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DBMS > Informix vs. Lovefield vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL

System Properties Comparison Informix vs. Lovefield vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameInformix  Xexclude from comparisonLovefield  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionA secure embeddable database from IBM, positioned besides IBM Db2 as a relatively low-cost product optimized for OLTP and Internet of Things dataEmbeddable relational database for web apps written in pure JavaScriptMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL
Primary database modelRelational DBMS infoSince Version 12.10 support for JSON/BSON datatypes compatible with MongoDBRelational DBMSRelational 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
Time Series DBMS infowith Informix TimeSeries Extension
Document store
Graph DBMS
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
Score18.85
Rank#35  Overall
#22  Relational DBMS
Score0.32
Rank#290  Overall
#132  Relational DBMS
Score829.80
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score645.05
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.ibm.com/­products/­informixgoogle.github.io/­lovefieldwww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.org
Technical documentationinformix.hcldoc.com
www.ibm.com/­support/­knowledgecenter/­SSGU8G/­welcomeIfxServers.html
github.com/­google/­lovefield/­blob/­master/­docs/­spec_index.mdlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.org/­docs
DeveloperIBM, HCL Technologies infoEffective May 1st, 2017, HCL took on development, technical support, and product management teams, and works jointly with IBM on product strategy, marketing, and sales.GoogleMicrosoftPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developer
Initial release1984201419891989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL
Current release14.10.FC5, November 20202.1.12, February 2017SQL Server 2022, November 202216.2, February 2024
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial infofree developer edition availableOpen Source infoApache 2.0commercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoBSD
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Implementation languageC, C++ and JavaJavaScriptC++C
Server operating systemsAIX
HP-UX
Linux
macOS
Solaris
Windows
server-less, requires a JavaScript environment (browser, Node.js) infotested with Chrome, Firefox, IE, SafariLinux
Windows
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Data schemeyesyesyesyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyes infoSince Version 12.10 support for JSON/BSON datatypesyesyesyes
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.noyesyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.
Secondary indexesyesyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesSQL-like query language infovia JavaScript builder patternyesyes infostandard with numerous extensions
APIs and other access methodsJDBC
JSON API infoMongoDB compatible
MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport)
ODBC
RESTful HTTP API
ADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Supported programming languages.Net
C
C++
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
Ruby
JavaScriptC#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic
.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyesnoTransact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Javauser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.
TriggersyesUsing read-only observersyesyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingnonetables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesMulti-source replication
Source-replica replication
noneyes, but depending on the SQL-Server EditionSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensions
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnononono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyesyesyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACIDACIDACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes, by using IndexedDB or the cloud service Firebase Realtime Databaseyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesyes infousing MemoryDByesno
User concepts infoAccess controlUsers with fine-grained authentication, authorization, and auditing controlsnofine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

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More resources
InformixLovefieldMicrosoft SQL ServerPostgreSQL
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