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DBMS > Microsoft SQL Server vs. Snowflake

System Properties Comparison Microsoft SQL Server vs. Snowflake

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Our visitors often compare Microsoft SQL Server and Snowflake with PostgreSQL, Databricks and Oracle.

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonSnowflake  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSCloud-based data warehousing service for structured and semi-structured data
Primary database modelRelational DBMSRelational DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score785.01
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score168.09
Rank#6  Overall
#5  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-serverwww.snowflake.com
Technical documentationlearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverdocs.snowflake.net/­manuals/­index.html
DeveloperMicrosoftSnowflake Computing Inc.
Initial release19892014
Current releaseSQL Server 2022, November 2022
License infoCommercial or Open Sourcecommercial inforestricted free version is availablecommercial
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenoyes
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.
Implementation languageC++
Server operating systemsLinux
Windows
hosted
Data schemeyesyes infosupport of semi-structured data formats (JSON, XML, Avro)
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyes
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
Secondary indexesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesyes
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
CLI Client
JDBC
ODBC
Supported programming languagesC#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresTransact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Javauser defined functions
Triggersyesno infosimilar concept for controling cloud resources
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodestables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationyes
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesyes, but depending on the SQL-Server Editionyes
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesno
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardUsers with fine-grained authorization concept, user roles and pluggable authentication

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More resources
Microsoft SQL ServerSnowflake
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Recent citations in the news

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24 March 2025, Redmondmag.com

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