Mongo DB free? for business (commercial) usage ? without limitation of DB size?

[Patrick_Sonnleitner]

Hello,

we have planned to develop an energy monitoring system.
We would like to use a fast and reliable NoSql database as a basis, which is why we came across Mongo DB.

However, referring to the MongoDB website, we have a few questions:

• Is MongoDB a free software, which we are allowed to install on our server and also use commercially ?
• Is there a limit to the size of the database ? We have read here about 500GB. Or is this limit only if we operate the database in a cloud offered?

Or am I allowed to run the MongoDB locally on our server, without limitation of the DB size, commercially ?
Commercial means that our customers access the data in MongoDB via a web platform.

It would be great if I could get more information here. Unfortunately, in the articles I have read so far, it was not clear to what extent MongoDB can be operated commercially (business) free of charge (without restriction of the DB size).

Hope you can help us little bit to clarify issues

Thanks a lot for your help
Regards,
Patrick

[Stennie]

Welcome to the MongoDB Community @Patrick_Sonnleitner !

@Patrick_Sonnleitner

Is MongoDB a free software, which we are allowed to install on our server and also use commercially ?

Modern MongoDB server versions are licensed per the terms of the SSPL (Server Side Public License) or a Commercial License. Official MongoDB drivers use Apache License v2.0.

There are two on-premises versions of MongoDB Server:

• MongoDB Community Server (SSPL), free to install subject to the terms of the license.

• MongoDB Enterprise Advanced Server (which includes additional security, auditing, management, and tooling features) is available with a commercial support subscription (Commercial License)

Please refer to MongoDB Licensing and SSPL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for more details on licensing.

@Patrick_Sonnleitner

Commercial means that our customers access the data in MongoDB via a web platform.

This is covered in the FAQ, so please review all information. The most important consideration for your use case would be:

The copyleft condition of Section 13 of the SSPL applies only when you are offering the functionality of MongoDB, or modified versions of MongoDB, to third parties as a service. There is no copyleft condition for other SaaS applications that use MongoDB as a database.

Commercial usage of Community Edition is fine as long as your usage complies with the terms of the SSPL.

@Patrick_Sonnleitner

Is there a limit to the size of the database ?

There is no specific storage limit for database size in either server edition and by default, both are using the same WiredTiger storage engine. See Database and collection limitations - #2 by Stennie for related details.

@Patrick_Sonnleitner

We have read here about 500GB. Or is this limit only if we operate the database in a cloud offered?

A storage limit will be associated with a managed service or cluster tier. There are some operational considerations in terms of affordably scaling vertically, so typically you will start to scale horizontally using sharding when you get into larger data sizes (for example, MongoDB Atlas has a suggested limit of 4TB per shard).

Capacity planning is highly dependent on your workload and performance goals. You can see some examples of different dimensions of scaling on MongoDB at Scale, including deployments with petabytes of data and millions of operations per second.

Regards,
Stennie