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DBMS > Apache Impala vs. Kdb vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison Apache Impala vs. Kdb vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Neo4j

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Impala  Xexclude from comparisonKdb  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionAnalytic DBMS for HadoopHigh performance Time Series DBMSMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSScalable, ACID-compliant graph database designed with a high-performance distributed cluster architecture, available in self-hosted and cloud offerings
Primary database modelRelational DBMSTime Series DBMS
Vector DBMS
Relational DBMSGraph DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument storeRelational DBMSDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score13.77
Rank#40  Overall
#24  Relational DBMS
Score7.55
Rank#53  Overall
#3  Time Series DBMS
#1  Vector DBMS
Score824.29
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score44.46
Rank#23  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websiteimpala.apache.orgkx.comwww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverneo4j.com
Technical documentationimpala.apache.org/­impala-docs.htmlcode.kx.comlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by ClouderaKx Systems, a division of First Derivatives plcMicrosoftNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release20132000 infokdb was released 2000, kdb+ in 200319892007
Current release4.1.0, June 20223.6, May 2018SQL Server 2022, November 20225.19, April 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache Version 2commercial infofree 32-bit versioncommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoGPL version3, commercial licenses available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Neo4j Aura: Neo4j’s fully managed cloud service: The zero-admin, always-on graph database for cloud developers.
Implementation languageC++qC++Java, Scala
Server operating systemsLinuxLinux
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Linux
Windows
Linux infoCan also be used server-less as embedded Java database.
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Data schemeyesyesyesschema-free and schema-optional
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesyes
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.noyesyes
Secondary indexesyesyes infotable attribute 'grouped'yesyes infopluggable indexing subsystem, by default Apache Lucene
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like DML and DDL statementsSQL-like query language (q)yesno
APIs and other access methodsJDBC
ODBC
HTTP API
JDBC
Jupyter
Kafka
ODBC
WebSocket
ADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
Bolt protocol
Cypher query language
Java API
Neo4j-OGM infoObject Graph Mapper
RESTful HTTP API
Spring Data Neo4j
TinkerPop 3
Supported programming languagesAll languages supporting JDBC/ODBCC
C#
C++
Go
J
Java
JavaScript
Lua
MatLab
Perl
PHP
Python
R
Scala
C#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic
.Net
Clojure
Elixir
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyes infouser defined functions and integration of map-reduceuser defined functionsTransact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Javayes infoUser defined Procedures and Functions
Triggersnoyes infowith viewsyesyes infovia event handler
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardinghorizontal partitioningtables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationyes using Neo4j Fabric
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesselectable replication factorSource-replica replicationyes, but depending on the SQL-Server EditionCausal Clustering using Raft protocol infoavailable in in Enterprise Version only
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyes infoquery execution via MapReduceno infosimilar paradigm used for internal processingnono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyCausal and Eventual Consistency configurable in Causal Cluster setup
Immediate Consistency in stand-alone mode
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynoyesyesyes infoRelationships in graphs
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datanonoACIDACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.noyesyes
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles infobased on Apache Sentry and Kerberosrights management via user accountsfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardUsers, roles and permissions. Pluggable authentication with supported standards (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos)
More information provided by the system vendor
Apache ImpalaKdbMicrosoft SQL ServerNeo4j
Specific characteristicsIntegrated columnar database & programming system for streaming, real time and historical...
» more
Neo4j delivers graph technology that has been battle tested for performance and scale...
» more
Competitive advantagesprovides seamless scalability; runs on industry standard server platforms; is top-ranked...
» more
Neo4j is the market leader, graph database category creator, and the most widely...
» more
Typical application scenariostick database streaming sensor data massive intelligence applications oil and gas...
» more
Real-Time Recommendations Master Data Management Identity and Access Management Network...
» more
Key customersGoldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Merrill Lynch J.P. Morgan Deutsche Bank IEX Securities...
» more
Over 800 commercial customers and over 4300 startups use Neo4j. Flagship customers...
» more
Market metricskdb+ performance and reliability proven by our customers in critical infrastructure...
» more
Neo4j boasts the world's largest graph database ecosystem with more than 140 million...
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsupon request
» more
GPL v3 license that can be used all the places where you might use MySQL. Neo4j Commercial...
» more
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and for displaying vendor-provided information such as key customers, competitive advantages and market metrics.

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3rd partiesNavicat Monitor is a safe, simple and agentless remote server monitoring tool for SQL Server and many other database management systems.
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More resources
Apache ImpalaKdbMicrosoft SQL ServerNeo4j
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