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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Databases
  4. Databases
  5. Azure SQL Database vs Clickhouse

Azure SQL Database vs Clickhouse

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database
Stacks585
Followers502
Votes13
Clickhouse
Clickhouse
Stacks431
Followers543
Votes85

Azure SQL Database vs Clickhouse: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown code, we will discuss the key differences between Azure SQL Database and ClickHouse. Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database service provided by Microsoft Azure, while ClickHouse is an open-source columnar database management system developed by Yandex.

  1. Scalability: Azure SQL Database offers horizontal scalability by allowing you to add or remove resources as per your needs. It utilizes a cloud-based architecture that automatically resizes the database to handle increased or decreased workloads. On the other hand, ClickHouse focuses on vertical scalability and is designed to efficiently handle huge volumes of data with a significantly higher read throughput.

  2. Data Storage and Query Language: Azure SQL Database stores data in a row-based format and uses the SQL language for querying. It is suitable for structured data and supports various indexing options for faster query execution. In contrast, ClickHouse stores data in a columnar format, which is highly optimized for analytical workloads. ClickHouse uses its own query language, which is specifically designed for fast analytical queries.

  3. Performance: Azure SQL Database offers high-performance OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) capabilities with low latency and high availability. It is suitable for transactional workloads and provides features like in-memory processing and automatic tuning. ClickHouse, on the other hand, excels in OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) workloads and is specifically designed for fast analytical queries on large datasets.

  4. Data Partitioning: Azure SQL Database supports sharding, which allows you to split your data across multiple databases or servers for distributed processing. It provides flexible partitioning options based on ranges, lists, or hash functions. ClickHouse also supports partitioning but uses a different approach. It uses merge-tree tables that allow automatic partitioning based on the primary key and time column.

  5. Data Replication and Availability: Azure SQL Database offers various replication options, including geo-replication for disaster recovery and high availability. It ensures automatic failover and provides built-in backup and restore capabilities. ClickHouse, on the other hand, provides replication through its distributed table feature, allowing you to replicate data across multiple ClickHouse instances for high availability and fault tolerance.

  6. Cost Model: Azure SQL Database follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you pay for the resources you consume. It offers various pricing tiers based on performance, storage, and features. ClickHouse, being open-source, is free to use and doesn't have any licensing costs. However, you need to consider the cost of hardware and infrastructure required to run ClickHouse clusters efficiently.

In summary, Azure SQL Database is a managed relational database service with horizontal scalability, row-based data storage, and optimized for OLTP workloads, while ClickHouse is an open-source columnar database system designed for vertical scalability, columnar data storage, and optimized for OLAP workloads.

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Detailed Comparison

Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database
Clickhouse
Clickhouse

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.

It allows analysis of data that is updated in real time. It offers instant results in most cases: the data is processed faster than it takes to create a query.

Statistics
Stacks
585
Stacks
431
Followers
502
Followers
543
Votes
13
Votes
85
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 6
    Managed
  • 4
    Secure
  • 3
    Scalable
Pros
  • 21
    Fast, very very fast
  • 11
    Good compression ratio
  • 7
    Horizontally scalable
  • 6
    Utilizes all CPU resources
  • 5
    RESTful
Cons
  • 5
    Slow insert operations

What are some alternatives to Azure SQL Database, Clickhouse?

MongoDB

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

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.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL

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.

Amazon RDS

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

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

SQLite

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

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

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

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

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.

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