DBMS > Informix vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Vertica

System Properties Comparison Informix vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. Vertica

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines

Name

Description

A secure embeddable database from IBM, positioned besides IBM Db2 as a relatively low-cost product optimized for OLTP and Internet of Things data

Microsofts flagship relational DBMS

Cloud or off-cloud analytical database and query engine for structured and semi-structured streaming and batch data. Machine learning platform with built-in algorithms, data preparation capabilities, and model evaluation and management via SQL or Python.

Primary database model

Relational DBMS

Since Version 12.10 support for JSON/BSON datatypes compatible with MongoDB

Relational DBMS

Column oriented

Secondary database models

Document store
Spatial DBMS
Time Series DBMS

with Informix TimeSeries Extension

Document store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS

Spatial DBMS
Time Series DBMS

DB-Engines Ranking measures the popularity of database management systems
Trend Chart

Score	16.28
Rank	#36	Overall
	#21	Relational DBMS

Score	802.09
Rank	#3	Overall
	#3	Relational DBMS

Score	10.02
Rank	#42	Overall
	#26	Relational DBMS

Website

www.ibm.com/products/informix

www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server

www.vertica.com

Technical documentation

informix.hcldoc.com
www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSGU8G/welcomeIfxServers.html

learn.microsoft.com/en-US/sql/sql-server

vertica.com/documentation

Developer

IBM, HCL Technologies

Effective May 1st, 2017, HCL took on development, technical support, and product management teams, and works jointly with IBM on product strategy, marketing, and sales.

Microsoft

OpenText

previously Micro Focus and Hewlett Packard

Initial release

1984

1989

2005

Current release

14.10.FC5, November 2020

SQL Server 2022, November 2022

12.0.3, January 2023

License

Commercial or Open Source

commercial

free developer edition available

commercial

restricted free version is available

commercial

Limited community edition free

Cloud-based only

Only available as a cloud service

on-premises, all major clouds - Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and containers

DBaaS offerings (sponsored links)

Database as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.

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Implementation language

C, C++ and Java

C++

Server operating systems

AIX
HP-UX
Linux
macOS
Solaris
Windows

Linux
Windows

Linux

Data scheme

yes

Yes, but also semi-structure/unstructured data storage, and complex hierarchical data (like Parquet) stored and/or queried.

Typing

predefined data types such as float or date

yes

Since Version 12.10 support for JSON/BSON datatypes

yes

XML support

Some form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.

yes

Secondary indexes

yes

No Indexes Required. Different internal optimization strategy, but same functionality included.

SQL

Support of SQL

yes

Full 1999 standard plus machine learning, time series and geospatial. Over 650 functions.

APIs and other access methods

JDBC
JSON API

MongoDB compatible
MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport)
ODBC
RESTful HTTP API

ADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)

ADO.NET
JDBC
Kafka Connector
ODBC
RESTful HTTP API
Spark Connector
vSQL

character-based, interactive, front-end utility

Supported programming languages

.Net
C
C++
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
Ruby

C#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic

C#
C++
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
R

Server-side scripts

Stored procedures

yes

Transact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Java

yes, PostgreSQL PL/pgSQL, with minor differences

Triggers

yes

yes, called Custom Alerts

Partitioning methods

Methods for storing different data on different nodes

Sharding

tables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federation

horizontal partitioning, hierarchical partitioning

Replication methods

Methods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodes

Multi-source replication
Source-replica replication

yes, but depending on the SQL-Server Edition

Multi-source replication

One, or more copies of data replicated across nodes, or object-store used for repository.

MapReduce

Offers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methods

Bi-directional Spark integration

Consistency concepts

Methods to ensure consistency in a distributed system

Immediate Consistency

Foreign keys

Referential integrity

yes

Transaction concepts

Support to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of data

ACID

Concurrency

Support for concurrent manipulation of data

yes

Durability

Support for making data persistent

yes

In-memory capabilities

Is there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.

yes

User concepts

Access control

Users with fine-grained authentication, authorization, and auditing controls

fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard; supports Kerberos, LDAP, Ident and hash

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More resources

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Conferences, events and webinars

more DBMS events

PASS Data Community Summit
Seattle, Washington, 4-8 November 2024

Recent citations in the news

IBM Informix Database in the Cloud
1 May 2009, AWS Blog

Cisco Systems, Informix and Softbank Ventures Make Investment in Internet Video Leader VXtreme
13 August 2022, Cisco Newsroom

Is Informix back?
21 September 1998, Forbes

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30 November 2020, Siliconindia.com

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15 October 2019, The Mercury News

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21 August 2024, ITPro

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15 May 2024, Redmondmag.com

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7 October 2024, The Register

Mastering the SQL Server command-line interface
30 May 2024, SitePoint

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Introducing the Future of Data Analysis: A Revolutionary Tool for Vertica Users
25 October 2024, blogs.opentext.com

Vertica on Kubernetes
20 June 2024, blogs.opentext.com

Postgres pioneer Michael Stonebraker promises to upend the database once more
26 December 2023, The Register

Solving Big Data Challenges with Data Science at Uber
20 March 2019, Uber

VAST links arms with Vertica for fast analytics
19 April 2022, Blocks & Files

provided by Google News

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