MySQL one database versus multiple databases

When designing an application - should you put each customer in a separate database or keep them all in one large central database?

When it came to start work on our new Clear Books accounting software last year, we had to make a fundamental database design choice between using a single database for all clients, or having a separate database for each one.

Since there was going to be a fairly large amount of data for each client, we decided to go for the latter, and one year on - I am very happy with our decision.

Advantages

Disadvantages

I think the ultimate decision would come down to how much data your store for each client. If it's a fair amount, then I think separate databases is worth the extra development effort.

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