Architect's Tech Stack

Sep 26, 2026 · Databases

Why Database Sharding Is No Longer the Default Choice

The article argues that manual database sharding is shifting from a default scaling strategy to a fallback option, as native distributed databases like TiDB and OceanBase internalize sharding, routing, and distributed transactions, reducing application complexity, though they introduce higher latency, operational overhead, and cost, making single-node MySQL with proper indexing preferable for smaller datasets.