A Criteria-Based Comparison of Cloud-Native and Cloud-Migrated Databases

Nowadays, organizational data management strategies are fundamental, especially for organizations that are looking for long-term competitiveness. Cloud computing is the solution and one of two main technological approaches: migrating their traditional database systems to the cloud infrastructure or adopting cloud-native databases purpose built to leverage the capabilities of cloud environments. However, specific situations make one or the other of the two approaches the optimal solution. Even if the cloud-migrated database systems can offer familiar architectures and reduced initial conversion efforts, they frequently encounter limitations associated with vertical scalability, efficient utilization of the resources, and fully exploiting cloud elasticity. In parallel, cloud-native databases enable improved resilience and performance in dynamic workloads by integrated features such as horizontal autoscaling, distributed consistency mechanisms, automated failover, and managed operational overhead. Using a conceptual framework concerning architectural, operational, economic, and compliance criteria highlighted in literature on the subject, the paper aims for a comparative analysis of the two approaches.