PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server are extensively used in the relational database management system and compatible with several small and large enterprise applications, even though both databases come with different editions based on the developer’s requirements.
In this section, we are going to discuss the differences between PostgreSQL and SQL server database system based on the various aspects.
Note: The RDBMS offers the user to work on back-end data with the help of different commands such as creates, update, delete and read because whenever the developers create any software projects, they always prefer an RDBMS (relational database management system).
And they can select any of the database applications based on their needs. The programmer can also select a commercial database or an open-source database. Still, usually, the developers choose a commercial database because they have more advanced features as compared to free software.
What is PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL is the most popular Object-Relational Database Management System used to manage the relational database as well as secure the data. It is an open-source database software and written in C programming language.
PostgreSQL follows the transaction along with the ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) properties. It supports various operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Mac OS X, LINUX, and so on.
It is the initial database that provides the multi-version concurrency control (MVCC) feature.
What is Microsoft SQL Server?
It is the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) database software that is introduced by Microsoft Corporation. The SQL Server is used to store, retrieve, and access data requests by the developers from the standard system or with the help of a remote location.
To interrelate with the database, it uses the SQL queries. It has Transact-SQL (T-SQL) query language on its own, which provides a further set of programming concepts such as stored procedure, declaring a variable, exceptional handling, and so on. Like other RDBMS, It uses the SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) interface tool, which is compatible with 64-bit and 32-bit environments.
Let us see some of the essential differences between PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL server, which will help us to enhance our knowledge:
| Different aspects | PostgreSQL | SQL Server |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | It is an object-relational database management system that is compatible with various SQL features such as subqueries, foreign keys, and triggers. Also, it supports multiple user-defined types and functions. | It is a database management system that is primarily used for multiple data warehousing solutions and E-commerce. |
| Programmed or Written in | It has primarily written in C language. | It has primarily written in C++ language. |
| Developed | The PostgreSQL global development group develops it. | Microsoft develops it. |
| Released | PostgreSQL was released on 8th July 1996. | SQL Server was released on 24 April 1989. |
| Latest release version | The latest release version is PostgreSQL 12.3 [May 2020] | The latest release version is SQL Server 2019 [November 2019] |
| License | It is an open-source tool. | It is a commercial tool. |
| Programming languages | It is compatible with various programming languages such as C, C++, Java, .Net, Perl, Python, Tcl, JavaScript (Node.js), and PHP. | It is compatible with various programming languages such as C++, PHP, C#, Go, Java, Python JavaScript (Node.js), PHP, R, Visual Basic, and Ruby. |
| Features | Following are the features of PostgreSQL:It is free to download.It is highly extensible.It supports various programming languages.It is highly reliable.It supports multiple features of SQL.Compatible on several operating systems.It is compatible with Data Integrity. | Following are the features of Microsoft SQL Server:It is platform-independent.It is compatible with SQL (SEQUEL) language, case insensitive, and has a shared database.It is highly scalable.It is both commands based and GUI software.It is implemented from the requirement of RDBMS.It can be run on a single computer system or a network of cloud servers. |
| Platforms | Primarily it supports Unix, Window, Linux, FreeBSD, HP-UX, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, and Solaris. | Primarily it supports Windows and Linux operating systems. |
| Materialized Views | It is not compatible with materialized views rather than they have a module called mat views that is used for rebuilding any materialized view. | The SQL server is compatible with materialized views. |
| Case sensitive | PostgreSQL is case sensitive. | SQL Server is not case sensitive. |
| In memory competences | PostgreSQL does not have memory capabilities. | SQL Server has memory capabilities. |
| Computed Columns | It does not offer computed columns as well as it has functional indexes that work just like a view. | It offers computed columns, but views are chosen over computed columns. |
| Replication | It supports master-slave replication. And it also has the third party options, where they can select from the ones which are free and not free. | SQL Server supports replication like (mirroring, log shipping, transactional, snapshot, and merge), but depends on the SQL-Server Edition. |
| Official website | https://www.postgresql.org/ | https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/sql-server/sql-server-2019 |
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