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DBMS > Apache HBase vs. Firebase Realtime Database vs. Google Cloud Spanner

System Properties Comparison Apache HBase vs. Firebase Realtime Database vs. Google Cloud Spanner

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache HBase  Xexclude from comparisonFirebase Realtime Database  Xexclude from comparisonGoogle Cloud Spanner  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionWide-column store based on Apache Hadoop and on concepts of BigTableCloud-hosted realtime document store. iOS, Android, and JavaScript clients share one Realtime Database instance and automatically receive updates with the newest data.A horizontally scalable, globally consistent, relational database service. It is the externalization of the core Google database that runs the biggest aspects of Google, like Ads and Google Play.
Primary database modelWide column storeDocument storeRelational DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score22.62
Rank#27  Overall
#3  Wide column stores
Score13.43
Rank#39  Overall
#6  Document stores
Score2.56
Rank#97  Overall
#50  Relational DBMS
Websitehbase.apache.orgfirebase.google.com/­products/­realtime-databasecloud.google.com/­spanner
Technical documentationhbase.apache.org/­book.htmlfirebase.google.com/­docs/­databasecloud.google.com/­spanner/­docs
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by PowersetGoogle infoacquired by Google 2014Google
Initial release200820122017
Current release2.3.4, January 2021
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache version 2commercialcommercial
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenoyesyes
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Implementation languageJava
Server operating systemsLinux
Unix
Windows infousing Cygwin
hostedhosted
Data schemeschema-free, schema definition possibleschema-freeyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateoptions to bring your own types, AVROyesyes
XML support infoSome form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.nonono
Secondary indexesnoyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLnonoyes infoQuery statements complying to ANSI 2011
APIs and other access methodsJava API
RESTful HTTP API
Thrift
Android
iOS
JavaScript API
RESTful HTTP API
gRPC (using protocol buffers) API
JDBC infoAt present, JDBC supports read-only queries. No support for DDL or DML statements.
RESTful HTTP API
Supported programming languagesC
C#
C++
Groovy
Java
PHP
Python
Scala
Java
JavaScript
Objective-C
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyes infoCoprocessors in Javalimited functionality with using 'rules'no
TriggersyesCallbacks are triggered when data changesno
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingSharding
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesMulti-source replication
Source-replica replication
Multi-source replication with 3 replicas for regional instances.
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyesnoyes infousing Google Cloud Dataflow
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate Consistency or Eventual ConsistencyEventual Consistency infoif the client is offline
Immediate Consistency infoif the client is online
Immediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynonoyes infoby using interleaved tables, this features focuses more on performance improvements than on referential integrity
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataSingle row ACID (across millions of columns)yesACID infoStrict serializable isolation
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesno
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess Control Lists (ACL) for RBAC, integration with Apache Ranger for RBAC & ABACyes, based on authentication and database rulesAccess rights for users, groups and roles based on Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM)

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More resources
Apache HBaseFirebase Realtime DatabaseGoogle Cloud Spanner
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