Google Cloud Spanner
Fully managed relational database with unlimited scale, strong consistency, and up to 99.999% availability.
Overview
Cloud Spanner is a globally distributed, and strongly consistent database service built for the cloud. It combines the benefits of relational database structure with non-relational horizontal scalability. It is suitable for applications that require a SQL RDBMS with high availability and strong global consistency.
✨ Key Features
- Horizontally scalable reads and writes
- Strong global consistency (ACID transactions)
- Relational semantics (schemas, SQL)
- Up to 99.999% availability SLA
- Automatic sharding and replication
- Fine-grained access control
🎯 Key Differentiators
- External consistency (stronger than strong consistency)
- Combines relational structure with horizontal scalability
- Industry-leading 99.999% availability SLA
Unique Value: Provides the scalability of a NoSQL database with the strong consistency and relational model of a traditional database, on a global scale.
🎯 Use Cases (5)
✅ Best For
- Building globally-replicated transactional applications that require strong consistency.
- Scaling a relational database beyond the limits of a single machine or region.
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Small-scale applications (Cloud SQL is more cost-effective)
- Analytics workloads (BigQuery is optimized for this)
- Applications that do not require strong consistency
🏆 Alternatives
Offers stronger consistency guarantees and a more traditional relational model than many other globally distributed databases, eliminating the need for complex application-level logic to handle data consistency.
💻 Platforms
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Live Chat
- ✓ Phone Support
- ✓ Dedicated Support (Premium Support tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
✓ 90-day free trial
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