The Howdy Glossary

YugabyteDB is an open-source, cloud-native, distributed SQL database tailored for global applications. It supports ACID transactions, secondary indexes, automatic sharding, and synchronous replication across multiple zones or regions. Built on Google Spanner's principles while maintaining PostgreSQL compatibility from CitusDB, it allows scalable deployments with a familiar SQL interface. YugabyteDB provides high-throughput systems with low-latency responses and is designed for mission-critical use cases in industries like financial services where rapid data scaling is essential.

Developed by Yugabyte Inc., formerly Cloud Database Solutions Inc., YugabyteDB was created by ex-members of Facebook’s data infrastructure team to meet the demands of modern databases requiring scalability without compromising data integrity and reliability. The database blends Google Spanner’s architecture principles with PostgreSQL compatibility to offer high-performance and scalable solutions ideal for cloud-native environments. This vision aimed to facilitate seamless transitions from traditional databases to distributed systems while handling large volumes of data efficiently.

Facing competition from MongoDB, Cassandra, CockroachDB, and Amazon Aurora in the database management market, YugabyteDB stands out through its unique combination of features—ACID transactions support, secondary indexes, automatic sharding, and synchronous replication across multiple regions. These attributes ensure robust performance and data integrity suitable for global applications. By combining Google Spanner's architecture with PostgreSQL compatibility within a relational SQL interface that scales seamlessly in distributed environments, YugabyteDB offers a compelling choice for organizations needing reliable databases capable of high-throughput processing and real-time scalability.