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SQL Server vs PostgreSQL

By Priya PedamkarPriya Pedamkar

SQL Server vs PostgreSQL

Difference Between SQL Server and PostgreSQL

Both of these being types of SQL a question may arise about what is the difference between both SQL Server vs PostgreSQL. Microsoft SQL server is a database management and analysis system which is mainly used for e-commerce, line of business and different data warehousing solutions. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, is an advanced object-relational database management system which provides support to the extended subset of SQL standards including different transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, and different user-defined types and functions.

Head To Head Comparisons Between SQL Server and PostgreSQL (Infographics)

Below is the top 8 difference between SQL Server vs PostgreSQL

SQL Server vs PostgreSQL Infographics

Key Difference between SQL Server and PostgreSQL

Both are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference:

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  • CSV support: Postgres is on top of the game when it comes to CSV support. It provides different commands like ‘copy to’ and ‘copy from’ which help in the fast processing of data. It also provides helpful error messages. If there is a slight issue with import it will throw an error and stop the import then and there. SQL server, on the other hand, does not support either importing the data or exporting it.
  • Cross-platform: In today’s world for a language or any program to be cross-platform is really very important. With the advent of technology and IT industry, it has become very important to be accessible over Linux and UNIX as they are open source systems. SQL server is a Microsoft product is vendor locked and can be run only on Microsoft systems. Postgres can be used on Linux, BSD, Solaris and also Windows.
  • Procedural language features: PL/PGSQL is a native procedural language provided by Postgres which has different modern features. It supports JSON data type and hence has ultimate power and loads of flexibility included in a single package. In addition to this, a user can easily use Python, Perl, R, Java, PHP with SQL as they are supported as procedural languages in Postgres. MS SQL server also provides procedural language support as an inbuilt feature. But this feature is a bit messy, slow and has poor features. It also has small errors with different bugs always occurring.
  • Regular expressions: Postgres provides a huge number of regex as a basis for analytical work. SQL server, on the other hand, has like, substring, patindex which are not as good when compared to expressions provided by Postgres.

SQL Server vs PostgreSQL Comparison Table

Here are some of the Comparison:

The Basis Of Comparison  SQL Server PostgreSQL
Basic Difference SQL server is a database management system which is mainly used for e-commerce and providing different data warehousing solutions. PostgreSQL is an advanced version of SQL which provides support to different functions of SQL like foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, and different user-defined types and functions.
Updateable Views Views can be updatable even if 2 table views are updated. If the tables have different keys and the update statement does not involve more than one table then it will be updated automatically. The user can also make use of triggers to update complex views. Views in PostgreSQL can be updated but not automatically unlike SQL server. The user must write rules against different views to update them. Also, complex views can be easily created.
Computed Columns SQL server does provide computed columns but views are preferred over computed columns. Computed columns have a very limited use as they are not capable of holding different roll-ups. PostgreSQL does not provide computed columns. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, has functional indexes which work just as a view.
Replication SQL server can replicate all sorts of data. This can be log shipping, mirroring, snapshot, and transactional and merge etc. and can even have non-SQL Server windows-based subscribers. Replication in Postgres is in the form of reports and is supposed to be least polished of the bunch. Although there are different third-party options to choose from the ones that are free and not free. PostgreSQL 8.4 or a higher slated version can have built-in replication feature.
Support stored procedures and stored functions in different languages SQL server does support this feature. It can be done with any language which complies with CLR like VB, C#, Python, etc. TO get this done successfully user must first compile the code into all first. Here there is no need to create a dull first. A user who has created the code can easily see what the code is doing. The server which is downside must host the language the environment is using.
Dynamic actions in SQL SQL server does not support this feature. But instead of this user can use the stored procedure and call these from select statements so it is much more limiting than PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL does provide this feature and just by using select statements a user can perform really all operations and retrieve and do all other jobs easily.
Materialized Views Yes, it provides the facilities to run materialized views. The functioning though varies depending on where the query is being run. It can be SQL Express, Workgroup, etc. Postgres does not provide facility to run materialized views. Instead of this, they have a module called mat views which helps in rebuilding any materialized view.
Case sensitivity By default SQL server is considered to be case insensitive but if a user wants to change the same they can do it by going down to the column level. By default, PostgreSQL is case sensitive and it is difficult to make it insensitive. Changes can be made in it but they are not exposed and are not ANSI compliant hence making it a delirious job to use it on MS Access, PHP Gallery, etc. where SQL is regarded to be case insensitive.

Conclusion

In this SQL Server vs PostgreSQL article, we have seen Both SQL Server vs PostgreSQL are database management tools. They help in managing all data properly and efficiently. But when it comes to different features PostgreSQL is always at the upper hand. It is an advanced version of SQL and hence provides many additional features.  All these features are for free, unlike SQL server. Also, it is cross-platform and can be used with any operating system.

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This has a been a guide to the top difference between SQL Server vs PostgreSQL. Here we also discuss the SQL Server vs PostgreSQL key differences with infographics, and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more

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