diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 98df982bd304..48cc053f2533 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ var (
 	FlagCommitValue             bool
 	FlagOnOperationValue        bool // TODO: Remove in favor of binary search for invariant violation
 	FlagAllInvariantsValue      bool
+	FlagDBBackendValue          string
 
 	FlagEnabledValue     bool
 	FlagVerboseValue     bool
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ func GetSimulatorFlags() {
 	flag.BoolVar(&FlagCommitValue, "Commit", false, "have the simulation commit")
 	flag.BoolVar(&FlagOnOperationValue, "SimulateEveryOperation", false, "run slow invariants every operation")
 	flag.BoolVar(&FlagAllInvariantsValue, "PrintAllInvariants", false, "print all invariants if a broken invariant is found")
+	flag.StringVar(&FlagDBBackendValue, "DBBackend", "goleveldb", "custom db backend type")
 
 	// simulation flags
 	flag.BoolVar(&FlagEnabledValue, "Enabled", false, "enable the simulation")
@@ -71,5 +73,6 @@ func NewConfigFromFlags() simulation.Config {
 		Commit:             FlagCommitValue,
 		OnOperation:        FlagOnOperationValue,
 		AllInvariants:      FlagAllInvariantsValue,
+		DBBackend:          FlagDBBackendValue,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/simd/cmd/root.go b/simd/cmd/root.go
index d1425eb8924c..9ae7f10a7b48 100644
--- a/simd/cmd/root.go
+++ b/simd/cmd/root.go
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ func (a appCreator) newApp(logger log.Logger, db dbm.DB, traceStore io.Writer, a
 	}
 
 	snapshotDir := filepath.Join(cast.ToString(appOpts.Get(flags.FlagHome)), "data", "snapshots")
-	snapshotDB, err := sdk.NewLevelDB("metadata", snapshotDir)
+	snapshotDB, err := dbm.NewDB("metadata", server.GetAppDBBackend(appOpts), snapshotDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
diff --git a/utils.go b/utils.go
index 51d8ef54020f..1478104a5d8c 100644
--- a/utils.go
+++ b/utils.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func SetupSimulation(dirPrefix, dbName string) (simtypes.Config, dbm.DB, string,
 		return simtypes.Config{}, nil, "", nil, false, err
 	}
 
-	db, err := sdk.NewLevelDB(dbName, dir)
+	db, err := dbm.NewDB(dbName, dbm.BackendType(config.DBBackend), dir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return simtypes.Config{}, nil, "", nil, false, err
 	}