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DBMS > Elasticsearch vs. Google Cloud Spanner vs. PostgreSQL

System Properties Comparison Elasticsearch vs. Google Cloud Spanner vs. PostgreSQL

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameElasticsearch  Xexclude from comparisonGoogle Cloud Spanner  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionA distributed, RESTful modern search and analytics engine based on Apache Lucene infoElasticsearch lets you perform and combine many types of searches such as structured, unstructured, geo, and metricA 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.Widely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL
Primary database modelSearch engine
Vector DBMS
Relational DBMSRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Spatial DBMS
Document store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score132.32
Rank#8  Overall
#1  Search engines
#1  Vector DBMS
Score2.66
Rank#99  Overall
#50  Relational DBMS
Score666.37
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.elastic.co/­elasticsearchcloud.google.com/­spannerwww.postgresql.org
Technical documentationwww.elastic.co/­guide/­en/­elasticsearch/­reference/­current/­index.htmlcloud.google.com/­spanner/­docswww.postgresql.org/­docs
DeveloperElasticGooglePostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developer
Initial release201020171989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL
Current release8.6, January 202316.4, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoElastic LicensecommercialOpen Source infoBSD
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.
PostgreSQL Flex @ STACKIT offers managed PostgreSQL Instances with adjustable CPU, RAM, storage amount and speed and several extensions available, in enterprise grade to perfectly match all application requirements. All 100% GDPR-compliant.
Implementation languageJavaC
Server operating systemsAll OS with a Java VMhostedFreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Data schemeschema-free infoFlexible type definitions. Once a type is defined, it is persistentyesyes
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.nonoyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.
Secondary indexesyes infoAll search fields are automatically indexedyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like query languageyes infoQuery statements complying to ANSI 2011yes infostandard with numerous extensions
APIs and other access methodsJava API
RESTful HTTP/JSON API
gRPC (using protocol buffers) API
JDBC infoAt present, JDBC supports read-only queries. No support for DDL or DML statements.
RESTful HTTP API
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Supported programming languages.Net
Groovy
Community Contributed Clients
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyesnouser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.
Triggersyes infoby using the 'percolation' featurenoyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingShardingpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesyesMulti-source replication with 3 replicas for regional instances.Source-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensions
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsES-Hadoop Connectoryes infousing Google Cloud Dataflowno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual Consistency infoSynchronous doc based replication. Get by ID may show delays up to 1 sec. Configurable write consistency: one, quorum, allImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynoyes infoby using interleaved tables, this features focuses more on performance improvements than on referential integrityyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datanoACID infoStrict serializable isolationACID
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.Memcached and Redis integrationnono
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles based on Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM)fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

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Related products and services
3rd partiesSharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
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pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
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CYBERTEC is a premier consulting company that provides open-source database PostgreSQL management and data science solutions. By offering PostgreSQL migrations, administration, design, and more, CYBERTEC provides an all-in-one catalog of powerful PostgreSQL support. It's through this exceptional service, equipped with a team of experts, that the company has established a proven reputation. When it comes to Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data, CYBERTEC offers services customized for you.
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More resources
ElasticsearchGoogle Cloud SpannerPostgreSQL
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