BaseX vs eXist-db

BaseX is a free, open-source XML database engine and XQuery processor for data-intensive web applications. It stores XML documents, binary data, and XQuery values, and handles XML, HTML, JSON, and CSV formats. Its XQuery 4.0 processor supports the W3C Update and Full Text extensions. You can operate it from the command line, in client/server mode, or through desktop and web interfaces. The graphical interface provides a query editor with syntax highlighting, keyword search, interactive visualizations, and server administration. RESTXQ supports building web applications with XQuery, while the server offers REST and WebDAV access to databases and resources. Concurrent reads, ACID-safe write transactions, user permissions, and secure authentication are supported. BaseX runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with API and self-hosted deployment listed. Java 17 or higher is required, and Adoptium distributions are recommended. The BaseX plan costs nothing.

eXist-db is a free, open-source NoSQL document database and application platform centered on XML. Its native engine stores textual or binary documents without requiring a database schema, and it is designed for self-hosted deployment on Linux, macOS, or Windows. The product implements XQuery 3.1, though some features and functions are unsupported, and RESTXQ lets developers deploy RESTful services from XQuery annotations. Its interfaces include REST-style HTTP, SOAP, XML-RPC, and WebDAV. A browser-based IDE provides syntax coloring, code completion, and error checking for application artifacts. Full-text search uses an implementation-specific Apache Lucene approach rather than the W3C XQuery and XPath Full Text 3.0 specification. Security extends Unix permissions with access control lists and external authentication realms. The software is licensed under the LGPL for academic, non-commercial, and commercial use. The documentation lists Java 8 for versions 3.x–6.x or Java 21 for version 7.x, about 500 MB of disk space, and at least 512 MB of memory.