Azure SQL Database vs PostgreSQL

Overview

PostgreSQL

Stacks103.0K

Followers83.9K

Votes3.6K

GitHub Stars19.0K

Forks5.2K

Azure SQL Database

Stacks585

Followers502

Votes13

Azure SQL Database vs PostgreSQL: What are the differences?

Azure SQL Database and PostgreSQL are both popular relational database management systems used for storing and managing data. Here are the key differences between them:

Platform and Deployment: Azure SQL Database is a fully managed cloud-based service provided by Microsoft on the Azure platform. It offers automatic scaling, high availability, and built-in security features. In contrast, PostgreSQL is an open-source database system that can be deployed on various platforms, including on-premises servers, cloud providers, and containerized environments. PostgreSQL provides more deployment flexibility but requires manual setup and management in non-cloud environments.
SQL Compatibility: Azure SQL Database is based on Microsoft SQL Server and provides high compatibility with Transact-SQL (T-SQL), the SQL language used by Microsoft databases. It offers extensive SQL features and extensions specific to the Microsoft SQL Server ecosystem. On the other hand, PostgreSQL closely follows SQL standards and offers a robust set of SQL features. However, it may have some differences in syntax and functionality compared to Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.
Performance and Scalability: Azure SQL Database is built for cloud-scale workloads and supports automatic scaling. For improved performance, it includes features such as automatic indexing, query performance insights, and built-in caching methods. PostgreSQL has scalability features like horizontal scaling (sharding) and replication. It offers flexibility for optimizing performance but requires more manual management compared to Azure SQL Database.
Ecosystem and Integration: Azure SQL Database is tightly integrated with other Microsoft Azure services, making it suitable for building cloud-native applications within the Azure ecosystem. It seamlessly integrates with Azure Active Directory for authentication and authorization, Azure Key Vault for secure storage of credentials and secrets, and Azure Monitor for monitoring and diagnostics. PostgreSQL has a vast ecosystem and supports integration with various third-party tools, libraries, and frameworks. It can be used in a wide range of application development scenarios and can integrate with different cloud providers and services.
Licensing and Cost: Azure SQL Database follows a consumption-based pricing model, where users pay for the resources consumed and the chosen service level. The pricing is based on factors such as database size, performance level, and additional features. PostgreSQL, being open-source, is free to use and has no licensing costs. However, the costs associated with PostgreSQL deployment may include infrastructure costs, maintenance costs, and support costs if desired.

In summary, Azure SQL Database is a fully managed cloud-based service with high compatibility with Microsoft SQL Server, offering automatic scaling and tight integration with the Azure ecosystem. PostgreSQL, as an open-source database system, provides deployment flexibility, adherence to SQL standards, scalability options, and a diverse ecosystem.

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Advice on PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database

Kyle

Web Application Developer at Redacted DevWorks

Dec 3, 2019

Decidedon

PostGIS

While there's been some very clever techniques that has allowed non-natively supported geo querying to be performed, it is incredibly slow in the long game and error prone at best.

MySQL finally introduced it's own GEO functions and special indexing operations for GIS type data. I prototyped with this, as MySQL is the most familiar database to me. But no matter what I did with it, how much tuning i'd give it, how much I played with it, the results would come back inconsistent.

It was very disappointing.

I figured, at this point, that SQL Server, being an enterprise solution authored by one of the biggest worldwide software developers in the world, Microsoft, might contain some decent GIS in it.

I was very disappointed.

Postgres is a Database solution i'm still getting familiar with, but I noticed it had no built in support for GIS. So I hilariously didn't pay it too much attention. That was until I stumbled upon PostGIS and my world changed forever.

449k views449k

Comments

George

Student

Mar 18, 2020

Needs adviceon

PostgreSQL

Python

Django

Hello everyone,

Well, I want to build a large-scale project, but I do not know which ORDBMS to choose. The app should handle real-time operations, not chatting, but things like future scheduling or reminders. It should be also really secure, fast and easy to use. And last but not least, should I use them both. I mean PostgreSQL with Python / Django and MongoDB with Node.js? Or would it be better to use PostgreSQL with Node.js?

*The project is going to use React for the front-end and GraphQL is going to be used for the API.

Thank you all. Any answer or advice would be really helpful!

620k views620k

Comments

Navraj

CEO at SuPragma

Apr 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

MySQL

PostgreSQL

I asked my last question incorrectly. Rephrasing it here.

I am looking for the most secure open source database for my project I'm starting: https://github.com/SuPragma/SuPragma/wiki

Which database is more secure? MySQL or PostgreSQL? Are there others I should be considering? Is it possible to change the encryption keys dynamically?

Thanks,

Raj

401k views401k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

PostgreSQL	Azure SQL Database
PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, user-defined types and functions.	It is the intelligent, scalable, cloud database service that provides the broadest SQL Server engine compatibility and up to a 212% return on investment. It is a database service that can quickly and efficiently scale to meet demand, is automatically highly available, and supports a variety of third party software.
Statistics
GitHub Stars 19.0K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 5.2K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 103.0K	Stacks 585
Followers 83.9K	Followers 502
Votes 3.6K	Votes 13
Pros & Cons
Pros 765 Relational database 511 High availability 439 Enterprise class database 383 Sql 304 Sql + nosql Cons 10 Table/index bloatings	Pros 6 Managed 4 Secure 3 Scalable

What are some alternatives to PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database?

MongoDB

MongoDB stores data in JSON-like documents that can vary in structure, offering a dynamic, flexible schema. MongoDB was also designed for high availability and scalability, with built-in replication and auto-sharding.

MySQL

The MySQL software delivers a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user, and robust SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. MySQL Server is intended for mission-critical, heavy-load production systems as well as for embedding into mass-deployed software.

Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS gives you access to the capabilities of a familiar MySQL, Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server database engine. This means that the code, applications, and tools you already use today with your existing databases can be used with Amazon RDS. Amazon RDS automatically patches the database software and backs up your database, storing the backups for a user-defined retention period and enabling point-in-time recovery. You benefit from the flexibility of being able to scale the compute resources or storage capacity associated with your Database Instance (DB Instance) via a single API call.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft® SQL Server is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.

SQLite

SQLite is an embedded SQL database engine. Unlike most other SQL databases, SQLite does not have a separate server process. SQLite reads and writes directly to ordinary disk files. A complete SQL database with multiple tables, indices, triggers, and views, is contained in a single disk file.

Cassandra

Partitioning means that Cassandra can distribute your data across multiple machines in an application-transparent matter. Cassandra will automatically repartition as machines are added and removed from the cluster. Row store means that like relational databases, Cassandra organizes data by rows and columns. The Cassandra Query Language (CQL) is a close relative of SQL.

Memcached

Memcached is an in-memory key-value store for small chunks of arbitrary data (strings, objects) from results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering.

MariaDB

Started by core members of the original MySQL team, MariaDB actively works with outside developers to deliver the most featureful, stable, and sanely licensed open SQL server in the industry. MariaDB is designed as a drop-in replacement of MySQL(R) with more features, new storage engines, fewer bugs, and better performance.

RethinkDB

RethinkDB is built to store JSON documents, and scale to multiple machines with very little effort. It has a pleasant query language that supports really useful queries like table joins and group by, and is easy to setup and learn.

ArangoDB

A distributed free and open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions.

Related Comparisons

Platform and Deployment: Azure SQL Database is a fully managed cloud-based service provided by Microsoft on the Azure platform. It offers automatic scaling, high availability, and built-in security features. In contrast, PostgreSQL is an open-source database system that can be deployed on various platforms, including on-premises servers, cloud providers, and containerized environments. PostgreSQL provides more deployment flexibility but requires manual setup and management in non-cloud environments.
SQL Compatibility: Azure SQL Database is based on Microsoft SQL Server and provides high compatibility with Transact-SQL (T-SQL), the SQL language used by Microsoft databases. It offers extensive SQL features and extensions specific to the Microsoft SQL Server ecosystem. On the other hand, PostgreSQL closely follows SQL standards and offers a robust set of SQL features. However, it may have some differences in syntax and functionality compared to Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.
Performance and Scalability: Azure SQL Database is built for cloud-scale workloads and supports automatic scaling. For improved performance, it includes features such as automatic indexing, query performance insights, and built-in caching methods. PostgreSQL has scalability features like horizontal scaling (sharding) and replication. It offers flexibility for optimizing performance but requires more manual management compared to Azure SQL Database.
Ecosystem and Integration: Azure SQL Database is tightly integrated with other Microsoft Azure services, making it suitable for building cloud-native applications within the Azure ecosystem. It seamlessly integrates with Azure Active Directory for authentication and authorization, Azure Key Vault for secure storage of credentials and secrets, and Azure Monitor for monitoring and diagnostics. PostgreSQL has a vast ecosystem and supports integration with various third-party tools, libraries, and frameworks. It can be used in a wide range of application development scenarios and can integrate with different cloud providers and services.
Licensing and Cost: Azure SQL Database follows a consumption-based pricing model, where users pay for the resources consumed and the chosen service level. The pricing is based on factors such as database size, performance level, and additional features. PostgreSQL, being open-source, is free to use and has no licensing costs. However, the costs associated with PostgreSQL deployment may include infrastructure costs, maintenance costs, and support costs if desired.

Azure SQL Database vs PostgreSQL