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7/9/22, 12:18 AM SQL vs NoSQL: Differences, Databases, and Decisions | Talend | Talend
SQL vs NoSQL: Differences, Databases, and

Decisions
Knowledge center » Data Fabric » What is Data Processing? » SQL vs NoSQL: Differences,
Databases, an…
From analysts and engineers to IT decision makers, many are familiar with Relational
Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and the Structured Query Language (SQL)
used to interact with them. While these terms refer to a decades-old paradigm which
remains a wide standard, today the sheer variety and depth of database systems can
be dizzying. What’s more, rising volumes of unstructured data, availability of storage
and processing power, and evolving analytic requirements have generated interest in
fundamentally different technologies.
👋 Greetings from
Collectively known as NoSQL, these popular alternatives to traditional RDBMSs show
promise for a variety of modern use cases.
To make informed decisions about which to use, practitioners should be aware of the
We help organization get more value
differences between SQL, NoSQL, individual Database Management Systems (DBMS)
from their data.
and languages, as well as the situations each is best-suited for, and how the
landscape is changing.
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SQL vs NoSQL: Five Main Differences Technical support 💻

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There are five practical differences between SQL and NoSQL:
1. Language
2. Scalability
3. Structure
4. Properties
5. Support and communities
1. Language
SQL has been around for over 40 years, so it is recognizable, documented, and
widely-used. Safe and versatile, it’s particularly well suited for complex queries.
However, SQL restricts the user to working within a predefined tabular schema, and
more care must be taken to organize and understand the data before it is used.
The dynamic schemata of NoSQL databases allow representation of alternative

structures, often alongside each other, encouraging greater flexibility. There is less
emphasis on planning, greater freedom when adding new attributes or fields, and
the possibility of varied syntax across databases. As a group, however, NoSQL
languages lack the standard interface which SQL provides, so more complex queries
can be difficult to execute.
Though there are many dialects of SQL, all share a common syntax andfrom
👋 Greetings almost-
identical grammar. When querying relational databases, fluency in one language
translates to proficiency in most others. On the other hand, there is very little
consistency between NoSQL languages, as they concern a diverse set of unrelated
technologies. Many NoSQL databases have a unique data manipulation language
constrained by particular structures and capabilities. from their data.
2. Scalability
Most SQL databases can be scaled vertically, by increasing the processing power of
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existing hardware. NoSQL databases use a master-slave architecture which scales
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SQL databases can be scaled horizontally as well, though sharding or
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partitioning logic is often the user’s onus and not well supported.
NoSQL technologies are diverse and while many rely on the master-slave
architecture, options for scaling vertically also exist.
Savings made using more efficient data structures can overwhelm differences in
scalability; most important is to understand the use case and plan accordingly.
3. Structure
SQL database schemata always represent relational, tabular data, with rules about
consistency and integrity. They contain tables with columns (attributes) and rows
(records), and keys have constrained logical relationships.
NoSQL databases need not stick to this format, but generally fit into one of four
broad categories:
Column-oriented databases transpose row-oriented RDBMSs, allowing efficient

storage of high-dimensional data and individual records with varying attributes.
Key-Value stores are dictionaries which access diverse objects with a key unique
to each.
Document stores hold semi-structured data: objects which contain all of their
own relevant information, and which can be completely different from each
other.
Graph databases add the concept of relationships (direct links between objects)
👋 Greetings
to documents, allowing rapid traversal of greatly connected data from
sets.
4. Properties
At a high level, SQL and NoSQL comply with separate rules for resolving transactions.
RDBMSs must exhibit four “ACID” properties: We help organization get more value
from their data.
Atomicity means all transactions must succeed or fail completely. They cannot
be partially-complete, even in the case of system failure. Chat with sales 📞
Consistency means that at each step the database follows invariants: rules
which validate and prevent corruption. Cookie Settings
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even if they were run in parallel.

Durability makes transactions final. Even system failure cannot roll-back the
effects of a successful transaction.
NoSQL technologies adhere to the “CAP” theorem, which says that in any distributed
database, only two of the following properties can be guaranteed at once:
Consistency: Every request receives the most recent result, or an error. (Note
this is different than in ACID)
Availability: Every request has a non-error result, regardless of how recent that
result is.
Partition tolerance: Any delays or losses between nodes will not interrupt the
system’s operation.
5. Support and communities

SQL databases represent massive communities, stable codebases, and proven
standards. Multitudes of examples are posted online and experts are available to
support those new to programming relational data.
NoSQL technologies are being adopted quickly, but communities remain smaller and
more fractured. However, many SQL languages are proprietary or associated with
large single-vendors, while NoSQL communities benefit from open systems and
concerted commitment to onboarding users. 👋 Greetings from
SQL is available to most major platforms, from operating systems to architectures
and programming languages. Compatibility varies more widely for NoSQL, and
dependencies need to be investigated more carefully.
from their data.
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SQL vs NoSQL databases: MySQL, MongoDB, and more.

Remember that SQL dialects share many properties though they interface with
distinct databases. Flavors of NoSQL vary far more across their attendant systems, so
comparison can be more useful between multiple non-relational technologies vs.
SQL generally.
Perhaps the most recognizable SQL dialect is MySQL, an open source and free RDBMS
(though available through proprietary licenses as well). Its use is widespread in web
applications, and it is known for compatibility, support, and good performance in the
average case. MySQL has also made concessions to NoSQL practitioners with
features like a JSON data type, the “Document Store,” and support for sharding
(horizontal scaling).
On the non-relational side, MongoDB is primarily a document store containing JSON-

👋 Greetings
like structures and a JavaScript interface. It’s known for being user-friendly
from (less
administration overhead), performant for simple queries, and flexible thanks to its
NoSQL underpinnings. Great for hierarchical data storage, it also supports familiar
relational concepts from indexing, to aggregation, to some measure of ACID
compliance. Like MySQL, it is compatible with manyWe platforms and programming
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environments, despite relative recency. from their data.
Other SQL databases.

MS-SQL is Microsoft’s relational database product, accessed with the

proprietary Transact-SQL (T-SQL), and offered in
a dozen editions targeted to
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device, Microsoft
and location Azure
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system.
Other major RDBMSs include Access, Ingres, PostgreSQL, Sybase, and SQLite.
Other NoSQL databases.

Apache CouchDB, like MongoDB, is a document-oriented database with JSON
schemata and querying over JavaScript. CouchDB’s scaling capabilities stand
out, employing a multi-master architecture over the typical single-master
distributed design.
Redis (Remote Dictionary Server), is the most popular key-value database. It is
open-source, with a fast and distributed in-memory implementation, and
supports many abstract data structures (some rarely found in other NoSQL).
InfinityDB and Amazon’s DynamoDB implement two other key-value stores.
Columnar stores like Cassandra, MariaDB, and Scylla scale well horizontally,
and popular graph databases include ArangoDB, InfiniteGraph, and Neo4j.
The cloud and the future of SQL/NoSQL.

Modern brands emphasize interactivity between end-users, justifying decentralized,
cloud-based architectures, and exposing diverse, new data needing representation:
Enter NoSQL, champion of massive, distributed, and morphing data.
👋 Greetings
But if this non-relational interest caused traditional RDBMSs to flag at from
all, they’re now
resurging. SQL remains more accessible, understandable, and most-importantly a
lingua franca for data.
Often referred to as “Not only SQL” due to support of SQL-like programming and
coexistence with RDBMSs, NoSQL increasingly represents a set of technologies with
from their data.
generalist applicability and inclusiveness. As delineated in many examples above,
traditional RDBMSs are also rebranding as generalized databases and connecting
with NoSQL. Clearly both paradigms remain equally valid in the modern transition to
the cloud. Technical support 💻
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Generally, NoSQL is preferred for:
Graph or hierarchical data
Data sets which are both large and mutate significantly,

Businesses growing extremely fast but lacking data schemata.
In terms of use cases, this might translate to social networks, online content
management, streaming analytics, or mobile applications.
SQL is more appropriate when the data is:
Small
Conceptually modeled as tabular
In systems where consistency is critical.
Think small business’ accounting systems, sales databases, or transactional systems

like payment processing in e-commerce. When in doubt, SQL is also more
appropriate, as RDBMSs are better supported and fault-tolerant.
SQL vs NoSQL and your business ROI.

SQL is old and sometimes constraining, but also time-tested and increasingly
considered a universal interface for data analysis. NoSQL databases are new and
flexible, but lack maturity and require user specialization. Pragmatically both models
are useful and even growing together.
👋 Greetings
Ultimately, a technology is only valuable when it serves your business,from usually with
increased ROI. Even companies like Google, with resources to innovate ad-hoc
NoSQL systems from scratch (and foundational ones at that, see MapReduce and
BigTable), have found that SQL provided additional value and restored it within
critical systems. We help organization get more value
from their data.
From migrating hand-coded SQL into compliant and governable ETL tools, to
managing difficult unstructured data, to integrating relational and non-relational
systems under one convenient umbrella, Talend provides solutions across data
storage paradigms. Technical support 💻
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and Cookie as well
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data. databases.
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7/9/22, 12:18 AM SQL vs NoSQL: Differences, Databases, and Decisions | Talend | Talend

SQL vs NoSQL: Differences, Databases, and

SQL vs NoSQL: Five Main Differences Technical support 💻

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 1/11

There are five practical differences between SQL and NoSQL:

The dynamic schemata of NoSQL databases allow representation of alternative

Column-oriented databases transpose row-oriented RDBMSs, allowing efficient

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 3/11

5. Support and communities

Chat with sales 📞

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 4/11

Learn how Talend runs its business on trusted data

Get the ebook

SQL vs NoSQL databases: MySQL, MongoDB, and more.

On the non-relational side, MongoDB is primarily a document store containing JSON-

Other SQL databases.

MS-SQL is Microsoft’s relational database product, accessed with the

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 5/11

Other NoSQL databases.

The cloud and the future of SQL/NoSQL.

Data sets which are both large and mutate significantly,

SQL is more appropriate when the data is:

Think small business’ accounting systems, sales databases, or transactional systems

SQL vs NoSQL and your business ROI.

Ready to get started with Talend?

More related articles

What is MySQL? Everything You Need to Know

What is Shadow IT? Definition, Risks, and Examples

What is Serverless Architecture?

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 8/11

What is Data as a Service?

What is a Data Mart?

What is Data Processing?

What is Data Mining?

What is Apache Hive?

Data Munging: A Process Overview in Python

What is a Data Source?

Data Transformation Defined

Data Modeling: Ensuring Data You Can Trust

How modern data architecture drives real business results

Data Gravity: What it Means for Your Data

CRM Database: What it is and How to Make the Most of Yours

Data Conversion 101: Improving Database Accuracy

We help organization get more value

Chat with sales 📞

Powered by Talend Trust Score™

Services and support

Chat with sales 📞

Modern slavery notice

We help organization get more value

Chat with sales 📞

https://www.talend.com/resources/sql-vs-nosql/#:~:text=SQL vs NoSQL%3A Five Main,generally do not use SQL. 11/11

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