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Amazon DynamoDB vs Riak KV

Amazon DynamoDB: AWS's serverless key-value and document store with single-digit-millisecond reads at any scale. Riak KV: Erlang-based, Dynamo-style key-value store built to stay up through ugly failures.

key differences

  • Licensing: Amazon DynamoDB is proprietary (Proprietary (AWS service)); Riak KV is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Amazon DynamoDB is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Riak KV (≤ 1 PB).
  • Transactions: Amazon DynamoDB offers limited ACID; Riak KV offers none.
  • Only Amazon DynamoDB has transactions, json, change data capture, triggers, encryption at rest.
  • Only Riak KV has compression.
  • Amazon DynamoDB has a serverless option; Riak KV does not.

choose amazon-dynamodb for

  • +Serverless application backends on Lambda
  • +User profiles, sessions and shopping carts
  • +High-traffic e-commerce and gaming state
  • +IoT device state and metadata

best at · OLTP, Sessions, Cache

choose riak-kv for

  • +Highly available session and profile storage
  • +Healthcare or betting systems needing extreme uptime
  • +Object and blob metadata stores
  • +Shopping carts with CRDT merges

best at · OLTP, Sessions, Metadata

Amazon DynamoDBAWS's serverless key-value and document store with single-digit-millisecond reads at any scale.
Riak KVErlang-based, Dynamo-style key-value store built to stay up through ugly failures.
overview
Primary model
Key-Value
Key-Value
Also supports
Document
–
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Amazon Web Services
OpenRiak (Erlang Ecosystem Foundation)
First release
2012
2009
Latest version
–
3.4.1 (Jun 29, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (AWS service)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
63.3
18.1
Rank
#14
#184
GitHub stars
–
56
Stack Overflow questions
14.3K
772
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Limited
None
Consistency
Strong, Eventual
Eventual, Causal
Schema
Schemaless
Schemaless
Architecture
Distributed, Serverless
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
–
capabilities
Transactions
✓
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
—
—
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
—
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
✓
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
—
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
—
Role-based access
✓
—
Time travel
✓
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
✓
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
DynamoDB API, PartiQL
Riak HTTP API, Protocol Buffers API
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, C#, .NET, Rust, Ruby
Erlang, Java, Python, Go, C#, Ruby, JavaScript
Best for
OLTP, Sessions, Cache, Metadata
OLTP, Sessions, Metadata, Content
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Amazon DynamoDB vs Riak KV: FAQ

What is the difference between Amazon DynamoDB and Riak KV?

Amazon DynamoDB: AWS's serverless key-value and document store with single-digit-millisecond reads at any scale. Riak KV: Erlang-based, Dynamo-style key-value store built to stay up through ugly failures. Licensing: Amazon DynamoDB is proprietary (Proprietary (AWS service)); Riak KV is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Amazon DynamoDB is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Riak KV (≤ 1 PB). Transactions: Amazon DynamoDB offers limited ACID; Riak KV offers none.

When should I choose Amazon DynamoDB over Riak KV?

Choose Amazon DynamoDB for serverless application backends on Lambda; user profiles, sessions and shopping carts; and high-traffic e-commerce and gaming state. Choose Riak KV for highly available session and profile storage; healthcare or betting systems needing extreme uptime; and object and blob metadata stores.

Is Amazon DynamoDB or Riak KV more popular?

Amazon DynamoDB ranks #14 on the WhichDB Score (63.3/100) and Riak KV ranks #184 (18.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Amazon DynamoDB and Riak KV open source?

No. Amazon DynamoDB is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. Riak KV is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.