| Type |
Single-node RDBMS |
Distributed SQL + NoSQL |
Distributed SQL |
| SQL Engine |
Native PostgreSQL |
PostgreSQL-compatible (YSQL) |
PostgreSQL wire-compatible |
| Distributed |
❌ No (requires external sharding Citus) |
✅ Yes (shared-nothing, native Raft-based) |
✅ Yes (built-in distribution & replication) |
| ACID Compliance |
✅ Full |
✅ Strong (YSQL), ❌ Not full with YCQL |
✅ Strong |
| Replication |
✅ Streaming/Logical (manual setup) |
✅ Raft-based per tablet |
✅ Raft-based per range |
| Sharding |
❌ Manual (e.g., Citus, PL/Proxy) |
✅ Automatic tablet-level sharding |
✅ Automatic range-based sharding |
| Failover |
❌ Requires 3rd-party tools |
✅ Native via Raft + multi-leader reads |
✅ Native via Raft |
| Consistency Model |
Strong (single node) |
Strong consistency (YSQL), eventual (YCQL) |
Strong consistency (serializable) |
| NoSQL Support |
✅ JSONB, hstore |
✅ YCQL (Cassandra-compatible), JSONB in YSQL |
❌ Limited (JSON supported but no separate API) |
| Multi-region |
❌ Complex, latency-sensitive |
✅ Optimized for geo-distribution |
✅ Excellent multi-region support |
| Performance (local) |
✅ Fastest |
🟡 Slightly slower (Raft overhead) |
🟡 Slightly slower (global coordination) |
| Maturity |
✅ Highly mature |
🟡 Growing rapidly |
🟡 Mature but still evolving |
| License |
✅ PostgreSQL License (open) |
✅ Apache 2.0 (open) |
❌ CockroachLabs (Licensed) |