CockroachDB vs SAP IQ comparison

Cockroach and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Cockroach is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while SAP is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.7. Cockroach holds a 3.7% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Cockroach users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of SAP users who would recommend it.

CockroachDB

Read 12 CockroachDB reviews

2,677 Views
1,856 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SAP IQ

Read 21 SAP IQ reviews

364 Views
264 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

CockroachDB

SAP IQ

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP IQ and CockroachDB compete in the field of data management, with SAP IQ having an advantage in query performance due to its columnar storage, while CockroachDB excels in distributed architecture and fault-tolerance.

Features: SAP IQ’s columnar storage enhances high compression and query speed, making it ideal for business intelligence. Its indexing further boosts query performance and offers a compact storage footprint. Users value its fast data loading and high concurrency capabilities. CockroachDB’s standout features include its distributed architecture and geo-partitioning, which support robust performance in distributed deployments. The node syncing and compatibility with PostgreSQL add to its adaptability.

Room for Improvement: SAP IQ needs better redundancy features like improved disaster recovery options and accessible backup solutions. There is a need for enhanced marketing efforts and documentation. CockroachDB could improve its PostgreSQL compatibility and geo-partitioning capabilities, which require better query management. Its pricing and setup clarity also need refinement for enterprise adoption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP IQ's on-premises deployment suits existing infrastructures but lacks flexibility compared to CockroachDB’s hybrid model with cloud support. SAP IQ users face issues with technical support, requiring more responsive services and expert access. CockroachDB is praised for its global support infrastructure and effective customer service.

Pricing and ROI: SAP IQ offers adaptable licensing models and has become more competitively priced, especially for partitioning. CockroachDB’s flexible pricing, including a free tier, is attractive for smaller deployments, providing performance benefits that justify the investment despite potentially higher enterprise pricing.

To learn more, read our detailed CockroachDB vs. SAP IQ Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB vs. SAP IQ

April 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

CockroachDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP IQ

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

26th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of CockroachDB is 3.7%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP IQ is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Antonio Tringali

Software Engineer at a consultancy with self employed

Open source with extensive documentation and a University for training

I am a freelancer. A client of mine wanted a solution that would allow them to scale yet not abandon the familiar PostgreSQL front-end (and rewrite a part of their source code). Scalability aside, CockroachDB is a fine way forward from PostgreSQL and is not changing the client source code part of the system. If you are lucky and you do not use newer features from recent versions of PostgreSQL or PostgreSQL extensions, it's fine. There are nice-to-have features for big organizations like regional tables. At the moment, my client simply does not use these. However, the serverless offer from CockroachDB is reacting well as data grows.

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Tejas Raj

Manager at Capgemini

Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation

I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The initial setup and deployment are simple."

"The product has valuable security features."

"The best feature of CockroachDB is the ability to keep the nodes in different locations."

"The most valuable feature is that CockroachDB is a distributed database, which can deploy nodes running in different regions."

"What I like best is its ability to solve data residency issues. The main advantage is auto geo partitioning, built into the product. This means we don't have to spin up separate servers in each region, which would be much more costly."

"The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported."

"The availability and the easy to use feature is the most valuable. The documentation is also good."

"CockroachDB is highly reliable."

More CockroachDB pros

"Valuable features for us include the compression, speed, fast response time, and easy object maintenance."

"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."

"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."

"It is very robust for ad hoc DW queries and its columnar compression is unique and valuable."

"The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves moving data from SAP HANA to SAP NLS, which is essentially archiving. This allows us to retain access to the data via a link whenever it is required."

"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The product is easy to learn."

More SAP IQ pros

Cons

"Cockroach does not support all types of protocols. I need to improve it myself to support a CouchDB on my network."

"We are looking for more features to support distributed high availability and geo-partitioning."

"I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations."

"I think the engine itself could be improved. If you miss a partition key, it should be able to be modeled. This is where AI could be really helpful. For example, if a user is from Australia, the system should know to look for their data there first instead of searching in the US or another continent."

"The initial setup and pricing could be improved."

"I find the serverless offer a bit confusing."

"The product must improve its disaster recovery features."

"The platform could be more extensible."

More CockroachDB cons

"The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future."

"The room for improvement would be the marketing of the product, because this product is much better than advertised."

"The tool gets stuck sometimes."

"The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru."

"The solution works best when combined with other SAP solutions. If the environment has other systems other options might be better."

"There is very little documentation available."

"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."

"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."

More SAP IQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I've used CockroachDB at a small scale on the free accounts because we are only testing."

"The product's price depends on the user's company and the contract model they enter into with CockroachDB. Depending on the contract model one enters into with CockroachDB, the product may or may not be expensive."

"The platform is affordable even for the enterprise version. It provides value for investment in terms of performance."

"The solution's pricing is not cheap. However, the good thing is that customers are willing to pay for it if they want it."

"The pricing is good but can be made cheaper. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."

"Negotiate based on the features required."

"Negotiation is very important."

"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."

"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."

"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

37%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

45%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about CockroachDB?

The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported.

See all answers

What needs improvement with CockroachDB?

I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for CockroachDB?

I am studying how to deploy CockroachDB and YugaByteDB, and learning some basic information about them. I am testing these databases as part of my school application to find a suitable database for...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?

IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP IQ?

The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?

I worked on implementing new databases, migration data in production, and developer environments with SAP IQ.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB

April 2025

Download CockroachDB product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP IQ

March 2025

Download SAP IQ product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sybase IQ

Overview

CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database built on a transactional and strongly-consistent key-value store. It scales horizontally; survives disk, machine, rack, and even datacenter failures with minimal latency disruption and no manual intervention; supports strongly-consistent ACID transactions; and provides a familiar SQL API for structuring, manipulating, and querying data.

CockroachDB is inspired by Google’s Spanner and F1 technologies, and it’s completely open source.

Cockroach

SAP® IQ software delivers speed and power for extreme-scale enterprise data warehousing and analytics. Its column-oriented, grid-based massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture and patented data compression and indexing technologies enable companies to exploit the value of huge amounts of data at the speed of business.

SAP

Sample Customers

Baidu, Kindred, Tierion, Heroic Labs, Gorgias

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB vs. SAP IQ

April 2025

Free Report: CockroachDB vs. SAP IQ

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