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DBMS > Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. SurrealDB vs. Vitess

System Properties Comparison Microsoft SQL Server vs. PostgreSQL vs. SurrealDB vs. Vitess

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparisonSurrealDB  Xexclude from comparisonVitess  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQLA fully ACID transactional, developer-friendly, multi-model DBMSScalable, distributed, cloud-native DBMS, extending MySQL
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.Document store
Graph DBMS
Relational DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
Document store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
Document store
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score821.56
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score636.25
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Score1.02
Rank#190  Overall
#33  Document stores
#18  Graph DBMS
Score0.88
Rank#203  Overall
#95  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.orgsurrealdb.comvitess.io
Technical documentationlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverwww.postgresql.org/­docssurrealdb.com/­docsvitess.io/­docs
DeveloperMicrosoftPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developerSurrealDB LtdThe Linux Foundation, PlanetScale
Initial release19891989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL20222013
Current releaseSQL Server 2022, November 202216.3, May 2024v1.5.0, May 202415.0.2, December 2022
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoBSDOpen SourceOpen Source infoApache Version 2.0, commercial licenses available
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.
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Implementation languageC++CRustGo
Server operating systemsLinux
Windows
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Linux
macOS
Windows
Docker
Linux
macOS
Data schemeyesyesschema-freeyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesyes
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.
Secondary indexesyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesyes infostandard with numerous extensionsSQL-like query languageyes infowith proprietary extensions
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
GraphQL
RESTful HTTP API
WebSocket
ADO.NET
JDBC
MySQL protocol
ODBC
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
Deno
Go
JavaScript (Node.js)
Rust
Ada
C
C#
C++
D
Delphi
Eiffel
Erlang
Haskell
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Objective-C
OCaml
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scheme
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.yes infoproprietary syntax
Triggersyesyesyes
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 hashSharding
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 extensionsMulti-source replication
Source-replica replication
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnononono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyEventual Consistency across shards
Immediate Consistency within a shard
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyesyes infonot for MyISAM storage engine
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACIDACIDACID at shard level
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes infotable locks or row locks depending on storage engine
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-standardyes, based on authentication and database rulesUsers with fine-grained authorization concept infono user groups or roles

More information provided by the system vendor

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Related products and services
3rd partiesNavicat for SQL Server gives you a fully graphical approach to database management and development.
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Navicat 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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pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
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Redgate webinars: A series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users.
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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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Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
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Navicat for PostgreSQL is an easy-to-use graphical tool for PostgreSQL database development.
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SharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
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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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We invite representatives of vendors of related products to contact us for presenting information about their offerings here.

More resources
Microsoft SQL ServerPostgreSQLSurrealDBVitess
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