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DBMS > PostgreSQL vs. Sphinx vs. Sqrrl vs. SwayDB

System Properties Comparison PostgreSQL vs. Sphinx vs. Sqrrl vs. SwayDB

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NamePostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparisonSphinx  Xexclude from comparisonSqrrl  Xexclude from comparisonSwayDB  Xexclude from comparison
Sqrrl has been acquired by Amazon and became a part of Amazon Web Services. It has been removed from the DB-Engines ranking.
DescriptionWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQLOpen source search engine for searching in data from different sources, e.g. relational databasesAdaptable, secure NoSQL built on Apache AccumuloAn embeddable, non-blocking, type-safe key-value store for single or multiple disks and in-memory storage
Primary database modelRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.Search engineDocument store
Graph DBMS
Key-value store
Wide column store
Key-value store
Secondary database modelsDocument 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
Score645.05
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Score6.03
Rank#60  Overall
#6  Search engines
Score0.04
Rank#373  Overall
#57  Key-value stores
Websitewww.postgresql.orgsphinxsearch.comsqrrl.comswaydb.simer.au
Technical documentationwww.postgresql.org/­docssphinxsearch.com/­docs
DeveloperPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developerSphinx Technologies Inc.Amazon infooriginally Sqrrl Data, Inc.Simer Plaha
Initial release1989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL200120122018
Current release16.2, February 20243.5.1, February 2023
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoBSDOpen Source infoGPL version 2, commercial licence availablecommercialOpen Source infoGNU Affero GPL V3.0
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 languageCC++JavaScala
Server operating systemsFreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
FreeBSD
Linux
NetBSD
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Linux
Data schemeyesyesschema-freeschema-free
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesnoyesno
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.no
Secondary indexesyesyes infofull-text index on all search fieldsyesno
SQL infoSupport of SQLyes infostandard with numerous extensionsSQL-like query language (SphinxQL)nono
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Proprietary protocolAccumulo Shell
Java API
JDBC
ODBC
RESTful HTTP API
Thrift
Supported programming languages.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
C++ infounofficial client library
Java
Perl infounofficial client library
PHP
Python
Ruby infounofficial client library
Actionscript
C infousing GLib
C#
C++
Cocoa
Delphi
Erlang
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
OCaml
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Smalltalk
Java
Kotlin
Scala
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresuser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.nonono
Triggersyesnonono
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodespartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hashSharding infoPartitioning is done manually, search queries against distributed index is supportedSharding infomaking use of Hadoopnone
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensionsnoneselectable replication factor infomaking use of Hadoopnone
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnonoyesno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency infoDocument store kept consistent with combination of global timestamping, row-level transactions, and server-side consistency resolution.Immediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesnonono
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDnoAtomic updates per row, document, or graph entityAtomic execution of operations
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes infoThe original contents of fields are not stored in the Sphinx index.yesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.noyes
User concepts infoAccess controlfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardnoCell-level Security, Data-Centric Security, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)no

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Related products and services
3rd partiesNavicat Monitor is a safe, simple and agentless remote server monitoring tool for PostgreSQL and many other database management systems.
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Instaclustr: 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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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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pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
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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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Redgate webinars: A series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users.
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SharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
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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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More resources
PostgreSQLSphinxSqrrlSwayDB
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Monitoring PostgreSQL with Redgate Monitor
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