History of MongoDB in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: March 6, 2025

MongoDB is a source-available, cross-platform, document-oriented NoSQL database utilizing JSON-like documents. Launched in 2009, it offers features like sharding, replication, and ACID transactions. MongoDB Atlas is its managed cloud service, running on major cloud platforms. It's licensed under the Server Side Public License (SSPL) and is part of the MACH Alliance.

February 2009: MongoDB Initial Release

In February 2009, MongoDB was initially released by 10gen (now MongoDB Inc.) as a source-available, cross-platform, document-oriented database program, classified as a NoSQL database.

2009: Shift to Open-Source Model

In 2009, 10gen shifted to an open-source development model for MongoDB and began offering commercial support and services.

2013: 10gen Renamed to MongoDB Inc.

In 2013, 10gen changed its name to MongoDB Inc., marking a significant rebranding milestone for the company.

August 23, 2016: Collation-Based Sorting Fixed

On August 23, 2016, MongoDB fixed an issue where it could not perform collation-based sorting and was limited to bytewise comparison, affecting non-English languages with Unicode encoding.

November 2016: Stale Reads and Rollback Writes Addressed

In November 2016, the issue of stale reads and rollback writes was addressed in MongoDB version 3.4.0 and applied to earlier releases from v3.2.12 onward.

September 2017: Security Measures Announced

In September 2017, MongoDB announced measures to defend against risks related to data theft and ransom due to default security configurations.

October 20, 2017: MongoDB Goes Public

On October 20, 2017, MongoDB became a publicly traded company, listed on NASDAQ as MDB with an IPO price of $24 per share.

June 2018: Supports ACID Transactions

Since June 2018, MongoDB supports multi-document ACID transactions with the 4.0 release.

October 2018: Release Under SSPL

As of October 2018, MongoDB is released under the Server Side Public License (SSPL).

November 8, 2018: License Changed to SSPL

On November 8, 2018, MongoDB's license changed from AGPL 3.0 to SSPL with the stable release 4.0.4.

October 30, 2019: Partnership with Alibaba Cloud

On October 30, 2019, MongoDB partnered with Alibaba Cloud to offer a MongoDB-as-a-service solution to Alibaba Cloud customers through Alibaba's global data centers.

May 2020: Jepsen Report on MongoDB 4.2.6

In May 2020, Jepsen wrote a report on MongoDB version 4.2.6 stating that MongoDB had only mentioned tests that version 3.6.4 had passed and that version 4.2.6 introduced more problems.

January 2021: SSPL Not Open Source

In January 2021, the Open Source Initiative stated that SSPL is not an open source license.

March 10, 2022: Warning to Users in Russia and Belarus

On March 10, 2022, MongoDB warned users in Russia and Belarus that their data stored on the MongoDB Atlas platform would be destroyed due to American sanctions related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.