Question

Does the term ’embedded database’ carry different meaning from ‘database’?

Answer 1

There are two definitions of embedded databases I’ve seen:

1. Embedded database as in a database system particularly designed for the “embedded” space (mobile devices and so on.) This means they perform reasonably in tight environments (memory/CPU wise.)
2. Embedded database as in databases that do not need a server, and are embedded in an application (like SQLite.) This means everything is managed by the application.

I’ve personally never seen the term used exactly as Wikipedia defines it, but that’s probably my fault, although it resembles quite a bit my number 2 above.