Database vs DataMart vs Data Warehouse vs Data Lake

Question

Looking for the high-level differences/comparison among

• Database
• Data Mart (Top-down approach)
• Data Warehouse
• Data Lake

Please use relative comparison when specifics are not available.

Answer 1

Included below is a high-level comparison between the various data tiers mentioned. Please feel free to drop a comment if any of these need corrections.

Note: Execute the HTML to see the result

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 <table id="dataTierComparison"> <tbody> <tr> <th> </th> <th>Database</th> <th>Data Mart (Top-down)</th> <th>Data Warehouse</th> <th>Data Lake</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Source</th> <td>Single</td> <td>Single</td> <td>Multiple</td> <td>Multiple</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Structure</th> <td>Structured</td> <td>Structured</td> <td>Structured</td> <td>Raw</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Purpose</th> <td>Determined</td> <td>Determined</td> <td>Determined</td> <td>Undertermined</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Storage</th> <td>Centralized</td> <td>Decentralized</td> <td>Centralized</td> <td>Centralized</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Data Format</th> <td>Detailed</td> <td>Summarized</td> <td>Detailed</td> <td>All</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Flexibility</th> <td>Low</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>High</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Primary Use</th> <td>Transactional</td> <td>Reporting</td> <td>Analytics &amp; Reporting</td> <td>Analytics</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Cost</th> <td>Low</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>High</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Data Volume</th> <td>Low</td> <td>Low</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>High</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Development</th> <td>Top-down</td> <td>Bottom-up</td> <td>Top-down</td> <td>All</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Design Time</th> <td>Medium</td> <td>Medium</td> <td>High</td> <td>Low</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Volatility</th> <td>Medium</td> <td>Low</td> <td>None</td> <td>None</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Data Operations</th> <td>CRUD</td> <td>CR</td> <td>CRU</td> <td>CR</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Subject Area</th> <td>Single</td> <td>Single</td> <td>Multiple</td> <td>Multiple</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Design Schema</th> <td>Relational</td> <td>Multi-dimensional</td> <td>Relational</td> <td>No Schema</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>