YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB

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  • Icon: Yugabyte Library Requirements

    1. YugabyteDB is the Most PostgreSQL-Compatible Distributed SQL Database

    YugabyteDB reuses PostgreSQL’s query layer due to its openness, maturity, and feature completeness. Developers get all the PostgreSQL features they know—like stored procedures, triggers, and  native read committed isolation levels—plus the extensions and tools they love. The Yugabyte database also uniquely offers a bimodal query execution layer for both local and distributed execution, meeting your specific needs.  This feature allows you to experience PostgreSQL-like performance for almost any sized application. By reusing PostgreSQL’s query layer YugabyteDB delivers an enhanced optimizer, while focusing on new innovations in our purpose-built, distributed storage layer underneath.

    Why We Built YugabyteDB by Reusing the PostgreSQL Query Layer >

  • YB Icon Multi Region Deployment

    2. xCluster Asynchronous Replication Provides the Most Comprehensive Set of Multi-Region Deployment Options

    YugabyteDB is a geo-distributed SQL database easily deployed across multiple data centers and/or clouds—whether it is to bring data close to customers for quick access or for compliance reasons. YugabyteDB natively supports the broadest range of deployment options, including globally-consistent multi-region clusters, read replicas, xCluster asynchronous replication for DR and two-data-center configurations, row-level geo-partitioning, and more.

    YugabyteDB Multi-Region Deployment Guide >

  • YB Icon Scale-up

    3. YugabyteDB’s Advanced Architecture is Built to Perform at Scale

    Designed to deliver high performance at both the query and storage layers, customers repeatedly share how YugabyteDB consistently outperforms CockroachDB across important benchmarks. Due to key architectural differences YugabyteDB offers features like column-level locking and efficient garbage collection, which in turn drives optimal performance at scale.

    A Deep Dive into Competitive Benchmark Claims >

  • Cloud Native Capabilities

    4. Unified Data Migration Accelerates Cloud Native Adoption

    YugabyteDB Voyager provides a unified solution to simplify the migration of both schema and data to YugabyteDB from a wide range of legacy and single-cloud databases—including live migration from Oracle. New fall forward capabilities also mimimize migration risks. We are committed to simplifying the full migration lifecycle for enterprises with large portfolios of databases. CockroachDB offers a schema conversion toolkit, but requires AWS Data Migration Service (DMS) for data loading, limiting the source or target to AWS.

    Live Migration with Fall Forward Adds Power to YugabyteDB Voyager >

  • YB Icon Open Source (no circle)

    5. YugabyteDB is 100% Open Source with No Feature Gating

    We’re building the default database for the digital age. Doing so requires us to collaborate and work in the open, alongside customers, users, and partners in the YugabyteDB community. Unlike CockroachDB that gates access to key features, all of YugabyteDB’s features are freely available to all under the Apache 2.0 license.

    Why We Changed YugabyteDB Licensing to 100% Open Source >

  • Dynamic Workload Optimization

    6. You Can Run SQL and NoSQL Workloads on a Single Distributed SQL Database

    To support a diverse range of SQL workloads, YugabyteDB supports two SQL APIs: YSQL, a fully-relational API that is runtime compatible with PostgreSQL, and YCQL, a flexible-schema API with roots in Apache Cassandra QL best suited for internet-scale OLTP apps.

    YugabyteDB API Reference Guide >

  • YB-Icon_Cloud-Security

    7. YugabyteDB’s Advanced Security is Built For Today’s Cloud Native World

    Security has been a key design principle from the start. While end-to-end encryption is available in both solutions, advanced security features like column-level security and row-level security (RLS) are unique to YugabyteDB. Additionally, Yugabyte’s database offers SOC II Type 2 accreditation and ISO 27001, ISO 22301, and ISO 9001 certification, the latter ISO certifications are not available from Cockroach. Yugabyte was also awarded CSA’s Trusted Cloud Provider trustmark in April 2023.

    Yugabyte’s End-to-End Approach to Security >

YugabyteDB Supports More Widely Used SQL Features

Better native PostgreSQL compatibility means greater productivity from day one.

Feature
CockroachDB V23.1
YugabyteDB V2.19
PostgreSQL Runtime Compatibility
No
Yes
Built-In Connection Pooling
No
Yes
Bi-Modal Query Execution
No
Yes
User-Defined Functions (UDFs)
Yes
Yes
Stored Procedures (SQL, pl-pgsql)
No
Yes
Triggers
No
Yes
Read Committed Isolation Level
No
Yes
Row-Level Security
No
Yes
Column-Level Locking
No
Yes
xCluster Asynchronous Replication
No
Yes
Full Cursor Support
No
Yes
Foreign Data Wrappers
No
Yes, in beta

Meet Our Customers

  • We evaluated CockroachDB, but decided to go with YugabyteDB because we got 3x better performance with fewer resources, while avoiding the significant hiccups in latency we saw with CockroachDB.

    James Hartig
    Co-Founder, Admiral

  • Our customers require quick and accurate results when querying large data sets. We were able to quickly switch from DataStax Enterprise to YugabyteDB for more compelling features for our developers — global secondary indexes, multi-terabyte data node density, and pagination support.

    Shannon Holland
    Chief Technical Officer, CipherTrace

  • Our stack has been redesigned to be cloud native, microservices-based and running both on-premises and on public clouds. We’ve been leveraging YugabyteDB, running natively inside Kubernetes, to power the business-critical apps that require scale and high availability.

    Sriram Samu
    VP Engineering, Customer Technology, Kroger

How Do You Evaluate PostgreSQL Compatibility?

In this technical overview, Yugabyte Director of Developer Relations, Denis Magda, analyzes feature-level compatibility with the help of four popular databases, including YugabyteDB and CockroachDB. To know more about PostgreSQL compatibility, check out the entire series.

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