RethinkDB, an open-source scalable database for the realtime web, today announced that RethinkDB 2.0 is now available. Version 2.0 will contain options for commercial support, improved performance and stability and is the company’s first production-ready release. RethinkDB 2.0 is designed to make building and scaling realtime apps dramatically easier for developers everywhere by utilizing a new database access model that continuously pushes data to applications in realtime.

This landmark release comes on the heels of more than 2,000 improvements, 16 major releases and five years of development. It involved the input of RethinkDB’s vibrant community of more than 400 contributors.

Traditional databases use a query-response database access model. While this system works well on the web, since it maps directly to HTTP’s request-response, adapting database systems to realtime needs still presents a huge engineering challenge. In the past, building realtime apps was out of reach for many companies, which lacked the necessary resources. RethinkDB makes it possible for any company to build realtime apps by providing a painless way to push that data to the apps.

“Modern marketplaces, streaming analytics apps, multiplayer games and collaborative web and mobile apps require sending data directly to the client in realtime,” said Slava Akhmechet, CEO of RethinkDB. “For this reason, RethinkDB has engineered a new approach to its database that makes it possible for many more developers to harness the power of the realtime web.”

In addition to the release of RethinkDB 2.0, the company will also now offer three commercial services: development support, operational support and private, on-site training. These new options are combined with the active support fostered by the company’s highly engaged open source community.

As part of this update, RethinkDB 2.0 has undergone significant enhancements. Version 2.0 features the following updates:

  • Pushing JSON objects to apps in realtime. This open-source database pushes data through the `changes` command, which makes building realtime apps dramatically easier.
  • Integration with any stack. Through RethinkDB 2.0, developers can use dozens of languages, including Python, Ruby, Node.js. It can also integrate with Angular.js, React or other frameworks via technologies like WebSockets or SignalR.
  • Comprehensive database toolset. Developers can express data relationships using distributed joins, build location-aware apps, store multimedia and time series data, do analytics with map/reduce and run sophisticated aggregation commands, along with being able to speed up apps using flexible indexing.
  • Robust architecture, incorporating the latest advances in database technology. The modern distributed system, optimized buffer cache, multiversion concurrency control and state-of-the-art log-structured storage engine work seamlessly together in a robust, scalable, high-performance database system.

“RethinkDB is developed by a core team of database experts and is shaped by thousands of developers participating in an open development process,” said Slava Akhmechet, co-founder of RethinkDB. “We’re immensely grateful to have such a wonderful community. With the 2.0 release, we’re launching a new way to improve collaboration and the flow of ideas throughout the world.”