MongoDB started in 2007 as part of a planned platform-as-a-service product, but the database component turned out to be the real star. Founded by Dwight Merriman, Eliot Horowitz, and Kevin Ryan in New York City, MongoDB Inc. went public in October 2017 on NASDAQ, and the stock has been one of the stronger performers in enterprise tech.
The MongoDB database uses a document model, storing data as flexible JSON-like structures instead of rigid rows and columns. This made it wildly popular with developers building modern applications where data schemas change frequently. It’s been a top-three database in the DB-Engines rankings for years.
MongoDB Atlas, the company’s fully managed cloud database service, has become the main revenue driver. It runs on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and it accounts for the majority of MongoDB’s revenue, which exceeded $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2024. The company serves more than 46,000 customers in over 100 countries.
Beyond the core database, MongoDB offers Atlas Search (built on Lucene), Atlas Vector Search for AI applications, and Atlas Device Sync for mobile. They’ve also invested heavily in making the platform work well for AI and machine learning workloads. For developers who want a database that feels natural to work with from application code, MongoDB remains a popular first choice.
