Let’s make WordPress officially support SQLite
make.wordpress.org
WordPress can be (and is) used for any kind of site, regardless of size or complexity. Some common use-cases include: Single-page landing sitesSimple company sites with just a few pages. These site…

As a middle ground, we could implement a solution for the bottom tier: small to medium sites and blogs. These sites don’t necessarily need a full-fledged MySQL database.

SQLite seems to be the perfect fit:

  • It is the most widely used database worldwide
  • It is cross-platform and can run on any device
  • It is included by default on all PHP installations (unless explicitly disabled)
  • WordPress’s minimum requirements would be a simple PHP server, without the need for a separate database server.
  • SQLite support enables lower hosting costs, decreases energy consumption, and lowers performance costs on lower-end servers.

What would the benefits of SQLite be?

Officially supporting SQLite in WordPress could have many benefits. Some notable ones would include:

  • Increased performance on lower-end servers and environments.
  • Potential for WordPress growth in markets where we did not have access due to the system’s requirements.
  • Potential for growth in the hosting market using installation “scenarios”.
  • Reduced energy consumption – increased sustainability for the WordPress project.
  • Further WordPress’s mission to “democratize publishing” for everyone.
  • Easier to contribute to WordPress – download the files and run the built-in PHP server without any other setup required.
  • Easier to use automated tests suite.
  • Sites can be “portable” and self-contained.

Source and other links:

  • @NateNate60
    1•2 months ago

    It’s an interesting idea, for sure, but aren’t many Wordpress sites hosted on shared hosting solutions that provide a MySQL/MariaDB database free of charge?

    • @TCB13OPEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      Yes, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have sqlite. Many people also run WP setups on small VPS and don’t really want/need mysql running and wasting ram all the time. Having sqlite also opens the door to database git versioning and making local dev easier. While none of this will work at scale they’ll still provide immense value for a lot of people.

      Most WP websites are read-only and they could run just fine on sqlite. Even if you’ve a large number of reads, WP people are used to cache everything as static HTML files so it won’t be that bad either. For what’s worth sqlite is also getting faster/better at concurrency (WAL and whatnot) and it may even be “about 30% faster than mysql” in some cases.