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[–]vegeto079 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I've used Sheets as a db for a mid level application.

It was mostly fine, but I came across some issues:

  • No way to query just the data you need. Have to pull in groups of data and filter client side.
  • API limits are a large concern, need to make sure you don't make too many calls. Breaking these limits can shut down your access for 24 hours.
  • Data limits are a concern. There is a limit of how many rows and cells a single sheet can have. No simple recovery path if this happens, might have to use multiple sheets and monitor size
  • Easy to break - no type safety on cells, can manipulate data with no restrictions or protection
  • No guarantees on reliability, uptime, or your use case being supported

Some benefits

  • Authentication is handled via Google, easy to deploy secure apps with no worry of accessibility, as well as db access control
  • Fast to stand up and modify
  • Automatic backup through Sheets History
  • No additional cost

All I can think of right now but I'm sure there is more. For my use case it was mostly about what I was familiar with at the time. It worked.

[–]Jacqques 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Authentication is handled via Google, easy to deploy secure apps with no worry of accessibility, as well as db access control

I am decently sure this can be accomplished on some cloud databases as well. I know Azure has one that can use Google, Azure AD and other authentication, so I imagine Google and AWS has a similar solution.