api: "YAML JSON TOON Database" version: "1.0.0" format: "json" dataset: id: 41 slug: "newsql-distributed-sql" title: "NewSQL & Distributed SQL Databases" description: "Modern distributed SQL databases combining ACID with horizontal scaling: CockroachDB, TiDB, YugabyteDB, Google Spanner, Amazon Aurora, Vitess." category: "Database Types" category_slug: "database-types" tags: "database,newsql,distributed-sql,cockroachdb,spanner,aurora" view_count: 0 created_at: 1777673262 updated_at: 1777673262 data: databases: - name: "CockroachDB" architecture_brief: "Distributed SQL database built on Cockroach Labs' Raft-based consensus and a custom distributed key-value store (RocksDB). Uses Google Spanner's TrueTime-inspired hybrid logical clocks for transaction ordering." consistency_model: "Serializable isolation (strict serializability) via MVCC and distributed transactions. Uses atomic clocks + NTP for timestamp ordering. No dirty reads." scaling_approach: "Horizontal scaling via automatic sharding and rebalancing. Add nodes; data automatically redistributed. Geo-partitioning for data locality." sql_compatibility: "PostgreSQL wire-compatible (uses PostgreSQL syntax and protocol). Supports most PostgreSQL features, but some extensions not available." notable_features: - "Survive entire datacenter failures (multi-region)" - "Automatic rebalancing and replication" - "Survivable consensus (Raft)" - "Schema changes without downtime" - "Built-in geo-partitioning and locality-aware routing" - "Change data capture (CDC) to Kafka" use_cases: - "Global applications requiring strong consistency across regions" - "Multi-region SaaS platforms" - "Financial systems requiring strict ACID" - "Applications migrating from PostgreSQL with scale needs" - "Real-time inventory management globally" - name: "TiDB" architecture_brief: "Distributed HTAP database. Separates compute (TiDB server) from storage (TiKV). TiKV is distributed transactional key-value store (Raft consensus). TiFlash columnar store for analytics." consistency_model: "Snapshot isolation (SI) by default; Serializable via pessimistic transaction (TiDB 4.0+). Strong consistency within region; async cross-region replication." scaling_approach: "Horizontal: add TiKV nodes for storage, add TiDB nodes for compute. Automatic sharding and load balancing via Placement Driver (PD) cluster." sql_compatibility: "MySQL 8.0 compatible (wire protocol and syntax). Supports transactions, secondary indexes, joins, but not all MySQL features (e.g., stored procedures)." notable_features: - "HTAP (Hybrid Transactional/Analytical Processing): OLTP + OLAP on same data" - "TiFlash columnar engine for real-time analytics" - "Auto-sharding and elastic scaling" - "Online DDL (schema changes without blocking)" - "Distributed transactions via Percolator (2PC)" - "Compatible with MySQL ecosystem (tools, ORMs)" use_cases: - "OLTP with real-time analytics needs" - "MySQL outgrowing single node" - "Scalable SaaS applications" - "Financial technology (fintech)" - "E-commerce with reporting requirements" - name: "YugabyteDB" architecture_brief: "Distributed SQL database using document store (DocDB) as storage layer. DocDB is Raft-based distributed key-value store with per-shard replication." consistency_model: "Strong consistency via Raft consensus per shard. Serializable isolation for distributed transactions via 2PC. Reads from replicas possible with read replicas." scaling_approach: "Horizontal via adding nodes; automatic tablet (shard) splitting and rebalancing. Tables distributed by hash or range partitioning." sql_compatibility: "PostgreSQL compatible (YSQL) and Cassandra-compatible (YCQL). YSQL supports most PostgreSQL features including extensions." notable_features: - "YSQL: PostgreSQL wire-compatible" - "YCQL: Cassandra-like API for flexibility" - "Built-in change data capture (CDC)" - "Multi-region and active-active deployments" - "Cloud-native (Kubernetes operators)" - "Built-in transactional distributed counters" use_cases: - "PostgreSQL workloads needing horizontal scale" - "Global applications requiring strong consistency" - "Financial services (ACID required)" - "Real-time bidding and ad-tech" - "IoT platforms with high write throughput" - name: "Google Spanner" architecture_brief: "Globally distributed relational database. Uses TrueTime API (GPS + atomic clocks) for globally synchronized timestamps. Storage: Paxos groups per directory; directories = contiguous key ranges." consistency_model: "External consistency (linearizability) via TrueTime. Strongly consistent globally. Serializability for transactions (2PC with TrueTime timestamps)." scaling_approach: "Horizontal via splitting directories (shards) and replication across regions. Automatic rebalancing. Add nodes for capacity; Spanner automatically distributes." sql_compatibility: "SQL dialect with extensions for interleaved tables, ARRAY, JSON. PostgreSQL and MySQL dialects via Cloud Spanner adapters. No foreign keys." notable_features: - "TrueTime globally synchronized clocks" - "99.999% availability SLA" - "Automatic multi-region replication" - "Schema changes without downtime" - "Built-in backup/restore, point-in-time recovery" - "Integration with BigQuery for analytics" use_cases: - "Globally consistent financial data" - "SaaS platforms with multi-tenant isolation" - "Gaming leaderboards with global players" - "Supply chain tracking worldwide" - "Large-scale online transaction processing (OLTP)" - name: "Amazon Aurora" architecture_brief: "MySQL/PostgreSQL-compatible cloud database. Storage layer separate from compute. Uses quorum-based replication (6 copies across 3 AZs). Log-structured storage with compute caching." consistency_model: "Strong consistency for committed transactions. Read replicas have replication lag (typically < 100ms). ACID compliant. Isolation level configurable (REPEATABLE READ default)." scaling_approach: "Storage auto-scales from 10GB to 128TB. Compute nodes can scale vertically (instance types) or horizontally (read replicas up to 15). Separation of storage/compute." sql_compatibility: "MySQL 5.7/8.0 compatible and PostgreSQL 10+ compatible. Drop-in replacement for most apps. Some storage-specific functions differ." notable_features: - "Up to 5x MySQL throughput, 3x PostgreSQL throughput" - "Storage auto-scaling to 128TB" - "Continuous backup to S3, point-in-time recovery" - "Serverless option (Aurora Serverless v2)" - "Global database (cross-region read replicas)" - "Multi-master writer (Aurora Global Database)" use_cases: - "SaaS applications requiring MySQL/PostgreSQL compatibility" - "High-throughput OLTP with variable load" - "Applications needing auto-scaling storage" - "Disaster recovery with cross-region replicas" - "Legacy migrations to cloud with minimal changes" - name: "Vitess" architecture_brief: "Database clustering system for MySQL. Provides sharding, connection pooling, query rewriting, and topology management. Runs as separate proxy layer between app and MySQL." consistency_model: "Depends on MySQL transaction isolation. Vitess itself doesn't alter consistency; distributed transactions across shards via 2PC (experimental)." scaling_approach: "Horizontal via sharding. Vitess manages shard mapping, resharding, and rebalancing. Can move shards between nodes without downtime." sql_compatibility: "MySQL compatible (subset). Some queries require rewriting (joins across shards). Works with MySQL tools and clients." notable_features: - "Sharding and re-sharding without application changes" - "Connection pooling (millions of connections)" - "Query caching and result caching" - "Online schema changes (no locking)" - "Topology management and self-healing" - "Works with Kubernetes (Vitess Operator)" use_cases: - "MySQL outgrowing single instance capacity" - "High QPS applications (YouTube-scale workloads)" - "Need for sharding but want to keep MySQL" - "Connection-heavy web applications" - "Gradual migration from monolith to sharded" - name: "SingleStore" architecture_brief: "Distributed SQL database combining rowstore (OLTP) and columnstore (OLAP) in single engine. Uses distributed architecture with partitioned tables and distributed joins." consistency_model: "Snapshot isolation by default; Serializable for single-row operations; strict serializability with distributed transactions." scaling_approach: "Horizontal via leaf nodes (storage) and aggregator nodes (compute). Add leaf nodes to increase capacity; aggregators route queries." sql_compatibility: "MySQL wire-compatible (80-90% compatible). Supports ANSI SQL, JSON, geospatial. Some MySQL features not supported (e.g., foreign keys)." notable_features: - "Unified rowstore + columnstore (real-time analytics on live data)" - "Vectorized execution engine" - "Built-in columnstore compression" - "Distributed joins and aggregations" - "Pipelines for streaming ingestion" - "Works in cloud, on-prem, hybrid" use_cases: - "Real-time analytics on transactional data" - "High-performance OLTP with reporting" - "Ad-tech and marketing analytics" - "IoT data platforms" - "Applications requiring sub-second queries on fresh data"