SQL Server Compact, SQLite, SQL Server Express or LocalDB ??
Now that SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server Compact 4 has been released, some developers are curious about the differences between SQL Server Compact 4.0 and SQL Server Express 2014 (including LocalDB)
I have updated the comparison table from the excellent discussion of the differences between Compact 3.5 and Express 2005 here to reflect the changes in the newer versions of each product.
Information about LocalDB comes from here and SQL Server 2014 Books Online. LocalDB is the full SQL Server Express engine, but invoked directly from the client provider. It is a replacement of the current “User Instance” feature in SQL Server Express.
| Deployment/ Installation Features | SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 | SQL Server Compact 4.0 | SQLite, incl. ADO.NET Provider | SQL Server Express 2014 |
SQL Server 2014 LocalDB |
| Installation size | 2.5 MB download size 12 MB expanded on disk |
2.5 MB download size 18 MB expanded on disk |
10 MB download, 14 MB expanded on disk | 120 MB download size > 300 MB expanded on disk |
32 MB download size > 160 MB on disk |
| ClickOnce deployment |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Privately installed, embedded, with the application | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Non-admin installation option | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Runs under ASP.NET | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs on Windows Mobile / Windows Phone platform | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Runs on WinRT (Phone/Store Apps) | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Runs on non-Microsoft platforms | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Installed centrally with an MSI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs in-process with application | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No (as process started by app) |
| 64-bit support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs as a service | No – In process with application | No – In process with application | No – In process with application | Yes | No – as launched process |
| Data file features | SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 | SQL Server Compact 4.0 | SQLite, incl. ADO.NET Provider | SQL Server Express 2014 |
SQL Server 2014 LocalDB |
| File format | Single file | Single file | Single file | Multiple files | Multiple files |
| Data file storage on a network share | No | No | No | No | No |
| Support for different file extensions | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Database size support | 4 GB | 4 GB | 140 TB | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| XML storage | Yes – stored as ntext | Yes – stored as ntext | Yes, stored as text | Yes, native | Yes, native |
| Binary (BLOB) storage | Yes – stored as image | Yes – stored as image | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FILESTREAM support | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Code free, document safe, file format | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Programmability | SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 | SQL Server Compact 4.0 | SQLite, incl. ADO.NET Provider | SQL Server Express 2014 |
SQL Server 2014 LocalDB |
| Transact-SQL – Common Query Features | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Procedural T-SQL – Select Case, If, features | No | No | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Remote Data Access (RDA) | Yes | No (not supported) | No | No | No |
| ADO.NET Sync Framework | Yes | No (not supported) | No | Yes | Yes |
| LINQ to SQL | Yes | No (not supported) | No | Yes | Yes |
| ADO.NET Entity Framework 4.1 | Yes (no Code First) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ADO.NET Entity Framework 6 | Yes (fully) | Yes (fully) | Yes (limited) | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriber for merge replication | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Simple transactions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Distributed transactions | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Native XML, XQuery/XPath | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stored procedures, views, triggers | No | No | Views and triggers | Yes | Yes |
| Role-based security | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Number of concurrent connections | 256 (100) | 256 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited (but only local) |
Source : erikej
