Choose a Database Deployment Type¶
MongoDB Atlas can deploy two types of cloud databases: serverless instances and clusters.
- Serverless Instances require minimal configuration. Atlas automatically scales the storage capacity, storage throughput, and computing power for a serverless instance seamlessly to meet your workload requirements. They always run the latest MongoDB version, and you only pay for the operations that you run.
- Clusters give you more flexibility in choosing your database configuration. You can set the cluster tier, use advanced capabilities such as sharding and Continuous Cloud Backups, distribute your data to multiple regions and cloud providers, and scale your cluster on-demand. You can also enable autoscaling, but it requires preconfiguration. MongoDB bills clusters based on the deployment configuration and cluster tier.
Serverless instances are in a preview release and do not support some Atlas features at this time.
For a full list of unsupported features, see Serverless Instance Limitations.
You can use both clusters and serverless instances in the same Atlas project.
Use Cases¶
The best database deployment for you depends on your use case and feature requirements.
Create a serverless instance if you want to:
- Get started quickly with minimal database configuration.
- Have your database scale automatically and dynamically to meet your workload.
- Run infrequent or sparse workloads.
- Develop or test in a cloud environment.
Create a cluster if you want to:
- Choose a specific database configuration based on your workload requirements.
- Define database scaling behavior.
- Run high-throughput production workloads.
- Always have capacity available.
Feature Support and Comparison¶
The following table indicates whether clusters or serverless instances support the listed configuration or capability in MongoDB Atlas.
MongoDB plans to add support for more configurations and capabilities on serverless instances over time. To see the current serverless instance limitations and learn about planned support, see Serverless Instance Limitations.
For the latest product updates, see the Atlas Changelog.
Configurations
Configuration | Clusters | Serverless instances |
|---|---|---|
AWS regions | ||
Google Cloud regions | ||
Microsoft Azure regions | ||
Multi-region deployments | ||
Multi-cloud deployments | ||
Sharded deployments | ||
Advanced enterprise security features (including LDAP
and database auditing) |
Capabilities
Capability | Clusters | Serverless instances |
|---|---|---|
Use the Atlas API | ||
Monitor metrics | ||
Configure alerts on available metrics or billing | ||
Configure backups | Includes two daily snapshots | |
Perform point-in-time or automated restores
from backup snapshots | ||
Use the Data Explorer (Find, Indexes, Schema
Advisor and Aggregation Pipeline Builder) | ||
Get on-demand index and schema
suggestions | ||
Use triggers | ||
Use Atlas Search | ||
Use Online Archive | ||
Use BI Connector | ||
Use MongoDB Charts | ||
Use MongoDB Realm |
You can’t migrate between clusters and serverless instances during the preview release of serverless instances.
For a full list of serverless instance limitations, see Serverless Instance Limitations.
Next Steps¶
Once you select a database deployment type, you can