Which database would you choose for a new project today, and why?

Database choices are one of those decisions that developers can argue about for hours.

PostgreSQL versus MySQL. SQL versus NoSQL. Managed database versus self-hosted. Relational systems versus document databases. One database versus several specialized systems.

But the interesting part isn't which database is universally "best." There probably isn't one.

The real question is: what problem are you solving?

For a new project, would you choose PostgreSQL because of its flexibility and relational features? SQLite because you want simplicity? MongoDB because your data model fits documents naturally? Redis for specific high-speed workloads? Something distributed because you're operating at a very large scale?

I'd also like to hear people's experiences after choosing a database and living with that decision.

Did your original choice make development easier? Did you eventually hit scaling limitations? Was migration painful? Did you discover that a feature you assumed you'd need was completely unnecessary?

Another interesting area is database architecture in smaller applications. There is a growing trend toward keeping systems surprisingly simple: one application, one relational database, and perhaps a cache only when it is actually needed.

What database are you using right now, and what do you like or dislike about it?

Share real experiences rather than benchmarks alone. Sometimes the most useful database advice comes from someone who had to maintain one for two years.