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DBMS > Apache Spark (SQL) vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison Apache Spark (SQL) vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics vs. Neo4j

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Spark (SQL)  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft Azure Synapse Analytics infopreviously named Azure SQL Data Warehouse  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionApache Spark SQL is a component on top of 'Spark Core' for structured data processingElastic, large scale data warehouse service leveraging the broad eco-system of SQL ServerScalable, ACID-compliant graph database designed with a high-performance distributed cluster architecture, available in self-hosted and cloud offerings
Primary database modelRelational DBMSRelational DBMSGraph DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score20.40
Rank#29  Overall
#18  Relational DBMS
Score14.36
Rank#36  Overall
#22  Relational DBMS
Score47.59
Rank#20  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websitespark.apache.org/­sqlazure.microsoft.com/­services/­synapse-analyticsneo4j.com
Technical documentationspark.apache.org/­docs/­latest/­sql-programming-guide.htmldocs.microsoft.com/­azure/­synapse-analyticsneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperApache Software FoundationMicrosoftNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release201420162007
Current release3.5.0 ( 2.13), September 20235.23, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache 2.0commercialOpen Source infoGPL version3, commercial licenses available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenoyesno
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Implementation languageScalaC++Java, Scala
Server operating systemsLinux
OS X
Windows
hostedLinux infoCan also be used server-less as embedded Java database.
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Data schemeyesyesschema-free and schema-optional
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyes
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.nono
Secondary indexesnoyesyes infopluggable indexing subsystem, by default Apache Lucene
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like DML and DDL statementsyesno
APIs and other access methodsJDBC
ODBC
ADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
Bolt protocol
Cypher query language
Java API
Neo4j-OGM infoObject Graph Mapper
RESTful HTTP API
Spring Data Neo4j
TinkerPop 3
Supported programming languagesJava
Python
R
Scala
C#
Java
PHP
.Net
Clojure
Elixir
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresnoTransact SQLyes infoUser defined Procedures and Functions
Triggersnonoyes infovia event handler
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesyes, utilizing Spark CoreSharding, horizontal partitioningyes using Neo4j Fabric
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesnoneyesCausal Clustering using Raft protocol infoavailable in in Enterprise Version only
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyCausal and Eventual Consistency configurable in Causal Cluster setup
Immediate Consistency in stand-alone mode
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynono infodocs.microsoft.com/­en-us/­azure/­synapse-analytics/­sql-data-warehouse/­sql-data-warehouse-table-constraintsyes infoRelationships in graphs
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datanoACIDACID
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.no
User concepts infoAccess controlnoyesUsers, roles and permissions. Pluggable authentication with supported standards (LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos)
More information provided by the system vendor
Apache Spark (SQL)Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics infopreviously named Azure SQL Data WarehouseNeo4j
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14 April 2025

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More resources
Apache Spark (SQL)Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics infopreviously named Azure SQL Data WarehouseNeo4j
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