Perst is an open source, object-oriented embedded database available in Java, .NET, and Lite (J2ME) editions.

New features in the latest release include:

- A native, built-in full text search engine that the vendor states improves on the database's earlier integration with the open source Apache Lucene information retrieval library by increasing efficiency and reducing the footprint (the Lucene .jar file is several hundred kilobytes in size, while including search capability in Perst adds just a few kilobytes).

- Perst Lite, for Java ME, adds on-the-fly compression that reduces stored data's size by three to five times, on average.

- Perst for .NET adds support for Language Integrated Query (LINQ), a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds SQL-like data querying capabilities to .NET languages including C# and Visual Basic. The vendor notes that developers accustomed to non-procedural languages will find LINQ's query operators, such as "Select", "Where" and "Join", more familiar than Perst's native collection classes. The LINQ library also provides data source processing (filtering, sorting, grouping, etc.), which can be applied to any collection or to the results of Perst queries.

LINQ enables Perst for .NET users to benefit from the IntelliSense feature of Microsoft's Visual Studio, to automatically complete text the developer is typing, fill in symbols and parameters, and provides other services to speed up programming. LINQ also adds type-safety: queries are checked for correctness when compiled and, if necessary, rejected, avoiding run-time bugs.

- Improved documentation includes a new 38-page Tutorial and Introduction that guides users through Perst's features and design principles, using both explanation and code examples. In addition, Perst for .NET's API guide has been updated to the MSDN-like formatting familiar to .NET programmers.