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

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

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Impala  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonNeo4j  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionAnalytic DBMS for HadoopMicrosofts 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 storeDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score15.06
Rank#39  Overall
#24  Relational DBMS
Score845.81
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score44.36
Rank#23  Overall
#1  Graph DBMS
Websiteimpala.apache.orgwww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverneo4j.com
Technical documentationimpala.apache.org/­impala-docs.htmllearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverneo4j.com/­docs
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by ClouderaMicrosoftNeo4j, Inc.
Initial release201319892007
Current release4.1.0, June 2022SQL Server 2022, November 20225.18.1, March 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache Version 2commercial 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

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++C++Java, Scala
Server operating systemsLinuxLinux
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 indexesyesyesyes 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 languagesAll languages supporting JDBC/ODBCC#
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-reduceTransact 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 nodesShardingtables 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 factoryes, 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 MapReducenono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual ConsistencyImmediate 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 controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles infobased on Apache Sentry and Kerberosfine 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 ImpalaMicrosoft SQL ServerNeo4j
Specific characteristicsNeo4j delivers graph technology that has been battle tested for performance and scale...
» more
Competitive advantagesNeo4j is the market leader, graph database category creator, and the most widely...
» more
Typical application scenariosReal-Time Recommendations Master Data Management Identity and Access Management Network...
» more
Key customersOver 800 commercial customers and over 4300 startups use Neo4j. Flagship customers...
» more
Market metricsNeo4j boasts the world's largest graph database ecosystem with more than 140 million...
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsGPL v3 license that can be used all the places where you might use MySQL. Neo4j Commercial...
» more
News

Neo4j Integrates with Microsoft to Evolve Data Analytics and Enhance GenAI
26 March 2024

This Week in Neo4j: Data Modeling, GenAI, GraphQL, App Development and more
23 March 2024

This Week in Neo4j: Cypher, GenAI, Podcast, Graph Databases and more
16 March 2024

This Week in Neo4j: GenAI, Python, SpringAI, PHP and more
9 March 2024

This Week in Neo4j: GraphAcademy, Algorithms, GenAI, Knowledge Graphs and more
2 March 2024

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and for displaying vendor-provided information such as key customers, competitive advantages and market metrics.

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More resources
Apache ImpalaMicrosoft SQL ServerNeo4j
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Recent citations in the news

Apache Impala 4 Supports Operator Multi-Threading
29 July 2021, iProgrammer

Apache Impala becomes Top-Level Project
28 November 2017, SDTimes.com

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28 November 2017, Datanami

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