diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 10c4bb7..722c701 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-Neil Booth: creator and maintainer
\ No newline at end of file
+Neil Booth: creator and maintainer
+Johann Bauer: backend DB abstraction
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/HOWTO.rst b/HOWTO.rst
index 2f7abd1..af5be2e 100644
--- a/HOWTO.rst
+++ b/HOWTO.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,19 @@ metadata comes to just over 17GB.  Leveldb needs a bit more for brief
 periods, and the block chain is only getting longer, so I would
 recommend having at least 30-40GB free space.
 
+Database Engine
+===============
+
+You can choose between either RocksDB, LevelDB or LMDB to store transaction
+information on disk. Currently, the fastest seems to be RocksDB with LevelDB
+being about 10% slower. LMDB seems to be the slowest but maybe that's because
+of bad implementation or configuration.
+
+You will need to install either:
+
++ `plyvel <https://plyvel.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html>`_ for LevelDB
++ `pyrocksdb <http://pyrocksdb.readthedocs.io/en/v0.4/installation.html>`_ for RocksDB
++ `lmdb <https://lmdb.readthedocs.io/en/release/#installation-unix>`_ for LMDB
 
 Running
 =======
diff --git a/samples/scripts/NOTES b/samples/scripts/NOTES
index d38a327..54c9fca 100644
--- a/samples/scripts/NOTES
+++ b/samples/scripts/NOTES
@@ -31,18 +31,21 @@ bit bigger than the combine cache size, because of Python overhead and
 also because leveldb can consume quite a lot of memory during UTXO
 flushing.  So these are rough numbers only:
 
-HIST_MB - amount of history cache, in MB, to retain before flushing to
-          disk.  Default is 250; probably no benefit being much larger
-          as history is append-only and not searched.
-
-UTXO_MB - amount of UTXO and history cache, in MB, to retain before
-          flushing to disk.  Default is 1000.  This may be too large
-          for small boxes or too small for machines with lots of RAM.
-          Larger caches generally perform better as there is
-          significant searching of the UTXO cache during indexing.
-          However, I don't see much benefit in my tests pushing this
-          too high, and in fact performance begins to fall.  My
-          machine has 24GB RAM; the slow down is probably because of
-          leveldb caching and Python GC effects.  However this may be
-          very dependent on hardware and you may have different
-          results.
\ No newline at end of file
+HIST_MB   - amount of history cache, in MB, to retain before flushing to
+            disk.  Default is 250; probably no benefit being much larger
+            as history is append-only and not searched.
+
+UTXO_MB   - amount of UTXO and history cache, in MB, to retain before
+            flushing to disk.  Default is 1000.  This may be too large
+            for small boxes or too small for machines with lots of RAM.
+            Larger caches generally perform better as there is
+            significant searching of the UTXO cache during indexing.
+            However, I don't see much benefit in my tests pushing this
+            too high, and in fact performance begins to fall.  My
+            machine has 24GB RAM; the slow down is probably because of
+            leveldb caching and Python GC effects.  However this may be
+            very dependent on hardware and you may have different
+            results.
+
+DB_ENGINE - database engine for the transaction database, either rocksdb,
+            leveldb or lmdb
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/block_processor.py b/server/block_processor.py
index 6be4e7d..60cf37d 100644
--- a/server/block_processor.py
+++ b/server/block_processor.py
@@ -17,13 +17,12 @@ from bisect import bisect_left
 from collections import defaultdict, namedtuple
 from functools import partial
 
-import plyvel
-
 from server.cache import FSCache, UTXOCache, NO_CACHE_ENTRY
 from server.daemon import DaemonError
 from lib.hash import hash_to_str
 from lib.script import ScriptPubKey
 from lib.util import chunks, LoggedClass
+from server.storage import LMDB, RocksDB, LevelDB, NoDatabaseException
 
 
 def formatted_time(t):
@@ -150,7 +149,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
         self.first_sync = True
 
         # Open DB and metadata files.  Record some of its state.
-        self.db = self.open_db(self.coin)
+        self.db = self.open_db(self.coin, env.db_engine)
         self.tx_count = self.db_tx_count
         self.height = self.db_height
         self.tip = self.db_tip
@@ -227,7 +226,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
                     await self.handle_chain_reorg()
                     self.have_caught_up = False
                     break
-                await asyncio.sleep(0)   # Yield
+                await asyncio.sleep(0)  # Yield
 
             if self.height == self.daemon.cached_height():
                 await self.caught_up()
@@ -257,6 +256,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
         '''Return the list of hashes to back up beacuse of a reorg.
 
         The hashes are returned in order of increasing height.'''
+
         def match_pos(hashes1, hashes2):
             for n, (hash1, hash2) in enumerate(zip(hashes1, hashes2)):
                 if hash1 == hash2:
@@ -286,17 +286,22 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
 
         return self.fs_cache.block_hashes(start, count)
 
-    def open_db(self, coin):
+    def open_db(self, coin, db_engine):
         db_name = '{}-{}'.format(coin.NAME, coin.NET)
+        db_engine_class = {
+            "leveldb": LevelDB,
+            "rocksdb": RocksDB,
+            "lmdb": LMDB
+        }[db_engine.lower()]
         try:
-            db = plyvel.DB(db_name, create_if_missing=False,
-                           error_if_exists=False, compression=None)
-        except:
-            db = plyvel.DB(db_name, create_if_missing=True,
-                           error_if_exists=True, compression=None)
-            self.logger.info('created new database {}'.format(db_name))
+            db = db_engine_class(db_name, create_if_missing=False,
+                                 error_if_exists=False, compression=None)
+        except NoDatabaseException:
+            db = db_engine_class(db_name, create_if_missing=True,
+                                 error_if_exists=True, compression=None)
+            self.logger.info('created new {} database {}'.format(db_engine, db_name))
         else:
-            self.logger.info('successfully opened database {}'.format(db_name))
+            self.logger.info('successfully opened {} database {}'.format(db_engine, db_name))
             self.read_state(db)
 
         return db
@@ -325,7 +330,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
         '''
         if self.flush_count < self.utxo_flush_count:
             raise ChainError('DB corrupt: flush_count < utxo_flush_count')
-        with self.db.write_batch(transaction=True) as batch:
+        with self.db.write_batch() as batch:
             if self.flush_count > self.utxo_flush_count:
                 self.logger.info('DB shut down uncleanly.  Scanning for '
                                  'excess history flushes...')
@@ -423,7 +428,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
         if self.height > self.db_height:
             self.fs_cache.flush(self.height, self.tx_count)
 
-        with self.db.write_batch(transaction=True) as batch:
+        with self.db.write_batch() as batch:
             # History first - fast and frees memory.  Flush state last
             # as it reads the wall time.
             if self.height > self.db_height:
@@ -669,7 +674,7 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
             if not tx.is_coinbase:
                 for txin in reversed(tx.inputs):
                     n -= 33
-                    undo_item = undo_info[n:n+33]
+                    undo_item = undo_info[n:n + 33]
                     put_utxo(txin.prev_hash + pack('<H', txin.prev_idx),
                              undo_item)
                     hash168s.add(undo_item[:21])
@@ -716,13 +721,13 @@ class BlockProcessor(LoggedClass):
         prefix = b'u' + hash168
         utxos = []
         for k, v in self.db.iterator(prefix=prefix):
-            (tx_pos, ) = unpack('<H', k[-2:])
+            (tx_pos,) = unpack('<H', k[-2:])
 
             for n in range(0, len(v), 12):
                 if limit == 0:
                     return
-                (tx_num, ) = unpack('<I', v[n:n+4])
-                (value, ) = unpack('<Q', v[n+4:n+12])
+                (tx_num,) = unpack('<I', v[n:n + 4])
+                (value,) = unpack('<Q', v[n + 4:n + 12])
                 tx_hash, height = self.get_tx_hash(tx_num)
                 yield UTXO(tx_num, tx_pos, tx_hash, height, value)
                 limit -= 1
diff --git a/server/env.py b/server/env.py
index e3e8bf7..21fa8ae 100644
--- a/server/env.py
+++ b/server/env.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ class Env(LoggedClass):
         self.banner_file = self.default('BANNER_FILE', None)
         # The electrum client takes the empty string as unspecified
         self.donation_address = self.default('DONATION_ADDRESS', '')
+        self.db_engine = self.default('DB_ENGINE', 'leveldb')
 
     def default(self, envvar, default):
         return environ.get(envvar, default)
diff --git a/server/storage.py b/server/storage.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13b1847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/storage.py
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+import os
+
+
+class Storage(object):
+    def __init__(self, name, create_if_missing=False, error_if_exists=False, compression=None):
+        if not create_if_missing and not os.path.exists(name):
+            raise NoDatabaseException
+
+    def get(self, key):
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def put(self, key, value):
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def write_batch(self):
+        """
+        Returns a context manager that provides `put` and `delete`.
+        Changes should only be committed when the context manager closes without an exception.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def iterator(self, prefix=b""):
+        """
+        Returns an iterator that yields (key, value) pairs from the database sorted by key.
+        If `prefix` is set, only keys starting with `prefix` will be included.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+
+class NoDatabaseException(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class LevelDB(Storage):
+    def __init__(self, name, create_if_missing=False, error_if_exists=False, compression=None):
+        super().__init__(name, create_if_missing, error_if_exists, compression)
+        import plyvel
+        self.db = plyvel.DB(name, create_if_missing=create_if_missing,
+                            error_if_exists=error_if_exists, compression=compression)
+
+    def get(self, key):
+        return self.db.get(key)
+
+    def write_batch(self):
+        return self.db.write_batch(transaction=True)
+
+    def iterator(self, prefix=b""):
+        return self.db.iterator(prefix=prefix)
+
+    def put(self, key, value):
+        self.db.put(key, value)
+
+
+class RocksDB(Storage):
+    rocksdb = None
+
+    def __init__(self, name, create_if_missing=False, error_if_exists=False, compression=None):
+        super().__init__(name, create_if_missing, error_if_exists, compression)
+        import rocksdb
+        RocksDB.rocksdb = rocksdb
+        if not compression:
+            compression = "no"
+        compression = getattr(rocksdb.CompressionType, compression + "_compression")
+        self.db = rocksdb.DB(name, rocksdb.Options(create_if_missing=create_if_missing,
+                                                   compression=compression,
+                                                   target_file_size_base=33554432,
+                                                   max_open_files=1024))
+
+    def get(self, key):
+        return self.db.get(key)
+
+    class WriteBatch(object):
+        def __init__(self, db):
+            self.batch = RocksDB.rocksdb.WriteBatch()
+            self.db = db
+
+        def __enter__(self):
+            return self.batch
+
+        def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
+            if not exc_val:
+                self.db.write(self.batch)
+
+    def write_batch(self):
+        return RocksDB.WriteBatch(self.db)
+
+    class Iterator(object):
+        def __init__(self, db, prefix):
+            self.it = db.iteritems()
+            self.prefix = prefix
+
+        def __iter__(self):
+            self.it.seek(self.prefix)
+            return self
+
+        def __next__(self):
+            k, v = self.it.__next__()
+            if not k.startswith(self.prefix):
+                # We're already ahead of the prefix
+                raise StopIteration
+            return k, v
+
+    def iterator(self, prefix=b""):
+        return RocksDB.Iterator(self.db, prefix)
+
+    def put(self, key, value):
+        return self.db.put(key, value)
+
+
+class LMDB(Storage):
+    lmdb = None
+
+    def __init__(self, name, create_if_missing=False, error_if_exists=False, compression=None):
+        super().__init__(name, create_if_missing, error_if_exists, compression)
+        import lmdb
+        LMDB.lmdb = lmdb
+        self.env = lmdb.Environment(".", subdir=True, create=create_if_missing, max_dbs=32, map_size=5 * 10 ** 10)
+        self.db = self.env.open_db(create=create_if_missing)
+
+    def get(self, key):
+        with self.env.begin(db=self.db) as tx:
+            return tx.get(key)
+
+    def put(self, key, value):
+        with self.env.begin(db=self.db, write=True) as tx:
+            tx.put(key, value)
+
+    def write_batch(self):
+        return self.env.begin(db=self.db, write=True)
+
+    def iterator(self, prefix=b""):
+        return LMDB.lmdb.Iterator(self.db, self.env, prefix)
+
+    class Iterator:
+        def __init__(self, db, env, prefix):
+            self.transaction = env.begin(db=db)
+            self.transaction.__enter__()
+            self.db = db
+            self.prefix = prefix
+
+        def __iter__(self):
+            self.iterator = LMDB.lmdb.Cursor(self.db, self.transaction)
+            self.iterator.set_range(self.prefix)
+            return self
+
+        def __next__(self):
+            k, v = self.iterator.item()
+            if not k.startswith(self.prefix) or not self.iterator.next():
+                # We're already ahead of the prefix
+                self.transaction.__exit__()
+                raise StopIteration
+            return k, v