Database Table or XML

Question

I'm in the process of designing a small website and was curious when an XML file can/should be substituted for a database table. There are some cases where I think using a database table may be overkill and was just wondering if anyone else has come across making this decision.

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you think you'll end up needing more than a tiny amount of CRUD, or your site will grow beyond a handful users, use a database.

Searching or updating XML files can kill performance and future scalability.

Answer 2

I'd opt for using database tables when concurrent writes might happen, i.e. in any situation when you cannot guarantee that only a single change to the data will happen at any one time.

Further, if the data is relational, I'd use a database.

For small things which are likely to be low traffic, XML is fine.