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CockroachDB vs Google Spanner Omni

CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions. Google Spanner Omni: Downloadable Spanner that runs on your own servers, other clouds or a laptop, with Paxos and auto-sharding.

key differences

  • Licensing: CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License); Google Spanner Omni is proprietary (Proprietary (Developer and Commercial editions)).
  • Only CockroachDB has geospatial, change data capture, triggers, stored procedures, materialized views.
  • Only Google Spanner Omni has columnar storage.
  • CockroachDB has a serverless option; Google Spanner Omni does not.

choose cockroachdb for

  • +Global payments and ledger systems of record
  • +Identity, account and session metadata across regions
  • +Inventory and order management with strict consistency
  • +Data-residency workloads that must pin rows to a country

best at · OLTP, Geo, Metadata

choose spanner-omni for

  • +Regulated or sovereign deployments that cannot use public cloud
  • +Hybrid apps sharing a data model with managed Spanner
  • +Multi-cloud distributed SQL with Spanner semantics
  • +Local development and CI against a real Spanner engine

best at · OLTP, Traversal, Vector search

overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Spatial, Vector
Graph, Key-Value, Vector, Search Engine, Columnar / OLAP
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Cockroach Labs
Google
First release
2015
2026
Latest version
26.3 (Aug 19, 2026)
–
License
Source-availableCockroachDB Software License
ProprietaryProprietary (Developer and Commercial editions)
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
47.1
1.1
Rank
#33
#577
GitHub stars
32.6K
–
Stack Overflow questions
467
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server, Serverless
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
Google Cloud, AWS
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
✓
—
Stored procedures
✓
—
Materialized views
✓
—
TTL / expiry
✓
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
✓
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
—
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
✓
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
GoogleSQL, PostgreSQL dialect, GQL
Client languages
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, Rust, PHP
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, C++
Best for
OLTP, Geo, Metadata, Ledger
OLTP, Traversal, Vector search, Search

CockroachDB vs Google Spanner Omni: FAQ

What is the difference between CockroachDB and Google Spanner Omni?

CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions. Google Spanner Omni: Downloadable Spanner that runs on your own servers, other clouds or a laptop, with Paxos and auto-sharding. Licensing: CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License); Google Spanner Omni is proprietary (Proprietary (Developer and Commercial editions)). Only CockroachDB has geospatial, change data capture, triggers, stored procedures, materialized views. Only Google Spanner Omni has columnar storage.

When should I choose CockroachDB over Google Spanner Omni?

Choose CockroachDB for global payments and ledger systems of record; identity, account and session metadata across regions; and inventory and order management with strict consistency. Choose Google Spanner Omni for regulated or sovereign deployments that cannot use public cloud, hybrid apps sharing a data model with managed Spanner and multi-cloud distributed SQL with Spanner semantics.

Is CockroachDB or Google Spanner Omni more popular?

CockroachDB ranks #33 on the WhichDB Score (47.1/100) and Google Spanner Omni ranks #577 (1.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are CockroachDB and Google Spanner Omni open source?

Not in the OSI sense. CockroachDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: CockroachDB Software License. No. Google Spanner Omni is proprietary, closed-source software.