diff --git a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
index d03d98112..0067c8c15 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
 - [rpc] \#3362 `/dial_seeds` & `/dial_peers` return errors if addresses are incorrect (except when IP lookup fails)
 - [node] \#3362 returns an error if `persistent_peers` list is invalid (except when IP lookup fails)
 - [p2p] \#3531 Terminate session on nonce wrapping (@climber73)
+- [libs/db] \#3611 Conditional compilation
+  * Use `cleveldb` tag instead of `gcc` to compile Tendermint with CLevelDB or
+    use `make build_c` / `make install_c` (full instructions can be found at
+    https://tendermint.com/docs/introduction/install.html#compile-with-cleveldb-support)
+  * Use `boltdb` tag to compile Tendermint with bolt db
 
 ### BUG FIXES:
 - [p2p] \#3532 limit the number of attempts to connect to a peer in seed mode
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7c2ce1d9c..c5bde692d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ build:
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 go build $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags $(BUILD_TAGS) -o $(OUTPUT) ./cmd/tendermint/
 
 build_c:
-	CGO_ENABLED=1 go build $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags "$(BUILD_TAGS) gcc" -o $(OUTPUT) ./cmd/tendermint/
+	CGO_ENABLED=1 go build $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags "$(BUILD_TAGS) cleveldb" -o $(OUTPUT) ./cmd/tendermint/
 
 build_race:
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -race $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags $(BUILD_TAGS) -o $(OUTPUT) ./cmd/tendermint
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ install:
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 go install  $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags $(BUILD_TAGS) ./cmd/tendermint
 
 install_c:
-	CGO_ENABLED=1 go install  $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags "$(BUILD_TAGS) gcc" ./cmd/tendermint
+	CGO_ENABLED=1 go install  $(BUILD_FLAGS) -tags "$(BUILD_TAGS) cleveldb" ./cmd/tendermint
 
 ########################################
 ### Protobuf
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ clean_certs:
 	rm -f db/remotedb/::.crt db/remotedb/::.key
 
 test_libs: gen_certs
-	go test -tags gcc $(PACKAGES)
+	go test -tags clevedb boltdb $(PACKAGES)
 	make clean_certs
 
 grpc_dbserver:
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 3ac22adbf..6c4654fed 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -153,7 +153,18 @@ type BaseConfig struct {
 	// and verifying their commits
 	FastSync bool `mapstructure:"fast_sync"`
 
-	// Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+	// Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+	// * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+	//   - pure go
+	//   - stable
+	// * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+	//   - fast
+	//   - requires gcc
+	//   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+	// * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+	//   - EXPERIMENTAL
+	//   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+	//   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 	DBBackend string `mapstructure:"db_backend"`
 
 	// Database directory
@@ -207,7 +218,7 @@ func DefaultBaseConfig() BaseConfig {
 		ProfListenAddress:  "",
 		FastSync:           true,
 		FilterPeers:        false,
-		DBBackend:          "leveldb",
+		DBBackend:          "goleveldb",
 		DBPath:             "data",
 	}
 }
diff --git a/config/toml.go b/config/toml.go
index f80f525e4..b1541c05a 100644
--- a/config/toml.go
+++ b/config/toml.go
@@ -81,7 +81,18 @@ moniker = "{{ .BaseConfig.Moniker }}"
 # and verifying their commits
 fast_sync = {{ .BaseConfig.FastSync }}
 
-# Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+# Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+# * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+#   - pure go
+#   - stable
+# * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+#   - fast
+#   - requires gcc
+#   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+# * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+#   - EXPERIMENTAL
+#   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+#   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 db_backend = "{{ .BaseConfig.DBBackend }}"
 
 # Database directory
diff --git a/docs/introduction/install.md b/docs/introduction/install.md
index 3005a7349..e96135826 100644
--- a/docs/introduction/install.md
+++ b/docs/introduction/install.md
@@ -79,9 +79,7 @@ make install
 
 Install [LevelDB](https://github.com/google/leveldb) (minimum version is 1.7).
 
-### Ubuntu
-
-Install LevelDB with snappy (optionally):
+Install LevelDB with snappy (optionally). Below are commands for Ubuntu:
 
 ```
 sudo apt-get update
@@ -100,23 +98,23 @@ wget https://github.com/google/leveldb/archive/v1.20.tar.gz && \
   rm -f v1.20.tar.gz
 ```
 
-Set database backend to cleveldb:
+Set a database backend to `cleveldb`:
 
 ```
 # config/config.toml
 db_backend = "cleveldb"
 ```
 
-To install Tendermint, run
+To install Tendermint, run:
 
 ```
 CGO_LDFLAGS="-lsnappy" make install_c
 ```
 
-or run
+or run:
 
 ```
 CGO_LDFLAGS="-lsnappy" make build_c
 ```
 
-to put the binary in `./build`.
+which puts the binary in `./build`.
diff --git a/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md b/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
index d19c272fc..cdbdf1fe2 100644
--- a/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
@@ -30,7 +30,18 @@ moniker = "anonymous"
 # and verifying their commits
 fast_sync = true
 
-# Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+# Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+# * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+#   - pure go
+#   - stable
+# * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+#   - fast
+#   - requires gcc
+#   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+# * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+#   - EXPERIMENTAL
+#   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+#   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 db_backend = "leveldb"
 
 # Database directory
diff --git a/libs/db/backend_test.go b/libs/db/backend_test.go
index fb2a3d0b3..d755a6f27 100644
--- a/libs/db/backend_test.go
+++ b/libs/db/backend_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
 	cmn "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/common"
 )
 
diff --git a/libs/db/boltdb.go b/libs/db/boltdb.go
index 7ee988d2e..f53d2785c 100644
--- a/libs/db/boltdb.go
+++ b/libs/db/boltdb.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// +build boltdb
+
 package db
 
 import (
diff --git a/libs/db/boltdb_test.go b/libs/db/boltdb_test.go
index ced57d2e0..416a8fd03 100644
--- a/libs/db/boltdb_test.go
+++ b/libs/db/boltdb_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// +build boltdb
+
 package db
 
 import (
diff --git a/libs/db/c_level_db.go b/libs/db/c_level_db.go
index 116e51bc2..0ac040d20 100644
--- a/libs/db/c_level_db.go
+++ b/libs/db/c_level_db.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// +build gcc
+// +build cleveldb
 
 package db
 
diff --git a/libs/db/c_level_db_test.go b/libs/db/c_level_db_test.go
index e71dee0c1..1c10fcdef 100644
--- a/libs/db/c_level_db_test.go
+++ b/libs/db/c_level_db_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// +build gcc
+// +build cleveldb
 
 package db
 
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ func TestCLevelDBBackend(t *testing.T) {
 	// Can't use "" (current directory) or "./" here because levigo.Open returns:
 	// "Error initializing DB: IO error: test_XXX.db: Invalid argument"
 	dir := os.TempDir()
-	db := NewDB(name, LevelDBBackend, dir)
+	db := NewDB(name, CLevelDBBackend, dir)
 	defer cleanupDBDir(dir, name)
 
 	_, ok := db.(*CLevelDB)
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ func TestCLevelDBBackend(t *testing.T) {
 func TestCLevelDBStats(t *testing.T) {
 	name := fmt.Sprintf("test_%x", cmn.RandStr(12))
 	dir := os.TempDir()
-	db := NewDB(name, LevelDBBackend, dir)
+	db := NewDB(name, CLevelDBBackend, dir)
 	defer cleanupDBDir(dir, name)
 
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, db.Stats())
diff --git a/libs/db/db.go b/libs/db/db.go
index 43b788281..b68204420 100644
--- a/libs/db/db.go
+++ b/libs/db/db.go
@@ -5,18 +5,37 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )
 
-//----------------------------------------
-// Main entry
-
 type DBBackendType string
 
+// These are valid backend types.
 const (
-	LevelDBBackend   DBBackendType = "leveldb" // legacy, defaults to goleveldb unless +gcc
-	CLevelDBBackend  DBBackendType = "cleveldb"
+	// LevelDBBackend is a legacy type. Defaults to goleveldb unless cleveldb
+	// build tag was used, in which it becomes cleveldb.
+	// Deprecated: Use concrete types (golevedb, cleveldb, etc.)
+	LevelDBBackend DBBackendType = "leveldb"
+	// GoLevelDBBackend represents goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most
+	// popular implementation)
+	//   - pure go
+	//   - stable
 	GoLevelDBBackend DBBackendType = "goleveldb"
-	MemDBBackend     DBBackendType = "memdb"
-	FSDBBackend      DBBackendType = "fsdb" // using the filesystem naively
-	BoltDBBackend    DBBackendType = "boltdb"
+	// CLevelDBBackend represents cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+	//   - fast
+	//   - requires gcc
+	//   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+	CLevelDBBackend DBBackendType = "cleveldb"
+	// MemDBBackend represents in-memoty key value store, which is mostly used
+	// for testing.
+	MemDBBackend DBBackendType = "memdb"
+	// FSDBBackend represents filesystem database
+	//	 - EXPERIMENTAL
+	//   - slow
+	FSDBBackend DBBackendType = "fsdb"
+	// BoltDBBackend represents bolt (uses etcd's fork of bolt -
+	// github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+	//   - EXPERIMENTAL
+	//   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+	//   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
+	BoltDBBackend DBBackendType = "boltdb"
 )
 
 type dbCreator func(name string, dir string) (DB, error)
diff --git a/libs/db/remotedb/remotedb_test.go b/libs/db/remotedb/remotedb_test.go
index f5c8e2cb5..43a022461 100644
--- a/libs/db/remotedb/remotedb_test.go
+++ b/libs/db/remotedb/remotedb_test.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func TestRemoteDB(t *testing.T) {
 	client, err := remotedb.NewRemoteDB(ln.Addr().String(), cert)
 	require.Nil(t, err, "expecting a successful client creation")
 	dbName := "test-remote-db"
-	require.Nil(t, client.InitRemote(&remotedb.Init{Name: dbName, Type: "leveldb"}))
+	require.Nil(t, client.InitRemote(&remotedb.Init{Name: dbName, Type: "goleveldb"}))
 	defer func() {
 		err := os.RemoveAll(dbName + ".db")
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/lite/proxy/verifier.go b/lite/proxy/verifier.go
index b7c11f18e..429c54b2d 100644
--- a/lite/proxy/verifier.go
+++ b/lite/proxy/verifier.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ func NewVerifier(chainID, rootDir string, client lclient.SignStatusClient, logge
 	logger.Info("lite/proxy/NewVerifier()...", "chainID", chainID, "rootDir", rootDir, "client", client)
 
 	memProvider := lite.NewDBProvider("trusted.mem", dbm.NewMemDB()).SetLimit(cacheSize)
-	lvlProvider := lite.NewDBProvider("trusted.lvl", dbm.NewDB("trust-base", dbm.LevelDBBackend, rootDir))
+	lvlProvider := lite.NewDBProvider("trusted.lvl", dbm.NewDB("trust-base", dbm.GoLevelDBBackend, rootDir))
 	trust := lite.NewMultiProvider(
 		memProvider,
 		lvlProvider,