Key Differences between Oracle Database and SQL

Oracle database and SQL are the most famous database management systems in the world. All kinds of small and mid-sized companies are using them for years to manage databases. Although, there are many similarities between the two, at the same time they are different in many ways. Today, we are going to compare these two database systems. So, let’s begin -

What is Oracle Database?

Oracle Database is a rational database management system designed with cross-platform capabilities. Due to its cross-platform build, it can run on various other platforms such as Linux, Mac, and Windows. Oracle is free for students while for corporates it’s not. There is a paid version for the corporates.

What is SQL?

SQL Server is a popular database management system designed by the Microsoft Corporation. It is one of the most reliable, secure, and stable database solutions. It’s great for live product support, online, and document support. SQL is very easy-to-customize and comes with an activity monitor with the built-in automatic refresh.

Oracle Database and SQL - Key Differences

• SQL Server works only with Microsoft (except version 2017+ that can be downloaded on Linux as well) while Oracle’s cross-platform ability allows it to run on various other platforms.
• Unlike Oracle, the SQL Server doesn’t support or offer star query optimization.
• Unlike Oracle, the SQL Server doesn’t support rollback during transactions.
• Oracle allows, full, incremental, file-level, and differential backups while the SQL Server follows parietal, complete, and incremental backups.
• Unlike SQL that mostly uses ‘AFTER’ triggers, the Oracle database uses both ‘AFTER’ and ‘BEFORE’ triggers.
• Unlike Oracle which offers ‘SCHEMAS’ on an instances basis, SQL Server on the other hand offers ‘SCHEMAS’ within the user database.
• In SQL Server, values change before commit while the values in Oracle Database remain unchanged before commit.
• SQL Server has simple and easy syntaxes while Oracle has efficient but complex syntaxes.

It is quite difficult to make changes during the process because SQL Server executes each command individually. It’s easier to handle errors because Oracle considers each database as a new transaction.

Conclusion

Both Oracle Database and SQL are great and have their own pros and cons. It totally depends on the requirement of the project. SQL Server has a great optimizer and is easy to work with while the oracle database is well documented, predictable, and a better currency model. Oracle’s database is far better than that of SQL.