---
title: "CockroachDB"
url: "https://docs.yugabyte.com/stable/faq/comparisons/cockroachdb/"
---

# CockroachDB

Compare CockroachDB with YugabyteDB in terms of database performance, PostgreSQL compatibility, and architecture.

YugabyteDB's sharding, replication, and transactions architecture is similar to CockroachDB in that both are inspired by the [Google Spanner design paper](https://research.google.com/archive/spanner-osdi2012.pdf "Google Spanner design paper"). Additionally, both use Raft as the distributed consensus replication algorithm and RocksDB as the per-node storage engine. The following sections highlight the advantages and similarities YugabyteDB has when compared with CockroachDB.

## Advantages

YugabyteDB beats CockroachDB in the context of multiple developer benefits including higher performance for large data sizes, better PostgreSQL compatibility, more flexible geo-distributed deployment options as well as higher data density. Following blogs highlight the architectural and implementation advantages that make these benefits possible.

- [Bringing Truth to Competitive Benchmark Claims – YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB, Part 2](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/yugabytedb-vs-cockroachdb-bringing-truth-to-performance-benchmark-claims-part-2/ "Bringing Truth to Competitive Benchmark Claims – YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB, Part 2")
- [Distributed PostgreSQL on a Google Spanner Architecture – Storage Layer](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/distributed-postgresql-on-a-google-spanner-architecture-storage-layer/ "Distributed PostgreSQL on a Google Spanner Architecture – Storage Layer")
- [Distributed PostgreSQL on a Google Spanner Architecture – Query Layer](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/distributed-postgresql-on-a-google-spanner-architecture-query-layer/ "Distributed PostgreSQL on a Google Spanner Architecture – Query Layer")
- [Yes We Can! Distributed ACID Transactions with High Performance](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/yes-we-can-distributed-acid-transactions-with-high-performance/ "Yes We Can! Distributed ACID Transactions with High Performance")
- [Enhancing RocksDB for Speed & Scale](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/enhancing-rocksdb-for-speed-scale/ "Enhancing RocksDB for Speed & Scale")

## Similarities

Following blogs highlight how YugabyteDB works as an open-source, cloud-native Spanner derivative similar to CockroachDB.

- [Rise of Globally Distributed SQL Databases – Redefining Transactional Stores for Cloud Native Era](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/rise-of-globally-distributed-sql-databases-redefining-transactional-stores-for-cloud-native-era/ "Rise of Globally Distributed SQL Databases – Redefining Transactional Stores for Cloud Native Era")
- [Implementing Distributed Transactions the Google Way: Percolator vs. Spanner](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/implementing-distributed-transactions-the-google-way-percolator-vs-spanner/ "Implementing Distributed Transactions the Google Way: Percolator vs. Spanner")
- [Google Spanner vs. Calvin: Is There a Clear Winner in the Battle for Global Consistency at Scale?](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/google-spanner-vs-calvin-global-consistency-at-scale/ "Google Spanner vs. Calvin: Is There a Clear Winner in the Battle for Global Consistency at Scale?")
- [Docker, Kubernetes and the Rise of Cloud Native Databases](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/docker-kubernetes-and-the-rise-of-cloud-native-databases/ "Docker, Kubernetes and the Rise of Cloud Native Databases")
- [Practical Tradeoffs in Google Cloud Spanner, Azure Cosmos DB and YugabyteDB](https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/practical-tradeoffs-in-google-cloud-spanner-azure-cosmos-db-and-yugabyte-db/ "Practical Tradeoffs in Google Cloud Spanner, Azure Cosmos DB and YugabyteDB")