Choose a Python library
You can choose from among three Python libraries in BigQuery, based on your use case.
Use case | Maintained by | Description | |
---|---|---|---|
BigQuery DataFrames | Python based data processing and ML operations with server-side processing (for example, using slots) | Pandas and Scikit learn APIs implemented with server-side pushdown. For more information, see Introduction to BigQuery DataFrames. | |
pandas-gbq | Python based data processing using client side data copy | Open source library maintained by PyData and volunteer contributors | Lets you move data to and from Python DataFrames on the client side. For more information, see the documentation and source code. |
google-cloud-bigquery | BigQuery deployment, administration, and SQL-based querying | Open source library maintained by Google | Python package that wraps all the BigQuery APIs. For more information, see the documentation and source code. |
Using pandas-gbq and google-cloud-bigquery
The pandas-gbq
library provides a simple interface for running queries and
uploading pandas dataframes to BigQuery. It is a thin wrapper
around the BigQuery client library,
google-cloud-bigquery
. Both of these libraries focus on helping you perform
data analysis using SQL.
Install the libraries
To use the code samples in this guide, install the pandas-gbq
package and the
BigQuery Python client libraries.
Install the
pandas-gbq
and
google-cloud-bigquery
packages.
pip install --upgrade pandas-gbq 'google-cloud-bigquery[bqstorage,pandas]'
Running Queries
Both libraries support querying data stored in BigQuery. Key differences between the libraries include:
pandas-gbq | google-cloud-bigquery | |
---|---|---|
Default SQL syntax | GoogleSQL (configurable with pandas_gbq.context.dialect ) |
GoogleSQL |
Query configurations | Sent as dictionary in the format of a query request. | Use the QueryJobConfig class, which contains properties for the various API configuration options. |
Querying data with the GoogleSQL syntax
The following sample shows how to run a GoogleSQL query with and without explicitly specifying a project. For both libraries, if a project is not specified, the project will be determined from the default credentials.
pandas-gbq
:
google-cloud-bigquery
:
Querying data with the legacy SQL syntax
The following sample shows how to run a query using legacy SQL syntax. See the GoogleSQL migration guide for guidance on updating your queries to GoogleSQL.
pandas-gbq
:
google-cloud-bigquery
:
Using the BigQuery Storage API to download large results
Use the BigQuery Storage API to speed-up downloads of large results by 15 to 31 times.
pandas-gbq
:
google-cloud-bigquery
:
Running a query with a configuration
Sending a configuration with a BigQuery API request is required
to perform certain complex operations, such as running a parameterized query or
specifying a destination table to store the query results. In pandas-gbq
, the
configuration must be sent as a dictionary in the format of a query request.
In google-cloud-bigquery
, job configuration classes are provided, such as
QueryJobConfig
,
which contain the necessary properties to configure complex jobs.
The following sample shows how to run a query with named parameters.
pandas-gbq
:
google-cloud-bigquery
:
Loading a pandas DataFrame to a BigQuery table
Both libraries support uploading data from a pandas DataFrame to a new table in BigQuery. Key differences include:
pandas-gbq | google-cloud-bigquery | |
---|---|---|
Type support | Converts the DataFrame to CSV format before sending to the API, which does not support nested or array values. | Converts the DataFrame to Parquet or CSV format before sending to the API, which supports nested and array values. Choose Parquet for struct and array values and CSV for date and time serialization flexibility. Parquet is the default choice. Note that pyarrow , which is the parquet engine used to send the DataFrame data to the BigQuery API, must be installed to load the DataFrame to a table. |
Load configurations | You can optionally specify a table schema). | Use the LoadJobConfig class, which contains properties for the various API configuration options. |
pandas-gbq
:
google-cloud-bigquery
:
google-cloud-bigquery
package requires the pyarrow
library to serialize
a pandas DataFrame to a Parquet file.
Install the pyarrow
package:
pip install pyarrow
Features not supported by pandas-gbq
While the pandas-gbq
library provides a useful interface for querying data
and writing data to tables, it does not cover many of the
BigQuery API features, including but not limited to:
- Managing datasets, including creating new datasets, updating dataset properties, and deleting datasets
- Loading data into BigQuery from formats other than pandas DataFrames or from pandas DataFrames with JSON columns
- Managing tables, including listing tables in a dataset, copying table data, and deleting tables
- Exporting BigQuery data directly to Cloud Storage
Troubleshooting connection pool errors
Error string: Connection pool is full, discarding connection: bigquery.googleapis.com.
Connection pool size: 10
If you use the default BigQuery client object in Python, you are
limited to a maximum of 10 threads because the default pool size for the Python HTTPAdapter
is 10. To use more than 10 connections, create a custom requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter
object. For example:
client = bigquery.Client() adapter = requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter(pool_connections=128, pool_maxsize=128,max_retries=3) client._http.mount("https://",adapter) client._http._auth_request.session.mount("https://",adapter) query_job = client.query(QUERY)