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Horizontal Scaling in Databases: Part 1 - Read Replicas

2025-12-267 min read

How read replicas reduce primary database load, improve read throughput, and what consistency tradeoffs to watch in production.

DatabasesScalabilityBackend

Why Read Replicas Matter

Read-heavy products often hit database bottlenecks before app servers. Read replicas split read traffic from writes so the primary can stay healthy.