Managed Databases — Cloud SQL, Spanner & Firestore
Pick managed relational (Cloud SQL), global relational (Spanner), or serverless NoSQL (Firestore).
GCP offers a spectrum of managed databases. Cloud SQL is managed MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server — standard regional relational databases with automated backups, replication, and high availability, ideal for typical transactional apps. Cloud Spanner is Google's unique horizontally-scalable relational database that provides strong consistency and SQL with global distribution and up to five-nines availability, using TrueTime (synchronised atomic clocks) to offer external consistency across regions — effectively "relational that scales like NoSQL," used where both SQL semantics and massive global scale are required.
Cloud SQL is a well-run local bank branch. Spanner is a single global bank that somehow keeps every branch perfectly in sync to the microsecond (TrueTime) while serving the whole planet. Firestore is a live shared notebook that instantly reflects edits on every device.