OLTP vs OLAP
OLTP vs OLAP Architecture
Databases are engineered differently depending on whether they serve operational transactions or analytical reporting.
Architectural Comparison
| Dimension | OLTP (Operational) | OLAP (Analytical) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Objective | Fast daily transactions | Business intelligence & reporting |
| Query Pattern | Simple, indexed lookups & writes | Complex aggregations, large scans |
| Data Model | Normalized (3NF) | Denormalized (Star / Snowflake) |
| Storage Layout | Row-oriented storage | Columnar storage |
| Concurrency | Thousands of concurrent users | Tens of analytical users |
| Response Time | Milliseconds | Seconds to minutes |
| Representative DBs | PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server | Snowflake, BigQuery, ClickHouse |