maintenance. Still operating for existing users via the API, but frozen for over a decade with no console support; DynamoDB is AWS's NoSQL successor.
Overview
Amazon SimpleDB is one of AWS's earliest data services. It is a schemaless store of items with multi-valued string attributes, grouped into domains, that indexes every attribute automatically and offers a SQL-like Select with eventual or consistent reads. Domains are capped at 10 GB, values are strings (so numbers need zero-padding to sort), and throughput per domain is modest, which is why AWS built DynamoDB as its successor in 2012. SimpleDB still works for existing users through the API, but it has seen no meaningful feature work in over a decade and is not in the AWS console.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Every attribute is indexed automatically
- +No servers or capacity to manage
- +Conditional puts and consistent reads when needed
Trade-offs
- −10 GB per domain and low per-domain throughput
- −All values are strings; numeric sorting needs padding tricks
- −No feature development and no console support
- −Sparse, aging SDK support
Great for
- +Maintaining legacy AWS applications built on it
- +Tiny metadata stores in old systems
Think twice for
- −Any new application (use DynamoDB)
- −Datasets over a few GB
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 2 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Small · ≤ 100 GB
- Horizontal scaling
- Manual
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- Limited ACID
- Consistency
- Tunable, Eventual
- Schema
- Schemaless
- Architecture
- Distributed, Serverless
- Query languages
- SimpleDB Select (SQL-like)
10 GB and 1 billion attributes per domain; scale out by partitioning data across domains in the application.
Deployment
available on · AWS
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Amazon SimpleDB
AWS's serverless key-value and document store with single-digit-millisecond reads at any scale.
amazon-simpledb vs amazon-dynamodb →AWS's managed MongoDB-API database on a proprietary, Aurora-style storage layer.
amazon-simpledb vs amazon-documentdb →Cheap, schemaless key-attribute store inside an Azure Storage account.
amazon-simpledb vs azure-table-storage →The key-value store built into HashiCorp Consul for service config, locks and discovery.
amazon-simpledb vs hashicorp-consul-kv →Tiny embeddable C string key-value database from the radare2 project, built on djb's cdb format.
amazon-simpledb vs sdb →The original coordination service: hierarchical znodes, watches and ephemeral nodes for clusters.
amazon-simpledb vs apache-zookeeper →Amazon SimpleDB FAQ
What is Amazon SimpleDB?
Amazon SimpleDB is a key-value database by Amazon Web Services, first released in 2007. Amazon SimpleDB is one of AWS's earliest data services. It is a schemaless store of items with multi-valued string attributes, grouped into domains, that indexes every attribute automatically and offers a SQL-like Select with eventual or consistent reads. Domains are capped at 10 GB, values are strings (so numbers need zero-padding to sort), and throughput per domain is modest, which is why AWS built DynamoDB as its successor in 2012. SimpleDB still works for existing users through the API, but it has seen no meaningful feature work in over a decade and is not in the AWS console.
Is Amazon SimpleDB open source?
No. Amazon SimpleDB is proprietary, closed-source software.
Does Amazon SimpleDB support ACID transactions?
Partly. Amazon SimpleDB offers limited ACID guarantees (for example, single-record or single-partition transactions), with tunable, eventual consistency.
Does Amazon SimpleDB scale horizontally?
Amazon SimpleDB has no built-in sharding; scaling out means partitioning data in your application. It is comfortable at small scale (≤ 100 GB).
How can I run Amazon SimpleDB?
You can use the vendor's managed cloud and run it serverless. It is available on AWS.
What is Amazon SimpleDB best for?
Amazon SimpleDB is a strong fit for maintaining legacy AWS applications built on it and tiny metadata stores in old systems. Think twice for any new application (use DynamoDB).
What are the best alternatives to Amazon SimpleDB?
Common alternatives to Amazon SimpleDB include Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon DocumentDB, Azure Table Storage, Consul KV and SDB. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
Is Amazon SimpleDB still maintained?
Amazon SimpleDB is in maintenance mode. Still operating for existing users via the API, but frozen for over a decade with no console support; DynamoDB is AWS's NoSQL successor.
How popular is Amazon SimpleDB?
Amazon SimpleDB ranks #207 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (15.6/100), and #29 among key-value databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.