SQLite Has a Free API — The Most Deployed Database in the World

SQLite is the most deployed database in the world — 1 trillion+ databases in production. It runs in-process, needs zero configuration, and it's completely free. In 2026, it's also becoming the go-to database for web apps.

Why SQLite in 2026?

The "SQLite Renaissance" is real:

• Turso — distributed SQLite at the edge
• LiteFS — replicated SQLite by Fly.io
• Litestream — streaming SQLite replication
• D1 — Cloudflare's SQLite-based database
• libSQL — open-source fork with more features
• Better-sqlite3 — synchronous, 5x faster than node-sqlite3

Quick Start (Node.js)

npm install better-sqlite3

import Database from "better-sqlite3";

const db = new Database("app.db");

// Enable WAL mode (concurrent reads while writing)
db.pragma("journal_mode = WAL");

// Create table
db.exec(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    email TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    created_at TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
  )
`);

// Insert
const insert = db.prepare("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)");
insert.run("Alice", "[e-mail]");

// Batch insert (transaction — 100x faster)
const insertMany = db.transaction((users) => {
  for (const user of users) {
    insert.run(user.name, user.email);
  }
});

insertMany([
  { name: "Bob", email: "[e-mail]" },
  { name: "Charlie", email: "[e-mail]" },
]);

// Query
const users = db.prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE ?").all("%li%");
console.log(users);

// Single row
const user = db.prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?").get(1);

Full-Text Search (Built-in!)

// Create FTS5 virtual table
db.exec(`
  CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS articles_fts USING fts5(
    title, content, tags
  )
`);

// Insert articles
const insertArticle = db.prepare(
  "INSERT INTO articles_fts (title, content, tags) VALUES (?, ?, ?)"
);

insertArticle.run("Getting Started with SQLite", "SQLite is a lightweight database...", "sqlite database tutorial");
insertArticle.run("React State Management", "Managing state in React apps...", "react state zustand");

// Full-text search with ranking
const results = db.prepare(`
  SELECT *, rank FROM articles_fts
  WHERE articles_fts MATCH ?
  ORDER BY rank
  LIMIT 10
`).all("sqlite database");

No Elasticsearch. No Algolia. Built into SQLite.

JSON Support

// Store JSON data
db.exec(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS events (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    data JSON NOT NULL,
    created_at TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
  )
`);

db.prepare("INSERT INTO events (data) VALUES (json(?))").run(
  JSON.stringify({
    type: "page_view",
    page: "/pricing",
    user: { id: 123, plan: "pro" },
    metadata: { referrer: "google.com" },
  })
);

// Query JSON fields
const pageViews = db.prepare(`
  SELECT 
    json_extract(data, '$.type') as event_type,
    json_extract(data, '$.page') as page,
    json_extract(data, '$.user.plan') as plan
  FROM events
  WHERE json_extract(data, '$.type') = 'page_view'
`).all();

Express.js API with SQLite

import express from "express";
import Database from "better-sqlite3";

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

const db = new Database("api.db");
db.pragma("journal_mode = WAL");

db.exec(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS todos (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    text TEXT NOT NULL,
    completed INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
    created_at TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
  )
`);

app.get("/api/todos", (req, res) => {
  const todos = db.prepare("SELECT * FROM todos ORDER BY created_at DESC").all();
  res.json(todos);
});

app.post("/api/todos", (req, res) => {
  const { text } = req.body;
  const result = db.prepare("INSERT INTO todos (text) VALUES (?)").run(text);
  const todo = db.prepare("SELECT * FROM todos WHERE id = ?").get(result.lastInsertRowid);
  res.status(201).json(todo);
});

app.patch("/api/todos/:id", (req, res) => {
  const { completed } = req.body;
  db.prepare("UPDATE todos SET completed = ? WHERE id = ?").run(completed ? 1 : 0, req.params.id);
  const todo = db.prepare("SELECT * FROM todos WHERE id = ?").get(req.params.id);
  res.json(todo);
});

app.delete("/api/todos/:id", (req, res) => {
  db.prepare("DELETE FROM todos WHERE id = ?").run(req.params.id);
  res.status(204).send();
});

app.listen(3000);

Migrations

const MIGRATIONS = [
  `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    email TEXT UNIQUE
  )`,
  `ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN role TEXT DEFAULT 'user'`,
  `CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_users_email ON users(email)`,
  `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS posts (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    user_id INTEGER REFERENCES users(id),
    title TEXT NOT NULL,
    content TEXT,
    created_at TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
  )`,
];

function migrate(db) {
  db.exec("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS _migrations (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY)");
  const applied = db.prepare("SELECT MAX(id) as last FROM _migrations").get();
  const lastId = applied?.last || 0;

  const pending = MIGRATIONS.slice(lastId);
  if (pending.length === 0) return;

  const run = db.transaction(() => {
    for (let i = 0; i < pending.length; i++) {
      db.exec(pending[i]);
      db.prepare("INSERT INTO _migrations (id) VALUES (?)").run(lastId + i + 1);
    }
  });

  run();
  console.log(`Applied ${pending.length} migrations`);
}

SQLite vs PostgreSQL vs MySQL vs MongoDB

Feature	SQLite	PostgreSQL	MySQL	MongoDB
Setup	Zero (file)	Server	Server	Server
Concurrency	WAL (good reads)	Excellent	Good	Good
JSON support	Yes	Yes (JSONB)	Yes	Native
Full-text search	FTS5 (built-in)	tsvector	FULLTEXT	Atlas Search
Replication	Turso/LiteFS	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in
Best for	Single-server apps	Multi-server	Web apps	Documents
Max size	281 TB	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited

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