SQLite is not directly comparable to client/server SQL database engines such as MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server since SQLite is trying to solve a different problem.
Client/server SQL database engines strive to implement a shared repository of enterprise data. They emphasis scalability, concurrency, centralization, and control. SQLite strives to provide local data storage for individual applications and devices. SQLite emphasizes economy, efficiency, reliability, independence, and simplicity.
Client/server database engines are designed to live at the core of the network, inside a lovingly-attended datacenter. SQLite is designed to thrive at the edge of the network - fending for itself on the frontier while providing fast and reliable data services to applications that would otherwise have dodgy connectivity.
SQLite does not compete with client/server databases. SQLite competes with [http://man.he.net/man3/fopen | fopen()].
Application file format
(Further details [application file-format | here].)
SQLite has been used with great success as the on-disk file format for desktop applications such as version control systems, financial analysis tools, media cataloging and editing suites, CAD packages, record keeping programs, and so forth. The traditional File/Open operation calls sqlite3_open() to attach to the database file. Updates happen automatically as application content is revised so the File/Save menu option becomes superfluous. The File/Save_As menu option can be implemented using the [backup API].
There are many advantages to using SQLite as an application file format, including:
SQLite allows database files to have any desired filename extension, so an application can choose a custom filename extension for its own use, if desired. The [application_id pragma] can be used to set an "Application ID" integer in the database file so that tools like [http://www.darwinsys.com/file/ | file(1)] can determine that the file is associated with your application and is not just a generic SQL database.
Because an SQLite database requires no administration, SQLite is a good choice for devices that must work without human support. SQLite is a good fit for use in cellphones, set-top boxes, televisions, game consoles, cameras, watches, kitchen appliances, thermostats, automobiles, machine tools, airplanes, remote sensors, drones, medical devices, and robots: the "internet of things".
Websites
SQLite works great as the database engine for most low to medium traffic websites (which is to say, 99.9% of all websites). The amount of web traffic that SQLite can handle depends, of course, on how heavily the website uses its database. Generally speaking, any site that gets fewer than 100K hits/day should work fine with SQLite. The 100K hits/day figure is a conservative estimate, not a hard upper bound. SQLite has been demonstrated to work with 10 times that amount of traffic.
The SQLite website ([https://www.sqlite.org/]) uses SQLite itself, of course, and as of this writing (2015) it handles about 400K to 500K HTTP requests per day, about 15-20% of which are dynamic pages that touch the database. Each dynamic page does roughly 200 SQL statements. This setup runs on a single VM that shares a physical server with 23 others and yet still keeps the load average of below 0.1 most of the time.
Command-line data analysis tool
Experienced SQL users can employ the [command-line shell|sqlite3 command-line shell] to analyze large datasets. Raw data can be imported from CSV files, then that data can be sliced and diced to generate a myriad of summary reports. Possible uses include website log analysis, sports statistics analysis, compilation of programming metrics, and analysis of experimental results. Many bioinformatics researchers use SQLite in this way.
You can also do the same thing with an enterprise client/server database, of course. The advantage of SQLite is that it is easier to set up and the resulting database is a single file that can be easily written to a USB memory stick or emailed to a colleague.
File archives
The [https://www.sqlite.org/sqlar|SQLite Archiver] project shows how SQLite can be used as a substitute for ZIP archives or Tarballs. An archive of files stored in SQLite is only very slightly larger, and in some cases actually smaller, than the equivalent ZIP archive. And an SQLite archive features incremental and atomic updating and the ability to store much richer metadata.
SQLite archives are useful as the distribution format for software or content updates that are broadcast to many clients. Variations on this idea are used, for example, to transmit TV programming guides to set-top boxes and to send over-the-air updates to vehicle navigation systems.
Replacement for ad hoc disk files
Many programs use [http://man.he.net/man3/fopen | fopen()], [http://man.he.net/man3/fread | fread()], and [http://man.he.net/man3/fwrite | fwrite()] to create and manage files of data in home-grown formats. SQLite works particularly well as a replacement for these ad hoc data files.
Internal or temporary databases
For programs that have a lot of data that must be sifted and sorted in diverse ways, it is often easier and quicker to load the data into an in-memory SQLite database and use queries with joins and ORDER BY clauses to extract the data in the form and order needed rather than to try to code the same operations manually. Using an SQL database internally in this way also gives the program greater flexibility since new columns and indices can be added without having to recode every query.
Stand-in for an enterprise database during demos or testing
If you are writing a client application for an enterprise database engine, it makes sense to use a generic database backend that allows you to connect to many different kinds of SQL database engines. It makes even better sense to go ahead and include SQLite in the mix of supported databases and to statically link the SQLite engine in with the client. That way the client program can be used standalone with an SQLite data file for testing or for demonstrations.
Database Pedagogy
Because it is simple to setup and use (installation is trivial: just copy the sqlite3 or sqlite3.exe executable to the target machine and run it) SQLite makes a good database engine for use in teaching SQL. Students can easily create as many databases as they like and can email databases to the instructor for comments or grading. For more advanced students who are interested in studying how an RDBMS is implemented, the modular and well-commented and documented SQLite code can serve as a good basis. This is not to say that SQLite is an accurate model of how other database engines are implemented, but rather a student who understands how SQLite works can more quickly comprehend the operational principles of other systems.
Experimental SQL language extensions
The simple, modular design of SQLite makes it a good platform for prototyping new, experimental database language features or ideas.
Client/Server Applications
If you have many client programs accessing a common database over a network, you should consider using a client/server database engine instead of SQLite. SQLite will work over a network filesystem, but because of the latency associated with most network filesystems, performance will not be great. Also, the file locking logic of many network filesystems implementation contains bugs (on both Unix and Windows). If file locking does not work like it should, it might be possible for two or more client programs to modify the same part of the same database at the same time, resulting in database corruption. Because this problem results from bugs in the underlying filesystem implementation, there is nothing SQLite can do to prevent it.
A good rule of thumb is that you should avoid using SQLite in situations where the same database will be accessed simultaneously from many computers over a network filesystem.
High-volume Websites
SQLite will normally work fine as the database backend to a website. But if your website is so busy that you are thinking of splitting the database component off onto a separate machine, then you should definitely consider using an enterprise-class client/server database engine instead of SQLite.
Very large datasets
An SQLite database is limited in size to 140 terabytes (247 bytes, 128 tibibytes). And even if it could handle larger databases, SQLite stores the entire database in a single disk file and many filesystems limit the maximum size of files to something less than this. So if you are contemplating databases of this magnitude, you would do well to consider using a client/server database engine that spreads its content across multiple disk files, and perhaps across multiple volumes.
High Concurrency
SQLite supports an unlimited number of simultaneous readers, but it will only allow one writer at any instant in time. For many situations, this is not a problem. Each application does its database work quickly and moves on, and no lock lasts for more than a few dozen milliseconds. But there are some applications that require more concurrency, and those applications may need to seek a different solution.
Is the data separated from the application by a network? → choose client/server
Relational database engines act as a bandwidth-reducing data filter. So it is best to keep the database engine and the data on the same physical device so that the high-bandwidth engine-to-disk link does not have to traverse the network, only the lower-bandwidth application-to-engine link.
But SQLite is built into the application. So if the data is on a separate device from the application, it is required that the higher bandwidth engine-to-disk link be across the network. This works, but it is suboptimal. Hence, it is usually better to select a client/server database engine when the data is on a separate device from the application.
Many concurrent writers? → choose client/server
If many threads and/or processes need to write the database at the same instant (and they cannot queue up and take turns) then it is best to select a database engine that supports that capability, which always means a client/server database engine.
SQLite only supports one writer at a time per database file. But in most cases, a write transaction only takes milliseconds and so multiple writers can simply take turns. SQLite will handle more write concurrency that many people suspect. Nevertheless, client/server database systems, because they have a long-running server process at hand to coordinate access, can usually handle far more write concurrency than SQLite ever will.
Big data? → choose client/server
If your data will grow to a size that you are uncomfortable or unable to fit into a single disk file, then you should select a solution other than SQLite. SQLite supports databases up to 140 terabytes in size, assuming you can find a disk drive and filesystem that will support 140-terabyte files. Even so, when the size of the content looks like it might creep into the terabyte range, it would be good to consider a centralized client/server database.
>Otherwise → choose SQLite!
For device-local storage with low writer concurrency and less than a terabyte of content, SQLite is almost always a better solution. SQLite is fast and reliable and it requires no configuration or maintenance. It keeps thing simple. SQLite "just works".