Sigh. You know why many SQL databases use a lot of RAM? Because it improves their performance. They don't require the RAM, they just use it when it's available

Sigh. You know why many SQL databases use a lot of RAM? Because it improves their performance. They don't require the RAM, they just use it when it's available. Would you rather that it uses your free RAM to speed up your database operations, or to just have it sit idle doing nothing? As for not being "the only choice" - while technically correct, this is very misleading. SQL databases and schemaless/document stores are _not interchangeable_. They are used for different usecases with different data models and different integrity requirements. MongoDB is a special one entirely - even for a schemaless document store, it's just very poorly designed and maintained. Use any of the many other such databases - which gained a reputation by actually working well in production, rather than its developers organizing lots of hackathons as a marketing stunt.