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DBMS > PostgreSQL vs. Snowflake vs. Vertica

System Properties Comparison PostgreSQL vs. Snowflake vs. Vertica

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NamePostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparisonSnowflake  Xexclude from comparisonVertica infoOpenText™ Vertica™  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQLCloud-based data warehousing service for structured and semi-structured dataCloud or off-cloud analytical database and query engine for structured and semi-structured streaming and batch data. Machine learning platform with built-in algorithms, data preparation capabilities, and model evaluation and management via SQL or Python.
Primary database modelRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.Relational DBMSRelational DBMS infoColumn oriented
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
Spatial DBMS
Time Series DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score650.90
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Score119.88
Rank#10  Overall
#7  Relational DBMS
Score13.30
Rank#44  Overall
#28  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.postgresql.orgwww.snowflake.comwww.vertica.com
Technical documentationwww.postgresql.org/­docsdocs.snowflake.net/­manuals/­index.htmlvertica.com/­documentation
DeveloperPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developerSnowflake Computing Inc.OpenText infopreviously Micro Focus and Hewlett Packard
Initial release1989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL20142005
Current release16.1, November 202312.0.3, January 2023
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoBSDcommercialcommercial infoLimited community edition free
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenoyesno infoon-premises, all major clouds - Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and containers
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.Vertica Accelerator’s high-performance analytics and machine learning with SQL or Python is available as SaaS.
Implementation languageCC++
Server operating systemsFreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
hostedLinux
Data schemeyesyes infosupport of semi-structured data formats (JSON, XML, Avro)Yes, but also semi-structure/unstructured data storage, and complex hierarchical data (like Parquet) stored and/or queried.
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.yes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.yesno
Secondary indexesyesNo Indexes Required. Different internal optimization strategy, but same functionality included.
SQL infoSupport of SQLyes infostandard with numerous extensionsyesFull 1999 standard plus machine learning, time series and geospatial. Over 650 functions.
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
CLI Client
JDBC
ODBC
ADO.NET
JDBC
Kafka Connector
ODBC
RESTful HTTP API
Spark Connector
vSQL infocharacter-based, interactive, front-end utility
Supported programming languages.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
C#
C++
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
R
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresuser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.user defined functionsyes, PostgreSQL PL/pgSQL, with minor differences
Triggersyesno infosimilar concept for controling cloud resourcesyes, called Custom Alerts
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodespartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hashyeshorizontal partitioning, hierarchical partitioning
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensionsyesMulti-source replication infoOne, or more copies of data replicated across nodes, or object-store used for repository.
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnonono infoBi-directional Spark integration
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 dataACIDACIDACID
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.nonono
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardUsers with fine-grained authorization concept, user roles and pluggable authenticationfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard; supports Kerberos, LDAP, Ident and hash
More information provided by the system vendor
PostgreSQLSnowflakeVertica infoOpenText™ Vertica™
Specific characteristicsDeploy-anywhere database for large-scale analytical deployments. Deploy off-cloud,...
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Competitive advantagesFast, scalable, and capable of high concurrency. Separation of compute/storage leverages...
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Typical application scenariosCommunication and network analytics, Embedded analytics, Fraud monitoring and Risk...
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Key customersAbiba Systems, Adform, adMarketplace, AmeriPride, Anritsu, AOL, Avito, Auckland Transport,...
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Licensing and pricing modelsCost-based models and subscription-based models are both available. One license is...
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Related products and services
3rd partiesInstaclustr: Fully Hosted & Managed PostgreSQL
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Navicat for PostgreSQL is an easy-to-use graphical tool for PostgreSQL database development.
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Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
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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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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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Redgate webinars: A series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users.
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Datasentinel: Platform for Monitoring and Analyzing the performance problems of your PostgreSQL Clusters
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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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CData: Connect to Big Data & NoSQL through standard Drivers.
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We invite representatives of vendors of related products to contact us for presenting information about their offerings here.

More resources
PostgreSQLSnowflakeVertica infoOpenText™ Vertica™
DB-Engines blog posts

Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2022, defending the title from last year
3 January 2023, Matthias Gelbmann, Paul Andlinger

Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2021
3 January 2022, Paul Andlinger, Matthias Gelbmann

Driving the Future of PostgreSQL Adoption
15 November 2021,  Umair Shahid, Percona (sponsor) 

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Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2022, defending the title from last year
3 January 2023, Matthias Gelbmann, Paul Andlinger

Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2021
3 January 2022, Paul Andlinger, Matthias Gelbmann

show all

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