Prediction Held up AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 3/5 debate potential 3/5

Merriman: JSON document models will emerge as the standard NoSQL data model

Dwight Merriman · Fireside chat with Dwight Merriman // Data Driven #8 // Sep 2012 (interviewed by Matt Turck) · Dec 5, 2013 · at 13:07

Dwight Merriman, co-founder and CEO of 10gen (MongoDB), evaluates different NoSQL architectures during a fireside chat with Matt Turck.

0:00 / 0:13exact quote · 13.3s

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“My belief, which is opinion, is that in, in the end of these NoSQL data models, that the document-oriented model will be the one that kind of converges on for standard, and specifically JSON style, or JSON based.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Among NoSQL data models, JSON-based document-oriented databases will ultimately emerge as the primary standard.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Dwight Merriman predicted in December 2013 that JSON-based document-oriented databases would emerge as the primary standard among NoSQL data models. Industry adoption metrics, developer surveys, and market share data corroborate this claim. DB-Engines category trends show Document Stores holding a 10.9% total category share—more than double the next closest non-relational category (Key-Value at 4.7%)—with MongoDB consistently ranking as the single most popular NoSQL database globally (#5 overall behind four relational databases). Furthermore, Stack Overflow Developer Surveys from 2017 through 2020 listed MongoDB as the #1 'Most Wanted' database, and market research from Dataintelo indicates document databases held the largest segment share (38.4%) of the overall NoSQL market.

DB-Engines historical category metrics show Document Stores capturing 10.9% of overall DBMS popularity, far exceeding Key-Value Stores (4.7%) and Wide-Column Stores (2.4%).
MongoDB ranked as the top non-relational database globally on DB-Engines (#5 overall) and led Stack Overflow's 'Most Wanted' database survey for four consecutive years (2017–2020).
Market reports from Dataintelo confirm that Document Databases held the largest segment share (38.4%) of the global NoSQL market in 2025.

Checked against

[1] scylladb.com [2] mongodb.com [3] mdpi.com [4] db-engines.com [5] computer.org [6] wikipedia.org [7] db-engines.com [8] mongodb.com

DB-Engines ranking "Document stores" share score 2018 2019 NoSQL database market share document vs key value column graph 2018 DB Engines ranking database model popularity 2018 document store DB Engines ranking NoSQL models 2018 document key value column graph "DB-Engines" ranking December 2018 MongoDB Redis Cassandra Stack Overflow developer survey 2018 database most popular MongoDB NoSQL Stack Overflow developer survey database ranking 2018 "MongoDB" "Redis" "Cassandra" "DB-Engines" "Document stores" "Key-value stores" popularity score 2018 "Document stores" "Key-value stores" "Wide column stores" "DB-Engines" "2018" ranking category score

assessed as of 2026-07-31

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

document-oriented model JSON NoSQL data models

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Merriman: JSON document models will emerge as the standard NoSQL data model

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