What are the advantages and disadvantages of NoSQL databases?

Advantages of NoSQL:

• Flexible data schema, allowing easy adaptation to changing requirements.
• High horizontal scalability, important for distributed systems and large data volumes.
• Better performance for certain types of applications (e.g., processing large volumes of unstructured data, real-time analytics).
• Usually lower cost compared to relational databases in similar usage scenarios.

Disadvantages of NoSQL:

• Lack of strict adherence to ACID properties (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability), often using an eventual consistency model.
• Absence of a standard query language similar to SQL.
• Fewer mature tools and ecosystem compared to relational databases.
• Complexity when working with complex data relationships requiring JOIN operations.
• Need for a deeper understanding of the internal database structure for query optimization.