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DBMS > Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database

System Properties Comparison Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database

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Our visitors often compare Google Cloud Spanner and Microsoft Azure SQL Database with PostgreSQL, Amazon Aurora and MongoDB.

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameGoogle Cloud Spanner  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft Azure SQL Database infoformerly SQL Azure  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionA 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.Database as a Service offering with high compatibility to Microsoft SQL Server
Primary database modelRelational DBMSRelational DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score2.56
Rank#97  Overall
#50  Relational DBMS
Score75.37
Rank#16  Overall
#11  Relational DBMS
Websitecloud.google.com/­spannerazure.microsoft.com/­en-us/­products/­azure-sql/­database
Technical documentationcloud.google.com/­spanner/­docsdocs.microsoft.com/­en-us/­azure/­azure-sql
DeveloperGoogleMicrosoft
Initial release20172010
Current releaseV12
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercialcommercial
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud serviceyesyes
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Implementation languageC++
Server operating systemshostedhosted
Data schemeyesyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyes
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 indexesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyes infoQuery statements complying to ANSI 2011yes
APIs and other access methodsgRPC (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
ODBC
Supported programming languagesGo
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
.Net
C#
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
Ruby
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresnoTransact SQL
Triggersnoyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesSharding
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesMulti-source replication with 3 replicas for regional instances.yes, with always 3 replicas available
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyes infousing Google Cloud Dataflowno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyes 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 dataACID infoStrict serializable isolationACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.no
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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More resources
Google Cloud SpannerMicrosoft Azure SQL Database infoformerly SQL Azure
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Recent citations in the news

Google Cloud Introduces HDD Tier for Spanner Database, Cutting Cold Storage Costs by 80%
22 March 2025, infoq.com

New features make Google's Spanner a database for AI
1 August 2024, TechTarget

Google Cloud Spanner gets dual-region configuration option
23 July 2024, InfoWorld

Google Releases Spanner Graph into General Availability
19 February 2025, infoq.com

Google Cloud expands its database portfolio with new AI capabilities
1 August 2024, TechCrunch

provided by Google News

Continuous Replication to Amazon RDS for SQL Server from Azure SQL
10 January 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The year ahead for SQL Server: Ground to cloud to fabric
15 January 2025, Microsoft

Native Vector Support in Azure SQL Database in Public Preview
16 November 2024, infoq.com

Modernize your database with the consolidation and retirement of Azure Database Migration tools
12 September 2024, Microsoft

Aon improves customer data security by leveraging Azure SQL Managed Instance with Microsoft Entra
4 February 2025, Microsoft

provided by Google News



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