAP, and usually stores historical data from many sources.

Question 2

When should I use a database?

Accepted Answer

Use a database when your application needs to store and retrieve data reliably—such as user accounts, orders, inventory, messages, or logs you need to query. Choose a relational database when you need strong consistency and transactions (e.g., payments). Consider a NoSQL database when you need flexible schemas, very high scale, or low-latency access patterns (e.g., user sessions, event data).

Question 3

How much does a database cost in the cloud?

Accepted Answer

Cost depends on the database type (relational vs NoSQL), deployment model (managed service vs self-managed), instance size/CPU/RAM, storage size and type (SSD vs HDD), read/write IOPS, backup storage, data transfer, and high availability (multi-zone/replicas). Many providers offer free tiers or small starter instances, but production costs typically grow with performance, storage, and availability requirements.

Database

Definition

Real-World Example

Related Terms

Cloud Provider Equivalencies

See Database in Action

Cloud Architecture for Ad Network with Authentication

Serverless E-Commerce Platform with Real-Time Inventory

Global E-Commerce Platform with Multi-Cloud Failover

Scalable 3-Tier Web Application

Compare Across Cloud Providers

Explore More Cloud Computing Terms