What are the differences between the NoSQL databases and how are they different from traditional relational databases?

The term NoSQL covers a lot of different approaches to data storage ranging from the simplest key/value storage to sophisticated document databases. It's a catchy buzz word, but not very discriptive IMHO.

The term NoSQL covers a lot of different approaches to data storage ranging from the simplest key/value storage to sophisticated document databases. It's a catchy buzz word, but not very discriptive IMHO. For a quick intro you could take a look at the Wikipedia entry for NoSQL.

They are not better. NOSQL doesn't involve any new innovation or special feature. NOSQL just refers to a collection of software products that are used for certain types of application but don't necessarily have much else in common with each other.

NOSQL does not have to mean a non-relational database.

Agreed, the question is "not which is better," it's "which solution or set of solutions is best for this particular situation. " NoSQL covers a lot of different storage technologies such as CouchDB, MongoDB, Cassandra and Solr. CouchDB and MongoDB store multi-dimensional data-structures.

MongoDB is also schema-less. Cassandra is a column-based storage engine for fast retrieval, and Solr helps solve other problems such as faceting. NoSQL simply refers to any storage facility which is not interacted with via SQL queries.

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