Global write lock kills performance under heavy write loads

8/10 High

MongoDB requires a global write lock for any write operation. Under write-heavy loads, this severely degrades performance, making it unsuitable for applications with balanced or write-heavy read/write ratios.

Category
performance
Workaround
none
Freshness
persistent
Scope
single_lib
Recurring
Yes
Buyer Type
enterprise

Sources

Collection History

Query: “What are the most common pain points with SQLite for developers in 2025?4/5/2026

SQLite uses a single-writer model, meaning only one transaction can write to the database at a time, while multiple transactions can read concurrently. In WAL mode, concurrent reads and writes are possible, but only one write transaction can be committed at a time, which can still lead to contention under heavy write loads.

Query: “What are the most common pain points with MongoDB for developers in 2025?4/4/2026

MongoDB requires a global write lock to issue any write. Under a write-heavy load, this will kill you.

Created: 4/4/2026Updated: 4/5/2026