Do I need to use a bootstrap database to sync a Kaspa node?

No — for most users, bootstrapping the database is almost never justified because syncing a Kaspa node from scratch usually takes about 30 minutes. A bootstrap database is a pre-downloaded archive of the node's data that lets you skip the sync process, but the time savings are only meaningful if you have a very old PC, less than 8 GB of RAM, or a very slow internet connection. For the average user on modern hardware, starting from scratch is simpler and nearly as fast.