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Google Cloud Spanner vs YDB

Google Cloud Spanner: Google's globally consistent, horizontally scaling SQL service with graph, vector and full-text built in. YDB: Open-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search.

key differences

  • Licensing: Google Cloud Spanner is proprietary (Proprietary (Google Cloud service)); YDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Only Google Cloud Spanner has full-text search, time travel.
  • Only YDB has pub/sub, columnar storage, streaming ingest.
  • YDB has a serverless option; Google Cloud Spanner does not.

choose google-cloud-spanner for

  • +Global financial ledgers and payment systems
  • +Gaming backends with worldwide player state
  • +Inventory and supply-chain systems of record
  • +Identity and metadata services at very high write rates

best at · OLTP, Traversal, Vector search

choose ydb for

  • +High-load OLTP services needing automatic sharding
  • +Combined transactional and analytical workloads on one platform
  • +Event streaming with transactional consistency to tables
  • +Serverless backends on Yandex Cloud

best at · OLTP, OLAP, HTAP

Google Cloud SpannerGoogle's globally consistent, horizontally scaling SQL service with graph, vector and full-text built in.
YDBOpen-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Graph, Key-Value, Vector, Search Engine
Key-Value, Columnar / OLAP, Document, Vector
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Google
YDB (Yandex)
First release
2017
2022
Latest version
–
26.2.1.14 (Sep 17, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (Google Cloud service)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
34.5
27.4
Rank
#59
#103
GitHub stars
–
4.8K
Stack Overflow questions
733
6
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong, Tunable
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Multi primary
Distributed, Client server, Serverless
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Google Cloud
–
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
GoogleSQL, PostgreSQL dialect, GQL
YQL (SQL dialect)
Client languages
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, C++, PHP, Ruby
Java, Go, Python, C++, JavaScript, C#, Rust, PHP
Best for
OLTP, Traversal, Vector search, Search
OLTP, OLAP, HTAP, Queue
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Google Cloud Spanner vs YDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Google Cloud Spanner and YDB?

Google Cloud Spanner: Google's globally consistent, horizontally scaling SQL service with graph, vector and full-text built in. YDB: Open-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search. Licensing: Google Cloud Spanner is proprietary (Proprietary (Google Cloud service)); YDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Only Google Cloud Spanner has full-text search, time travel. Only YDB has pub/sub, columnar storage, streaming ingest.

When should I choose Google Cloud Spanner over YDB?

Choose Google Cloud Spanner for global financial ledgers and payment systems; gaming backends with worldwide player state; and inventory and supply-chain systems of record. Choose YDB for high-load OLTP services needing automatic sharding; combined transactional and analytical workloads on one platform; and event streaming with transactional consistency to tables.

Is Google Cloud Spanner or YDB more popular?

Google Cloud Spanner ranks #59 on the WhichDB Score (34.5/100) and YDB ranks #103 (27.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Google Cloud Spanner and YDB open source?

No. Google Cloud Spanner is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. YDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.