The short answer is that table design in a NoSQL database like DynamoDB is different than in a SQL database. DynamoDB is built to handle internet scale, which gives it some distinct advantages.
****What is internet scale?****
DynamoDB supports some of the largest scale applications in the world by providing consistent, single-digit millisecond response times at any scale. With DynamoDB, you can build applications with virtually unlimited throughput and storage.
To enable this extreme size and performance for your data, there is a trade-off: you have to partition your data. Your table is laid out in storage by the primary key that you query by. To query by additional factors, you can create Global Secondary Indexes and Local Secondary Indexes. You can learn more about these indexes and how to use them here: https://medium.com/@jun711.g/aws-dynamodb-global-and-local-secondary-indexes-comparison-80f4c587b1d7
To data model in DynamoDB, you can use a tool called NoSQL Workbench. This tool is available for download here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/workbench.html
If you want to learn more about DynamoDB, there are some good workshops available here: https://amazon-dynamodb-labs.workshop.aws/ Answer from Ted Trentler on repost.aws
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon dynamodb › developer guide › best practices for designing and architecting with dynamodb
Best practices for designing and architecting with DynamoDB - Amazon DynamoDB
1 month ago - Learn about best practices for designing and architecting with Amazon DynamoDB, a NoSQL database service. This page covers key differences between relational and NoSQL design, two key concepts for NoSQL design, and a general approach to NoSQL design. Receive specific guidance on partitions, ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › single table design for dynamodb: the reality
r/aws on Reddit: Single table design for DynamoDB: The reality
December 13, 2023 - Making a "single table" the primary design goal is bad - I don't think it takes any concrete numbers to see that. But if you want to learn more about the importance of item size, data types, the way that various request types are metered (with some numbers included), I would recommend the following videos. Seemingly small differences can manifest in surprisingly meaningful ways - there is a lot of nuance in DynamoDB data modeling.
How to design a single dynamodb table with arbitrary number of attributes. Jul 14, 2021
r/aws 5y ago
How many people are doing true "single table" dynamo DB (vs multiple tables) Jan 22, 2019
r/aws 7y ago
17:56
Designing a DynamoDB Table in 4 Steps: From Entities to Access ...
13:40
DynamoDB Single Table Design: Simplify Your Code and Boost ...
58:29
Fundamentals of Amazon DynamoDB Single Table Design with Rick ...
DynamoDB Data Modeling Best Practices - AWS
38:12
AWS DynamoDB Tutorial For Beginners - YouTube
01:05:29
Common Single-Table design modeling mistakes with DynamoDB - YouTube
Medium
joudwawad.medium.com › dynamodb-data-modeling-fundamentals-9cfdf7f4dcb6
DynamoDB Data Modeling Fundamentals | Medium
June 11, 2026 - Let us now cover the foundation layer by examining the “two types of table design”: single table and multiple table. ... One choice for the foundation of our DynamoDB schema is single table design.
DeBrie Advisory
alexdebrie.com › posts › dynamodb-single-table
The What, Why, and When of Single-Table Design with DynamoDB | DeBrie Advisory
February 5, 2020 - In our example above, we want to get both a Customer record and all Orders for the customer. Many developers apply relational design patterns with DynamoDB even though they don't have the relational tools like the join operation. This means they put their items into different tables according to their type.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › dynamodb single table deign: simple guide to modeling & querying on to many relationships. (using excel to plan out the queries)
r/aws on Reddit: DynamoDB Single Table Deign: Simple Guide To Modeling & Querying On To Many Relationships. (Using Excel to plan out the queries)
October 3, 2022 - I'd replace Excel by an AWS made tool called NoSQL Workbench ; it's dedicated to DynamoDB and allows you, among other things, to create "facets" (data access patterns) and add sample data so you can see the table either per facet or entirely. ... One of the things that I hear about single table design is that you need to understand all your access patterns up front.
Hello Interview
hellointerview.com › home › system design › key technologies › dynamodb
DynamoDB Deep Dive for System Design Interviews | Hello Interview System Design in a Hurry
February 15, 2026 - Unlike traditional RDBMS, DynamoDB is schema-less, meaning you don't need to define a schema before inserting data. This means items in the same table can have different sets of attributes, and new attributes can be added to items at any point ...
AWS
aws.amazon.com › blogs › compute › creating-a-single-table-design-with-amazon-dynamodb
Creating a single-table design with Amazon DynamoDB | Amazon Web Services
July 28, 2021 - This post looks at implementing common relational database patterns using DynamoDB. Instead of using multiple tables, the single-table design pattern can use adjacency lists to provide many-to-many relational functionality.
DEV Community
dev.to › urielbitton › advanced-single-table-design-patterns-with-dynamodb-4g26
Advanced Single Table Design Patterns With DynamoDB - DEV Community
January 7, 2025 - These concepts will easily level up your understanding of DynamoDB and allow you to build more performant and scalable databases than ever before. The single table design in key-value databases aims to solve the issue of querying multiple entities to fetch related data and to reduce your table costs to one table’s minimal cost.
Momento
gomomento.com › home › single table design for dynamodb: the reality
Single table design for DynamoDB: The reality - Momento
June 7, 2024 - The optimal number of tables for a particular DynamoDB data model might be one, but often it will be more. Oh, you’re in for the whole story? Great – let’s start at the beginning. Yes! There is definitely something important to understand from the early learnings that first prompted the “single table design” phrase.
DEV Community
dev.to › aws-builders › single-table-design-in-aws-dynamodb-ld8
Single Table Design in AWS DynamoDB - DEV Community
August 31, 2024 - By designing your PK and SK to support your querying patterns, you can retrieve related items using a single query. This eliminates the need for costly table scans and reduces the amount of throughput consumed. ... Storing related entities in a single table can help reduce storage costs compared to storing them in separate tables. DynamoDB charges based on the amount of data stored, so minimizing data duplication across tables can lead to cost savings.
Emshea
emshea.com › post › part-1-dynamodb-single-table-design
Part 1: Refactoring to single-table design in Amazon DynamoDB
This blog post is Part 1 in a series on refactoring my daily Chinese vocab app to a single-table design in Amazon DynamoDB. In this post, I explain why I chose single-table design, the resources I used to learn it, and walk through the design process and a few example access patterns.
Xebia
xebia.com › home › blog › amazon dynamodb – single table design
Amazon DynamoDB - Single Table Design
January 28, 2026 - The most straightforward way to design your DynamoDB data model is to follow the best practices used in the RDBMS world, i.e. entity per table and some degree of normalization (the schemaless nature of DynamoDB and support for complex attributes ...
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon dynamodb › developer guide › data modeling for dynamodb tables › data modeling foundations in dynamodb
Data Modeling foundations in DynamoDB - Amazon DynamoDB
Explore the foundations of data modeling in DynamoDB, examining the advantages and disadvantages of single table and multiple table design patterns to optimize data access, performance, and cost.
OneUptime
oneuptime.com › home › blog › how to implement dynamodb single-table design
How to Implement DynamoDB Single-Table Design
January 26, 2026 - Instead of creating separate tables for users, orders, and products, you store them all together with carefully designed partition keys and sort keys. This approach might seem counterintuitive if you come from a relational database background, but it unlocks significant performance and cost benefits in DynamoDB.
Medium
medium.com › @QuinnMil › dynamodb-single-table-design-d60be6aa2298
DynamoDB Single Table Design. Getting the most out of Amazon… | by Quinn Milionis | Medium
June 22, 2023 - Dynamo single table design refers to the practice of harnessing the full power of a single DynamoDB table to store multiple types of data. This approach sets it apart from traditional SQL databases, where each unique type of data typically resides ...
GitHub
github.com › aws-samples › amazon-dynamodb-design-patterns
GitHub - aws-samples/amazon-dynamodb-design-patterns: This repo contains sample data models to demonstrate design patterns for Amazon DynamoDB. · GitHub
A good design is achieved after multiple review iterations. In general, maintain as few tables as possible in an Amazon DynamoDB application, and if it suits the use case then store all the entities in a single table.
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Medium
arunrajeevan.medium.com › single-table-design-aws-dynamodb-cffd230a371f
Single Table Design — AWS DynamoDB | by Arun Rajeevan | Medium
January 29, 2024 - In the example below, we have a DynamoDB table that contains actors and the movies in which they have played. The primary key is a composite primary key where the partition key is the actor’s name and the sort key is the movie name. Reducing the number of requests for an access pattern is the main reason for using a single-table design with DynamoDB
Nordcloud
nordcloud.com › home › content hub › problems with dynamodb single table design
Problems with DynamoDB Single Table Design - Nordcloud
April 9, 2024 - Despite the limitation, we tend to use them in the same way as SQL database tables. We name a DynamoDB table according to a database entity, and then store instances of that database entity in that table. Each entity gets their own table.
Drizzle ORM
orm.drizzle.team
Drizzle ORM - next gen TypeScript ORM.
Commutativity checks were updated for PostgreSQL and MySQL. Before, create_index statements could be reported as non-commutative even when they targeted different tables, and --ignore-conflicts could still collapse multi-parent history down to a single parent.