Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Microsoft SQL Server VS TimescaleDB

Compare Microsoft SQL Server VS TimescaleDB and see what are their differences

Microsoft SQL Server logo Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft Azure is an open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform. Move faster, do more, and save money with IaaS + PaaS. Try for FREE.

TimescaleDB logo TimescaleDB

TimescaleDB is a time-series SQL database providing fast analytics, scalability, with automated data management on a proven storage engine.
  • Microsoft SQL Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-17
  • TimescaleDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23

Microsoft SQL Server features and specs

  • Performance
    Microsoft SQL Server offers high performance and efficient database management capabilities, optimized for both OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing).
  • Security Features
    SQL Server comes with advanced security features such as encryption, data masking, and advanced threat protection to ensure data integrity and privacy.
  • Scalability
    The server supports horizontal and vertical scaling to accommodate growing amounts of data and increasing number of users.
  • Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem
    Seamless integration with other Microsoft products such as Azure, Power BI, and Visual Studio, making it a versatile choice for businesses already using Microsoft services.
  • Ease of Use
    The server provides a user-friendly interface and helpful tools such as SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for database maintenance and management.
  • Comprehensive Support
    Microsoft offers extensive support and documentation, along with a strong community that provides additional resources and insights.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft SQL Server

  • Cost
    Licensing and operational costs can be high, especially for larger enterprises, making it a significant investment.
  • Complexity
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex, often requiring expert knowledge to deploy and maintain effectively.
  • Resource Intensive
    The server can be resource-heavy, requiring significant hardware and computational resources to run efficiently, especially for larger databases.
  • Limited Cross-Platform Support
    Although improvements have been made, SQL Server is primarily optimized for Windows environments, which can limit its use in cross-platform scenarios.
  • Proprietary Software
    Being a proprietary software solution, it lacks the flexibility and cost benefits that come with open-source alternatives.
  • Updates and Patches
    Frequent updates and patches can sometimes disrupt service, requiring periodic maintenance that could result in downtime.

TimescaleDB features and specs

  • Scalability
    TimescaleDB offers excellent horizontal and vertical scalability, which allows it to handle large volumes of data efficiently. Its architecture is designed to accommodate growth by distributing and efficiently managing data shards.
  • Time-Series Data Optimization
    Specifically optimized for time-series data, TimescaleDB provides features like hypertables and continuous aggregates that speed up queries and optimize storage for time-based data.
  • SQL Compatibility
    As an extension of PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB offers full SQL support, making it familiar to developers and allowing easy integration with existing SQL-based systems and applications.
  • Retention Policies
    TimescaleDB includes built-in data retention policies, enabling automatic management of historical data and freeing up storage by performing automatic data roll-ups or deletes.
  • Integration with the PostgreSQL Ecosystem
    It benefits from PostgreSQL's rich ecosystem of extensions, tools, and optimizations, allowing for versatile use cases beyond just time-series data while maintaining robust reliability and performance.

Possible disadvantages of TimescaleDB

  • Learning Curve
    Although it’s SQL-based, developers might face a learning curve to fully leverage TimescaleDB's time-series specific features such as hypertables and specific optimization techniques.
  • Limited Write Scalability
    While it's scalable, TimescaleDB might face challenges with extremely high-throughput write workloads compared to some NoSQL time-series databases, which are specifically built for such tasks.
  • Dependency on PostgreSQL
    As it operates as a PostgreSQL extension, any limitations and issues in PostgreSQL might directly affect TimescaleDB's performance and capabilities.
  • Complexity in Setup for High Availability
    Setting up TimescaleDB with high availability and distributed systems might introduce complexities, particularly for organizations that are not well-versed in PostgreSQL clustering and replication strategies.
  • Storage Overhead
    The additional storage features add an overhead, which means that while it adds value with its optimizations, users need to manage storage resources effectively, especially in environments with very large datasets.

Microsoft SQL Server videos

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

TimescaleDB videos

Rearchitecting a SQL Database for Time-Series Data | TimescaleDB

More videos:

  • Review - Visualizing Time-Series Data with TimescaleDB and Grafana

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Microsoft SQL Server and TimescaleDB)
Databases
70 70%
30% 30
NoSQL Databases
83 83%
17% 17
Time Series Database
0 0%
100% 100
Relational Databases
83 83%
17% 17

User comments

Share your experience with using Microsoft SQL Server and TimescaleDB. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Microsoft SQL Server and TimescaleDB

Microsoft SQL Server Reviews

20 Best SQL Management Tools in 2020
It is a SQL management tool for analysing the differences in Microsoft SQL Server database structures. It allows comparing database objects like tables, columns, indexes, foreign keys, schemas, etc.
Source: www.guru99.com

TimescaleDB Reviews

ClickHouse vs TimescaleDB
Recently, TimescaleDB published a blog comparing ClickHouse & TimescaleDB using timescale/tsbs, a timeseries benchmarking framework. I have some experience with PostgreSQL and ClickHouse but never got the chance to play with TimescaleDB. Some of the claims about TimescaleDB made in their post are very bold, that made me even more curious. I thought it’d be a great...
4 Best Time Series Databases To Watch in 2019
The Guardian did a very nice article explaining on they went from MongoDB to PostgresSQL in the favor of scaling their architecture and encrypting their content at REST. As you can tell, big companies are relying on SQL-constraint systems (with a cloud architecture of course) to ensure system reliability and accessibility. I believe that PostgresSQL will continue to grow, so...
Source: medium.com
20+ MongoDB Alternatives You Should Know About
TimescaleDB If on the other hand you are storing time series data in MongoDB, then TimescaleDB might be a good fit.
Source: www.percona.com

Social recommendations and mentions

TimescaleDB might be a bit more popular than Microsoft SQL Server. We know about 5 links to it since March 2021 and only 5 links to Microsoft SQL Server. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Microsoft SQL Server mentions (5)

  • Cloud provider comparison 2024: VM Performance / Price
    Azure is the #2 overall Cloud provider and, as expected, it's the best choice for most Microsoft/Windows-based solutions. That said, it does offer many types of Linux VMs, with quite similar abilities as AWS/GCP. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Amdocs, NVIDIA and Microsoft Azure build custom LLMs for telcos
    Amdocs has partnered with NVIDIA and Microsoft Azure to build custom Large Language Models (LLMs) for the $1.7 trillion global telecoms industry. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Windows Azure: Microsoft's crown jewel
    You can utilise various tools on the platform to significantly improve your IT performance. Due to its flexibility, even official recommendations for Azure might need to be clarified and easier to comprehend. Simply put, Azure (formerly Windows Azure) is Microsoft's cloud computing operating system. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • From developer to (solutions) architect. A simple guide.
    This is not to say there aren't architects still working on premise in self managed environments, but if you're planning to join the forces, you probably want to have an idea of who are the 3 public cloud providers (AWS, Azure and GCP), and their offering and topology. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
  • Can You Learn AWS (And Get Certified) With No Experience? e.g. No IT background or degree
    Right now, AWS couldn’t be a better choice. AWS has been for many years—and continues to be—the market leader between all the cloud platforms. Whilst the competitors like GCP and Azure are catching up, they’ve still not toppled AWS which continues to be, by far, the biggest cloud provider. - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago

TimescaleDB mentions (5)

  • Ask HN: Does anyone use InfluxDB? Or should we switch?
    (:alert: I work for Timescale :alert:) It's funny, we hear this more and more "we did some research and landed on Influx and ... Help it's confusing". We actually wrote an article about what we think, you can find it here: https://www.timescale.com/blog/what-influxdb-got-wrong/ As the QuestDB folks mentioned if you want a drop in replacement for Influx then they would be an option, it kinda sounds that's not what... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Best small scale dB for time series data?
    If you like PostgreSQL, I'd recommend starting with that. Additionally, you can try TimescaleDB (it's a PostgreSQL extension for time-series data with full SQL support) it has many features that are useful even on a small-scale, things like:. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Quick n Dirty IoT sensor & event storage (Django backend)
    I have built a Django server which serves up the JSON configuration, and I'd also like the server to store and render sensor graphs & event data for my Thing. In future, I'd probably use something like timescale.com as it is a database suited for this application. However right now I only have a handful of devices, and don't want to spend a lot of time configuring my back end when the Thing is my focus. So I'm... Source: over 3 years ago
  • How fast and scalable is TimescaleDB compare to a NoSQL Database?
    I've seen a lot of benchmark results on timescale on the web but they all come from timescale.com so I just want to ask if those are accurate. Source: over 3 years ago
  • The State of PostgreSQL 2021 Survey is now open!
    Ryan from Timescale here. We (TimescaleDB) just launched the second annual State of PostgreSQL survey, which asks developers across the globe about themselves, how they use PostgreSQL, their experiences with the community, and more. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Microsoft SQL Server and TimescaleDB, you can also consider the following products

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

InfluxData - Scalable datastore for metrics, events, and real-time analytics.

PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.

VictoriaMetrics - Fast, easy-to-use, and cost-effective time series database

Redis - Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.

Prometheus - An open-source systems monitoring and alerting toolkit.