Pick BigQuery instead of MariaDB when you need elastic, serverless analytics on terabyte-scale data with minimal ops.
BigQuery excels at scan-heavy OLAP workloads, letting you query terabytes in seconds without pre-provisioning hardware. MariaDB, optimized for OLTP, struggles with full-table scans and massive aggregations. Choose BigQuery when dashboard queries, ad-hoc analysis, or ML pipelines must finish quickly without index tuning.
BigQuery charges for bytes scanned and storage used, eliminating idle server costs. MariaDB requires always-on instances you pay for even when idle.If usage is spiky or unpredictable, BigQuery often lowers total cost; steady, write-heavy workloads stay cheaper on MariaDB.
Replicate transactional tables from MariaDB into BigQuery via CDC tools, then denormalize into partitioned, clustered fact tables and small dimension tables.Use views to mimic original schemas while enjoying fast joins on flattened data.
Partition large fact tables on order_date to cut scan costs and speed queries that filter on time.
BigQuery Standard SQL offers array/struct types, automatic statistics, federated queries to Cloud Storage, and built-in ML.These features remove the need for separate ETL or ML infrastructure, unlike MariaDB.
Transactional workloads needing sub-millisecond writes, foreign-key enforcement, or high QPS benefit from MariaDB. Use a hybrid: MariaDB for app writes, BigQuery for analytics.
1) Set default project quotas and alerts to avoid bill shock. 2) Use column pruning and partition filters. 3) Store results in permanent tables for repeated access.4) Leverage BI Engine or result caching for dashboards.
CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE `ecom.external_products`
OPTIONS (
format = 'CSV',
uris = ['gs://ecom-data/products_*.csv']
);
Query the external data instantly, then load into a native table for faster joins.
• Use SELECT * EXCEPT(large_blob)
to skip wide columns.• Preview data with TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM
.• Schedule automatic table expiration.
.
Yes, but costs may outweigh benefits if data is under a few gigabytes and fits on a single MariaDB instance. Use the free tier or stick with MariaDB until data grows.
Apply partition filters, use on-demand price caps, schedule table expiration, and enable slot reservations when usage becomes predictable.
Yes. Use BigQuery federated queries with the Cloud SQL federation feature or replicate data via Dataflow/Debezium for near-real-time insights.