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DBMS > Microsoft SQL Server vs. Oracle vs. PostgreSQL

System Properties Comparison Microsoft SQL Server vs. Oracle vs. PostgreSQL

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonOracle  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSWidely used RDBMSWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL
Primary database modelRelational 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
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
Document store
Graph DBMS infowith Oracle Spatial and Graph
RDF store infowith Oracle Spatial and Graph
Spatial DBMS infowith Oracle Spatial and Graph
Vector DBMS infosince Oracle 23
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
Score805.69
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score1263.79
Rank#1  Overall
#1  Relational DBMS
Score666.37
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.oracle.com/­databasewww.postgresql.org
Technical documentationlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverdocs.oracle.com/­en/­databasewww.postgresql.org/­docs
DeveloperMicrosoftOraclePostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developer
Initial release198919801989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL
Current releaseSQL Server 2022, November 202223c, September 202316.4, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial inforestricted free version is availablecommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoBSD
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.
SQLServer Flex @ STACKIT offers a managed version of SQL Server with adjustable CPU, RAM, storage amount and speed, in enterprise grade to perfectly match all application requirements. All services are 100% GDPR-compliant.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 languageC++C and C++C
Server operating systemsLinux
Windows
AIX
HP-UX
Linux
OS X
Solaris
Windows
z/OS
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Data schemeyesyes infoSchemaless in JSON and XML columnsyes
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.yesyesyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.
Secondary indexesyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesyes infowith proprietary extensionsyes infostandard with numerous extensions
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
JDBC
ODBC
ODP.NET
Oracle Call Interface (OCI)
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Supported programming languagesC#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic
C
C#
C++
Clojure
Cobol
Delphi
Eiffel
Erlang
Fortran
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Lisp
Objective C
OCaml
Perl
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Scala
Tcl
Visual Basic
.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresTransact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) JavaPL/SQL infoalso stored procedures in Java possibleuser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.
Triggersyesyesyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodestables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationSharding, horizontal partitioningpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesyes, but depending on the SQL-Server EditionMulti-source replication
Source-replica replication
Source-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensions
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnono infocan be realized in PL/SQLno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyesyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACID infoisolation level can be parameterizedACID
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.yesyes infoVersion 12c introduced the new option 'Oracle Database In-Memory'no
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

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More resources
Microsoft SQL ServerOraclePostgreSQL
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