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DBMS > Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. Riak TS vs. SQLite

System Properties Comparison Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. Riak TS vs. SQLite

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparisonRiak TS  Xexclude from comparisonSQLite  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQLRiak TS is a distributed NoSQL database optimized for time series data and based on Riak KVWidely used embeddable, in-process RDBMS
Primary database modelRelational DBMSRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.Time Series DBMSRelational DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument 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
Score824.29
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score645.54
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Score0.20
Rank#319  Overall
#27  Time Series DBMS
Score114.32
Rank#10  Overall
#7  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.orgwww.sqlite.org
Technical documentationlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.org/­docswww.tiot.jp/­riak-docs/­riak/­ts/­latestwww.sqlite.org/­docs.html
DeveloperMicrosoftPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developerOpen Source, formerly Basho TechnologiesDwayne Richard Hipp
Initial release19891989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL20152000
Current releaseSQL Server 2022, November 202216.2, February 20243.0.0, September 20223.45.3  (15 April 2024), April 2024
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoBSDOpen SourceOpen Source infoPublic Domain
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
Implementation languageC++CErlangC
Server operating systemsLinux
Windows
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Linux
OS X
server-less
Data schemeyesyesschema-freeyes infodynamic column types
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesnoyes infonot rigid because of 'dynamic typing' concept.
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.yesyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.nono
Secondary indexesyesyesrestrictedyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesyes infostandard with numerous extensionsyes, limitedyes infoSQL-92 is not fully supported
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
HTTP API
Native Erlang Interface
ADO.NET infoinofficial driver
JDBC infoinofficial driver
ODBC infoinofficial driver
Supported programming languagesC#
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
C infounofficial client library
C#
C++ infounofficial client library
Clojure infounofficial client library
Dart infounofficial client library
Erlang
Go infounofficial client library
Groovy infounofficial client library
Haskell infounofficial client library
Java
JavaScript infounofficial client library
Lisp infounofficial client library
Perl infounofficial client library
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala infounofficial client library
Smalltalk infounofficial client library
Actionscript
Ada
Basic
C
C#
C++
D
Delphi
Forth
Fortran
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Lisp
Lua
MatLab
Objective-C
OCaml
Perl
PHP
PL/SQL
Python
R
Ruby
Scala
Scheme
Smalltalk
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresTransact 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.Erlangno
Triggersyesyesyes infopre-commit hooks and post-commit hooksyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodestables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hashShardingnone
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesyes, but depending on the SQL-Server EditionSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensionsselectable replication factornone
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnonoyesno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyEventual Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyesno infolinks between datasets can be storedyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACIDnoACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes infovia file-system locks
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesnoyes
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardnono

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Related products and services
3rd partiesNavicat Monitor is a safe, simple and agentless remote server monitoring tool for SQL Server and many other database management systems.
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Instaclustr: Fully Hosted & Managed PostgreSQL
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CYBERTEC is your professional partner in PostgreSQL topics for over 20 years. As our main aim is to be your single-source all-in-one IT service provider, we offer a wide range of products and services. Visit our website for more details.
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Redgate webinars: A series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users.
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Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
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Timescale: Calling all PostgreSQL users – the 2023 State of PostgreSQL survey is now open! Share your favorite extensions, preferred frameworks, community experiences, and more. Take the survey today!
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Fujitsu Enterprise Postgres: An Enterprise Grade PostgreSQL with the flexibility of a hybrid cloud solution combined with industry leading security, availability and performance.
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SharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
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pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
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Navicat Monitor is a safe, simple and agentless remote server monitoring tool for PostgreSQL and many other database management systems.
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Navicat for PostgreSQL is an easy-to-use graphical tool for PostgreSQL database development.
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Navicat for SQLite is a powerful and comprehensive SQLite GUI that provides a complete set of functions for database management and development.
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We invite representatives of vendors of related products to contact us for presenting information about their offerings here.

More resources
Microsoft SQL ServerPostgreSQLRiak TSSQLite
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