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DBMS > Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. ScyllaDB vs. Sphinx

System Properties Comparison Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. ScyllaDB vs. Sphinx

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparisonScyllaDB  Xexclude from comparisonSphinx  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQLCassandra and DynamoDB compatible wide column storeOpen source search engine for searching in data from different sources, e.g. relational databases
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.Wide column storeSearch engine
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
Document store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
Key-value store
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
Score4.75
Rank#68  Overall
#5  Wide column stores
Score5.98
Rank#56  Overall
#5  Search engines
Websitewww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.orgwww.scylladb.comsphinxsearch.com
Technical documentationlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.org/­docsdocs.scylladb.comsphinxsearch.com/­docs
DeveloperMicrosoftPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developerScyllaDBSphinx Technologies Inc.
Initial release19891989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL20152001
Current releaseSQL Server 2022, November 202216.3, May 2024ScyllaDB Open Source 5.4.1, January 20243.5.1, February 2023
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoBSDOpen Source infoOpen Source (AGPL), commercial license availableOpen Source infoGPL version 2, commercial licence available
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Implementation languageC++CC++C++
Server operating systemsLinux
Windows
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
LinuxFreeBSD
Linux
NetBSD
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Data schemeyesyesschema-freeyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesno
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.no
Secondary indexesyesyesyes infocluster global secondary indicesyes infofull-text index on all search fields
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesyes infostandard with numerous extensionsSQL-like DML and DDL statements (CQL)SQL-like query language (SphinxQL)
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
Proprietary protocol (CQL) infocompatible with CQL (Cassandra Query Language, an SQL-like language)
RESTful HTTP API (DynamoDB compatible)
Thrift
Proprietary protocol
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
For CQL interface: C#, C++, Clojure, Erlang, Go, Haskell, Java, JavaScript, Node.js, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scala
For DynamoDB interface: .Net, ColdFusion, Erlang, Groovy, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby
C++ infounofficial client library
Java
Perl infounofficial client library
PHP
Python
Ruby infounofficial client library
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.yes, Luano
Triggersyesyesnono
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 hashShardingSharding infoPartitioning is done manually, search queries against distributed index is supported
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 factor infoRepresentation of geographical distribution of servers is possiblenone
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnononono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyEventual Consistency
Tunable Consistency infocan be individually decided for each write operation
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyesnono
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACIDno infoAtomicity and isolation are supported for single operationsno
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyes infoThe original contents of fields are not stored in the Sphinx index.
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesnoyes infoin-memory tables
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardAccess rights for users can be defined per objectno
More information provided by the system vendor
Microsoft SQL ServerPostgreSQLScyllaDBSphinx
Specific characteristicsScyllaDB is engineered to deliver predictable performance at scale. It’s adopted...
» more
Competitive advantagesHighly-performant (efficiently utilizes full resources of a node and network; millions...
» more
Typical application scenariosScyllaDB is ideal for applications that require high throughput and low latency at...
» more
Key customersDiscord, Epic Games, Expedia, Zillow, Comcast, Disney+ Hotstar, Samsung, ShareChat,...
» more
Market metricsScyllaDB typically offers ~75% total cost of ownership savings, with ~5X higher throughput...
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsScyllaDB Open Source - free open source software (AGPL) ScyllaDB Enterprise - subscription-based...
» more

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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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pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
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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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SharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
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More resources
Microsoft SQL ServerPostgreSQLScyllaDBSphinx
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