Microsoft SQL Server vs PostgreSQL

Overview

Microsoft SQL Server

Stacks21.3K

Followers15.5K

Votes540

PostgreSQL

Stacks103.0K

Followers83.9K

Votes3.6K

GitHub Stars19.0K

Forks5.2K

Microsoft SQL Server vs PostgreSQL: What are the differences?

Microsoft SQL Server is a comprehensive and feature-rich relational database management system developed by Microsoft. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is a powerful open-source database management system known for its scalability, extensibility, and strong community support. Here are the key differences between Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL:

Licensing and Cost: Microsoft SQL Server is a commercial database product that requires licensing. It offers various editions with different features and pricing options, ranging from the free Express edition to the more advanced Enterprise edition. On the other hand, PostgreSQL's open-source nature makes it a cost-effective option for many organizations, as it eliminates the need for expensive licenses.
Ecosystem and Vendor Support: Microsoft SQL Server is backed by Microsoft. Microsoft provides comprehensive documentation, official support channels, and a wide range of additional services, such as Azure SQL Database (a managed cloud version of SQL Server). PostgreSQL also has a thriving ecosystem and community support. It benefits from a large and active open-source community that contributes to its development, provides support through forums and mailing lists, and offers various extensions and plugins.
Features and Functionality: SQL Server has its own unique features, such as integration with Microsoft's .NET framework, native support for XML and JSON data, and built-in business intelligence tools like SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and Analysis Services (SSAS). PostgreSQL, on the other hand, excels in areas like extensibility and flexibility. It supports a wide range of data types, including user-defined types and arrays, and offers advanced features like full-text search, geospatial data support, and customizable indexing options.
Platform Compatibility: Microsoft SQL Server primarily runs on the Windows operating system and offers strong integration with other Microsoft technologies and tools. It also has versions available for Linux. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is known for its cross-platform compatibility and runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. This cross-platform support makes PostgreSQL a popular choice for developers and organizations working in diverse environments.
Performance and Scalability: SQL Server has traditionally been optimized for performance on Windows-based systems and excels in enterprise-level deployments. It offers features like query optimization, indexing options, and built-in tools for performance monitoring and tuning. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is known for its extensibility and ability to handle high concurrency. It provides advanced indexing options, support for parallel query execution, and scalability features like table partitioning and replication.

In summary, SQL Server offers a comprehensive feature set, strong vendor support, and integration with Microsoft technologies. PostgreSQL, being an open-source database, provides cost-effectiveness, platform compatibility, and a vibrant community-driven ecosystem.

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Advice on Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL

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

Kyle

Web Application Developer at Fortinet

Jun 2, 2020

Decided

MySQL has a lot of strengths working for it. It's simple and easy to set up and use. It's JSON engine is also really good these days. Mongo is also simple to setup and use, and it's speed as a document-object storage engine is first class.

Where Postgres has both beat is in it's combining of all of the features that make both MySQL and Mongo great, while adding on enterprise grade level scalability and replication. It's Postgres' stability and robustness, while still fulfilling the roles of it's contemporaries extremely well that edge Postgre for me.

1.03M views1.03M

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Microsoft SQL Server	PostgreSQL
Microsoft® SQL Server is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.	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.
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 19.0K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 5.2K
Stacks 21.3K	Stacks 103.0K
Followers 15.5K	Followers 83.9K
Votes 540	Votes 3.6K
Pros & Cons
Pros 139 Reliable and easy to use 101 High performance 95 Great with .net 65 Works well with .net 56 Easy to maintain Cons 4 Expensive Licensing 2 Microsoft 1 Data pages is only 8k 1 Allwayon can loose data in asycronious mode 1 Replication can loose the data	Pros 765 Relational database 511 High availability 439 Enterprise class database 383 Sql 304 Sql + nosql Cons 10 Table/index bloatings

What are some alternatives to Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL?

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.

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.

InfluxDB

InfluxDB is a scalable datastore for metrics, events, and real-time analytics. It has a built-in HTTP API so you don't have to write any server side code to get up and running. InfluxDB is designed to be scalable, simple to install and manage, and fast to get data in and out.

CouchDB

Apache CouchDB is a database that uses JSON for documents, JavaScript for MapReduce indexes, and regular HTTP for its API. CouchDB is a database that completely embraces the web. Store your data with JSON documents. Access your documents and query your indexes with your web browser, via HTTP. Index, combine, and transform your documents with JavaScript.

Related Comparisons

Licensing and Cost: Microsoft SQL Server is a commercial database product that requires licensing. It offers various editions with different features and pricing options, ranging from the free Express edition to the more advanced Enterprise edition. On the other hand, PostgreSQL's open-source nature makes it a cost-effective option for many organizations, as it eliminates the need for expensive licenses.
Ecosystem and Vendor Support: Microsoft SQL Server is backed by Microsoft. Microsoft provides comprehensive documentation, official support channels, and a wide range of additional services, such as Azure SQL Database (a managed cloud version of SQL Server). PostgreSQL also has a thriving ecosystem and community support. It benefits from a large and active open-source community that contributes to its development, provides support through forums and mailing lists, and offers various extensions and plugins.
Features and Functionality: SQL Server has its own unique features, such as integration with Microsoft's .NET framework, native support for XML and JSON data, and built-in business intelligence tools like SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and Analysis Services (SSAS). PostgreSQL, on the other hand, excels in areas like extensibility and flexibility. It supports a wide range of data types, including user-defined types and arrays, and offers advanced features like full-text search, geospatial data support, and customizable indexing options.
Platform Compatibility: Microsoft SQL Server primarily runs on the Windows operating system and offers strong integration with other Microsoft technologies and tools. It also has versions available for Linux. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is known for its cross-platform compatibility and runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. This cross-platform support makes PostgreSQL a popular choice for developers and organizations working in diverse environments.
Performance and Scalability: SQL Server has traditionally been optimized for performance on Windows-based systems and excels in enterprise-level deployments. It offers features like query optimization, indexing options, and built-in tools for performance monitoring and tuning. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is known for its extensibility and ability to handle high concurrency. It provides advanced indexing options, support for parallel query execution, and scalability features like table partitioning and replication.

Microsoft SQL Server vs PostgreSQL