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Database & Data Management · head to head

BigQuery vs Vitess

BigQuery logo

BigQuery

Database & Data Management

Serverless, highly scalable enterprise data warehouse

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vitess logo

Vitess

Database & Data Management

Scalable database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: BigQuery query costs can become substantial for organizations with high query volumes; Vitess vTGate scatter queries without sharding key incur significant performance penalties
  • They diverge on capability: BigQuery covers Serverless Architecture, Vitess covers Horizontal Sharding.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigQuery and Vitess actually diverge.

Attributes where BigQuery and Vitess differ
AttributeBigQueryVitess
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Cloud APILinux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes
Founded20082010

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Database & Data Management).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in BigQuery

  • Serverless Architecture
  • Petabyte Scale
  • Real-time Analytics
  • Machine Learning
  • Geospatial Analysis
  • Streaming Ingestion
  • Standard SQL
  • Looker

Only in Vitess

  • Horizontal Sharding
  • Connection Pooling
  • Query Routing
  • Online Schema Changes
  • Shard Management
  • Replication Management
  • Automated Failover
  • MySQL

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

BigQuery

  • Business intelligencenot Vitess
  • Data warehousingnot Vitess
  • Real-time analyticsnot Vitess
  • Reporting
  • Machine learningnot Vitess

Vitess

  • Transaction processingnot BigQuery
  • Data storagenot BigQuery
  • Application backendnot BigQuery
  • Reporting
  • Data analyticsnot BigQuery

Both are used for reporting, on those jobs the choice comes down to price and fit rather than capability.

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

BigQuery

  • Query costs can become substantial for organizations with high query volumes
  • Data egress from Google Cloud incurs additional charges

Vitess

  • VTGate scatter queries without sharding key incur significant performance penalties
  • Foreign key constraints not enforced across shards, requiring application-level integrity handling
  • Single primary per keyspace limits multi-region write capabilities
  • Distributed transactions without proper sharding key routing suffer performance degradation

Pricing, plan by plan

BigQuery

Free
  • Free TierFree
    • 1TB queries/month
    • 10GB storage/month
    • Standard support
  • On-demand$6.25/TB
    • Pay per query
    • Pay per storage
    • All features

Vitess

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Vitess review.

Which should you pick?

Choose BigQuery if

  • You need serverless architecture.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud API.
  • You also want petabyte scale.
BigQuery review

Choose Vitess if

  • You need horizontal sharding.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want connection pooling.
Vitess review

Questions people ask

Is BigQuery or Vitess better?
Neither clearly leads. BigQuery starts at Free and Vitess at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigQuery or Vitess?
BigQuery starts at Free and Vitess at Free.
Does BigQuery or Vitess run on more platforms?
BigQuery runs on Web, Cloud API. Vitess runs on Linux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use BigQuery for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is BigQuery best used for?
BigQuery is most often used for business intelligence, data warehousing, real-time analytics, reporting. Of those, business intelligence and data warehousing are not what Vitess is typically brought in for.
What can BigQuery do that Vitess cannot?
BigQuery covers Serverless Architecture, Petabyte Scale, Real-time Analytics, Machine Learning. Vitess covers Horizontal Sharding, Connection Pooling, Query Routing, Online Schema Changes.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

BigQuery: How is BigQuery priced?

BigQuery charges $5 per terabyte of data processed in on-demand queries. Storage is billed separately: active storage is charged per GB, and data inactive for 90+ days moves to long-term storage at reduced rates.

Source
Vitess: Is Vitess free to use?

Yes. Vitess is completely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. It is a graduated CNCF project with no licensing costs or pricing tiers.

Source
BigQuery: What is BigQuery's architecture?

BigQuery separates compute and storage, using Google's Colossus for distributed storage and Borg for computation, allowing independent scaling of each.

Source
Vitess: What databases does Vitess support?

Vitess supports MySQL and MariaDB as backend databases. It acts as a middleware layer that adds sharding and orchestration capabilities on top of these databases.

Source
Vitess: Does Vitess require Kubernetes to run?

No. Vitess can run on Kubernetes using the Vitess Operator, but it can also be deployed on traditional infrastructure. Kubernetes integration is optional and provides additional automation benefits.

Source
Vitess: How does Vitess handle cross-shard transactions?

Vitess supports distributed transactions across shards, but they require queries to be routed through the sharding key. Transactions without a proper sharding key can result in slower performance.

Source
Vitess: Does Vitess enforce foreign key constraints?

Vitess does not enforce foreign key constraints across shards by default. Referential integrity must be managed at the application layer, though per-database support can be enabled with limitations.

Source
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