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DBMS > Apache Spark (SQL) vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Neo4j

System Properties Comparison Apache Spark (SQL) vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Neo4j

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Spark (SQL)  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionApache Spark SQL is a component on top of 'Spark Core' for structured data processingMicrosofts 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 DBMSRelational DBMSGraph DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score20.40
Rank#29  Overall
#18  Relational DBMS
Score785.01
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score47.59
Rank#20  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websitespark.apache.org/­sqlwww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverneo4j.com
Technical documentationspark.apache.org/­docs/­latest/­sql-programming-guide.htmllearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperApache Software FoundationMicrosoftNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release201419892007
Current release3.5.0 ( 2.13), September 2023SQL Server 2022, November 20225.23, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache 2.0commercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoGPL version3, commercial licenses available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenonono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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SQLServer Flex @ STACKIT offers a managed version of SQL Server with adjustable CPU, RAM, storage amount and speed, in enterprise grade to perfectly match all application requirements. All services are 100% GDPR-compliant.
Implementation languageScalaC++Java, Scala
Server operating systemsLinux
OS X
Windows
Linux
Windows
Linux 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.noyes
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
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 languagesJava
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 proceduresnoTransact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Javayes infoUser defined Procedures and Functions
Triggersnoyesyes infovia event handler
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesyes, utilizing Spark Coretables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationyes using Neo4j Fabric
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesnoneyes, 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 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 integritynoyesyes 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.noyes
User concepts infoAccess controlnofine 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 Spark (SQL)Microsoft SQL ServerNeo4j
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More resources
Apache Spark (SQL)Microsoft SQL ServerNeo4j
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