Spanner
Always on database with virtually unlimited scale
Build intelligent apps with a single database that brings together relational, graph, key value, and search. No maintenance windows mean uninterrupted mission-critical apps.
In addition, new Google Cloud customers get $300 in free credits.
Features
Write and read scalability with no limits
Spanner decouples compute resources from data storage, which makes it possible to transparently scale in and out processing resources. Each additional compute capacity can process both reads and writes, providing effortless horizontal scalability. Spanner optimizes performance by automatically handling the sharding, replication, and transaction processing.
Automated maintenance
Reduce operational costs and improve reliability for any size database. Synchronous replication and maintenance are automatic and built in. 100% online schema changes and maintenance while serving traffic with zero downtime.
Spanner Graph
Reveal hidden relationships and connections. Spanner Graph supports ISO Graph Query Language (GQL), the new international standards for graph databases, offering an intuitive and concise way to match patterns and traverse relationships in your data. It combines the strengths of SQL and GQL, enabling you to query structured and connected data in a single operation. Spanner Graph, in Preview, interoperates with full-text and vector search capabilities, enabling you to deliver a new class of AI-enabled applications.
Vector search
Search vector embeddings at virtually unlimited scale in Spanner with exact nearest neighbor (KNN) and approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) vector search (both in Preview) for highly partitionable workloads. The built-in vector search support in Spanner eliminates the need for separate, specialized vector database solutions, providing transactional guarantees of operational data, fresh and consistent vector search results on a scale-out serverless architecture with zero manageability.
PostgreSQL interface
Combine the scalability and reliability of Spanner with the familiarity and portability of a PostgreSQL interface. Use the skills and tools that your teams already know, future-proofing your investment for peace of mind.
Automatic database sharding
Never worry about manually resharding your database again. Built-in sharding automatically distributes data to optimize for performance and availability. Scale up and scale down without interruption.
Geo-partitioning
Retain the manageability of your single, global database while improving latency for users who are distributed around the globe. Geo-partitioning in Spanner allows you to partition your table data at the row level, across the globe, to serve data closer to your users. Even though the data is split into different data partitions, Spanner still maintains all your distributed data as a single cohesive table for queries and mutations.
Single-region, dual-region, and multi-region configurations
No matter where your users may be, apps backed by Spanner can read and write up-to-date strongly consistent data globally. Additionally, when running a dual-region or multi-region instance, your database is protected against a regional failure and offers industry-leading 99.999% availability.
Strong transactional consistency
Rely on industry-leading external consistency without compromising on scalability or availability.
High-performance, workload-isolated query processing
Spanner Data Boost enables users to run analytical queries, batch processing jobs, or data export operations faster without affecting the existing transactional workload. Fully managed by Google Cloud, Data Boost does not require capacity planning or management. It is always hot, ready to process user queries directly on data stored in Spanner's distributed storage system, Colossus. This on-demand, independent compute resource lets users easily handle mixed workloads and worry-free data sharing.
Full-text search
Eliminate separate search tools and associated extract, transform, and load (ETL) pipelines by utilizing high-performance text search powered by learnings from Google Search. Full-text search provides transactionally consistent search results, along with powerful capabilities such as phonetic search, and NGRAMs-based matching for spelling variations. To learn more, read this whitepaper.
LangChain integration
Easily build gen AI applications that are more accurate, transparent, and reliable with LangChain integration. Spanner has three LangChain integrations—Document loader for loading and storing information from documents, Vector stores for enabling semantic search, and Chat Messages Memory for enabling chains to recall previous conversations. Visit the GitHub repository to learn more.
Vertex AI integrations
Perform online inference on embedding, generative AI, or custom models served in Vertex AI using Spanner’s ML.PREDICT SQL function. Use the Spanner to Vertex AI Vector Search Workflow to perform similarity search on your Spanner data with Vertex AI Vector Search.
Database Center
Gain a comprehensive view of your entire database fleet, spanning multiple engines, versions, regions, projects and environments. Database Center, in Preview, helps proactively de-risk your fleet with intelligent performance and security recommendations. With Gemini enabled, Database Center makes optimizing your database fleet incredibly intuitive. Use a natural-language chat interface to ask questions, quickly resolve fleet issues, and get optimization recommendations.
Enterprise-grade security and controls
Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK), data-layer encryption, IAM integration for access and controls, and comprehensive audit logging. Support for VPC-SC, Access Transparency, and Access Approval. Fine-grained access control lets you authorize access to Spanner data at the table and column level.
Database comparison
| Database attribute | Other Relational DB | Other Non-relational DB | Spanner |
|---|---|---|---|
Schema | Static | Dynamic | Dynamic |
SQL | Yes | No | Yes |
Transactions | ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) | Eventual | Strong-ACID with TrueTime ordering |
Scalability | Vertical (use a bigger machine) | Horizontal (add more machines) | Horizontal |
Availability | Failover (downtime) | High | High 99.999% SLA |
Replication | Configurable | Configurable | Automatic |
Schema
Static
Dynamic
Dynamic
SQL
Yes
No
Yes
Transactions
ACID
(atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability)
Eventual
Strong-ACID
with TrueTime ordering
Scalability
Vertical
(use a bigger machine)
Horizontal
(add more machines)
Horizontal
Availability
Failover (downtime)
High
High 99.999% SLA
Replication
Configurable
Configurable
Automatic
How It Works
Spanner instances provide compute and storage in one or more regions. A distributed clock called TrueTime guarantees transactions are strongly consistent even across regions. Data is automatically "split" for scalability and replicated using a synchronous, Paxos-based scheme for availability.
Spanner instances provide compute and storage in one or more regions. A distributed clock called TrueTime guarantees transactions are strongly consistent even across regions. Data is automatically "split" for scalability and replicated using a synchronous, Paxos-based scheme for availability.
Common Uses
User profile and entitlements
Manage critical user data securely at any scale
Manage critical user data securely at any scale
User profile management is a critical function that requires Spanner's scalability, availability, and global consistency. It is the entry point for players across games, platforms, and regions. Similarly financial services companies manage customer information and product offerings using Spanner.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Manage critical user data securely at any scale
Manage critical user data securely at any scale
User profile management is a critical function that requires Spanner's scalability, availability, and global consistency. It is the entry point for players across games, platforms, and regions. Similarly financial services companies manage customer information and product offerings using Spanner.
Financial ledger
Gain up-to-date, consistent view of global transactions
Gain up-to-date, consistent view of global transactions
Unify financial transactions, trades, settlements, and positions across the globe into a consolidated trade ledger built on Spanner that guarantees external consistency and scalability. Consolidation of data helps in quickly adapting to changing market conditions and regulatory requirements. Similarly retail/ecommerce businesses use Spanner for inventory ledger.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Gain up-to-date, consistent view of global transactions
Gain up-to-date, consistent view of global transactions
Unify financial transactions, trades, settlements, and positions across the globe into a consolidated trade ledger built on Spanner that guarantees external consistency and scalability. Consolidation of data helps in quickly adapting to changing market conditions and regulatory requirements. Similarly retail/ecommerce businesses use Spanner for inventory ledger.
Online banking
Deliver always-on interactivity for digital experiences
Deliver always-on interactivity for digital experiences
Consumers expect access to their critical financial data on their devices outside of regular banking hours. Allow your developers to focus on new experiences rather than operational overhead, such as manual sharding or eventual consistency. Reduce risk and downtime with 99.999% availability and zero maintenance.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Deliver always-on interactivity for digital experiences
Deliver always-on interactivity for digital experiences
Consumers expect access to their critical financial data on their devices outside of regular banking hours. Allow your developers to focus on new experiences rather than operational overhead, such as manual sharding or eventual consistency. Reduce risk and downtime with 99.999% availability and zero maintenance.
Loyalty programs and promotions
Personalize experiences with real-time updates
Personalize experiences with real-time updates
Track customer participation and preferences in a loyalty program to analyze trends and improve customer satisfaction. Similarly, game companies use Spanner for building personalized leaderboards in games.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Personalize experiences with real-time updates
Personalize experiences with real-time updates
Track customer participation and preferences in a loyalty program to analyze trends and improve customer satisfaction. Similarly, game companies use Spanner for building personalized leaderboards in games.
Omni-channel inventory management
Provide a consistent view across multiple channels and apps
Provide a consistent view across multiple channels and apps
Spanner provides a high-performance, single source of truth for retail inventory and orders across online, in-store, distribution centers, and shipping to match inventory with demand, improving customer experience and profitability. Game companies similarly use Spanner to store in-game inventory data.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Provide a consistent view across multiple channels and apps
Provide a consistent view across multiple channels and apps
Spanner provides a high-performance, single source of truth for retail inventory and orders across online, in-store, distribution centers, and shipping to match inventory with demand, improving customer experience and profitability. Game companies similarly use Spanner to store in-game inventory data.
Knowledge graph
Reveal hidden relationships and connections in your data
Reveal hidden relationships and connections in your data
With Spanner Graph, you can develop knowledge graphs that capture the complex connections between entities, represented as nodes, and their relationships, represented as edges. These connections provide rich context, making knowledge graphs invaluable for developing knowledge base systems and recommendation engines. With integrated search capabilities, you can seamlessly blend semantic understanding, keyword-based retrieval, and graph for comprehensive results.
Tutorials, quickstarts, & labs
Reveal hidden relationships and connections in your data
Reveal hidden relationships and connections in your data
With Spanner Graph, you can develop knowledge graphs that capture the complex connections between entities, represented as nodes, and their relationships, represented as edges. These connections provide rich context, making knowledge graphs invaluable for developing knowledge base systems and recommendation engines. With integrated search capabilities, you can seamlessly blend semantic understanding, keyword-based retrieval, and graph for comprehensive results.
Pricing
| How Spanner pricing works | Spanner pricing is based on compute capacity, Spanner Data Boost, database storage, backup storage, replication, and network usage. Compute pricing varies depending on the edition and configuration selected. Committed use discounts can further reduce the compute price. | |
|---|---|---|
| Service | Description | Price (USD) |
Compute | Standard edition Packed with a comprehensive suite of established capabilities for regional (single-region) configurations Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units). | Starting at $0.030 per 100 processing units per hour per replica |
Enterprise edition Provide additional multi-model and advanced search capabilities with enhanced operational simplicity and efficiency Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units). | Starting at $0.041 per 100 processing units per hour per replica | |
Enterprise Plus edition Support the most demanding workloads with the highest levels of availability, performance, compliance, and governance Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units). | Starting at $0.057 per 100 processing units per hour per replica | |
Data Boost | On-demand, isolated compute resources, including CPU, memory, and local data transfer | Starting at $0.00117 per serverless processing unit per hour |
Database storage | Price is based on the amount of data stored in the database and includes the cost of storage in read-write replicas and read-only replicas; witness replica is free of charge. | Starting at $0.10 per GB per month per replica |
Backup storage | Regional configuration Pricing is based on the amount of backup storage and includes the cost of storage in all replicas. | Starting at $0.10 per GB per month (incl. all replicas) |
Dual-region and multi-regional configuration Pricing is based on the amount of backup storage and includes the cost of storage in all replicas. | Starting at $0.30 per GB per month (incl. all replicas) | |
Replication | Intra-region replication | Free |
Inter-region replication | Starting at $0.04 per GB | |
Network | Ingress | Free |
Intra-region egress | Free | |
Inter-region egress | Starting at $0.01 per GB | |
Learn more about Spanner pricing and committed use discounts.
How Spanner pricing works
Spanner pricing is based on compute capacity, Spanner Data Boost, database storage, backup storage, replication, and network usage. Compute pricing varies depending on the edition and configuration selected. Committed use discounts can further reduce the compute price.
Compute
Standard edition
Packed with a comprehensive suite of established capabilities for regional (single-region) configurations
Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units).
Starting at
$0.030
per 100 processing units per hour per replica
Enterprise edition
Provide additional multi-model and advanced search capabilities with enhanced operational simplicity and efficiency
Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units).
Starting at
$0.041
per 100 processing units per hour per replica
Enterprise Plus edition
Support the most demanding workloads with the highest levels of availability, performance, compliance, and governance
Compute capacity is provisioned as processing units or nodes (1 node = 1000 processing units).
Starting at
$0.057
per 100 processing units per hour per replica
Data Boost
On-demand, isolated compute resources, including CPU, memory, and local data transfer
Starting at
$0.00117
per serverless processing unit per hour
Database storage
Price is based on the amount of data stored in the database and includes the cost of storage in read-write replicas and read-only replicas; witness replica is free of charge.
Starting at
$0.10
per GB per month per replica
Backup storage
Regional configuration
Pricing is based on the amount of backup storage and includes the cost of storage in all replicas.
Starting at
$0.10
per GB per month (incl. all replicas)
Dual-region and multi-regional configuration
Pricing is based on the amount of backup storage and includes the cost of storage in all replicas.
Starting at
$0.30
per GB per month (incl. all replicas)
Replication
Intra-region replication
Free
Inter-region replication
Starting at
$0.04
per GB
Network
Ingress
Free
Intra-region egress
Free
Inter-region egress
Starting at
$0.01
per GB
Learn more about Spanner pricing and committed use discounts.
PRICING CALCULATOR
CUSTOM QUOTE
Start your proof of concept
Create a 90-day Spanner instance for free
Learn how to use Spanner
Create and query a database in console
Get best practices for constructing SQL statements
Dive into coding with examples
Business Case
Explore how other businesses built innovative apps to deliver great customer experiences, cut costs, and increase ROI with Spanner
How does Uber scale to millions of concurrent requests?
Explore how Uber redesigned its fulfillment platform leveraging Spanner.
Watch the video
Featured benefits and customers
Grow your business with innovative applications that scale limitlessly to meet any demand.
Lower TCO and free your developers from cumbersome operations to dream big and build faster.
Get superior price-performance and pay for what you use, starting at as low as $40 per month.
Partners & Integration
Take advantage of partners with Spanner expertise to help you at every step of the journey, from assessments and business case to migrations and building new apps on Spanner.
System integrators
Spanner partners help you modernize applications and migrate to the cloud seamlessly. Find your ideal partner or third-party integration in our directory.
FAQ
Is Spanner a relational or non-relational database?
Spanner simplifies your data architecture by bringing together relational, key-value, graph, and vector search workloads—all on the same database. It is a highly scalable database that combines unlimited scalability with relational semantics, such as secondary indexes, strong consistency, schemas, and SQL providing 99.999% availability in one easy solution. Hence, it’s suitable for both relational and non-relational workloads.
Does Spanner use SQL?
Spanner provides two ANSI-based SQL dialects over the same rich set of capabilities: GoogleSQL and PostgreSQL. GoogleSQL shares syntax with BigQuery for teams standardizing their data management workflows. The PostgreSQL interface provides familiarity for teams who already know PostgreSQL and portability of schemas and queries to other PostgreSQL environments. For more information about the Spanner PostgreSQL interface, see our documentation.
How do I migrate databases to Spanner?
Migration to Spanner can vary widely depending on a number of factors like source database, data size, downtime requirements, application code complexity, sharding schema, custom functions or transformations, failover and replication strategy. The recommended tooling comprises open source tools like Spanner migration tool for schema and data migration, and third party tools for assessments like migVisor. Learn more about the migration process in our documentation.
What are the key considerations for operating Spanner?
Spanner is a fully managed database so it automatically provides comprehensive infrastructure management features, but there are some application-specific management actions that may be required depending on your workload. You will need to make sure that you have set up proper alerting and monitoring and that you are watching those closely to ensure production is always running smoothly. You need to understand what actions to take when traffic grows organically over time, or if there is peak traffic expected, or how to handle data corruption due to application bugs, and last but not least, how to troubleshoot performance issues and understand what components are responsible for increased latencies.
