A few things:
- It has efficient joins. So you can store a "many to many" relation in your database (like you would have done in a SQL database) -- so storing things related to a social network is way nicer/more efficient.
- It has changfeed, so you can push notifications to client when something changes on the database. You can build real time application. For example if your http server is NodeJS, plug SockJS for the browser, and RethinkDB for your database, and your whole stack is reactive.
- The query language is way nicer to use (it's embedded in the host language).
That's the 3 main differences for a web developer I can think of on top of my head.
- It has changfeed, so you can push notifications to client when something changes on the database. You can build real time application. For example if your http server is NodeJS, plug SockJS for the browser, and RethinkDB for your database, and your whole stack is reactive.
- The query language is way nicer to use (it's embedded in the host language).
That's the 3 main differences for a web developer I can think of on top of my head.