Updated May 29, 2023
Difference Between SQL Server and PostgreSQL
Both of these being types of SQL, a question may arise about the difference between SQL Server vs PostgreSQL. Microsoft SQL server is a database management and analysis system mainly used for e-commerce, line of business, and different data warehousing solutions. On the other hand, PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system that supports 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
Key Difference between SQL Server and PostgreSQL
Both are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Differences:
- CSV support: Postgres is on top of the game when it comes to CSV support. It provides commands like ‘copy to’ and ‘copy from’, which help fast data processing. It also provides helpful error messages. If there is a slight issue with the import, it will throw an error and stop the import then and there. On the other hand, the SQL server does not support importing or exporting the data.
- Cross-platform: In today’s world, for a language or any program to be cross-platform is very important. With the advent of technology and the IT industry, it has become essential to be accessible over Linux and UNIX as they are open-source systems. As SQL Server is a Microsoft product, it exhibits vendor lock-in and operates exclusively on Microsoft systems. In contrast, users can utilize Postgres on various operating systems such as Linux, BSD, Solaris, and Windows.
- Procedural language features: Postgres provides a native procedural language called PL/PGSQL, which offers various modern features. It supports JSON data type and has ultimate power and flexibility in a single package. Additionally, users can easily utilize Python, Perl, R, Java, and PHP with SQL in Postgres, as it supports them as procedural languages. MS SQL server also provides procedural language support as an inbuilt feature. But this feature is 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. On the contrary, developers widely view the expressions offered by Postgres as superior to the LIKE, SUBSTRING, and PATINDEX functions available in SQL Server.
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 mainly used for e-commerce and providing different data warehousing solutions. | PostgreSQL is an advanced version of SQL that supports 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 multiple tables, 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 servers. The user must write rules against different views to update them. Also, complex ideas can be easily created. |
| Computed Columns | SQL server does provide computed columns, but views are preferred over computed columns. Computed columns have minimal use as they cannot hold 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 servers can replicate all sorts of data. This can be log shipping, mirroring, snapshot, transactional and merge, etc., and even have non-SQL Server, Windows-based subscribers. | Replication in Postgres is in the form of reports and is supposed to be the least polished of the bunch. However, there are different third-party options to choose from, which are free and not free. PostgreSQL 8.4 or a higher slated version can have a 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 complete this successfully, the user must compile the code into all first. | Here there is no need to create a dull first. A user who has made the code can easily see what the code is doing. The server, which is a downside, must host the language the environment uses. |
| Dynamic actions in SQL | SQL server does not support this feature. But instead, this user can use the stored procedure and call these from select statements, which is much more limiting than PostgreSQL. | PostgreSQL does provide this feature; just by using select statements, a user can perform all operations and retrieve and do all other jobs quickly. |
| Materialized Views | Yes, it provides the facilities to run materialized views. The functioning varies depending on where the query is being run. It can be SQL Express, Workgroup, etc. | Postgres does not provide the facility to run materialized views. Instead, they have a module called mat views which helps rebuild any materialized view. |
| Case sensitivity | By default SQL server is considered 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 are not exposed and are not ANSI compliant, making it a delirious job to use it on MS Access, PHP Gallery, etc., where SQL is regarded as 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 PostgreSQL is always at the upper hand when it comes to different features. It is an advanced version of SQL and hence provides many additional features. All these features are for free, unlike SQL servers. Furthermore, Postgres is cross-platform, allowing users to utilize it with any operating system.
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