New to Google Cloud Databases? 5 Areas of Confusion That You Better Be Aware of` Google Cloud Platform has emerged as a credible competitor to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure in enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure, but its managed database offerings can be confusing. SQL databases like Cloud SQL are suitable for monolithic OLTP apps, while Cloud Spanner is better suited for distributed OLTP apps requiring horizontal write scalability. NoSQL databases like Cloud BigTable and Cloud Datastore have specific use cases, with Cloud Memorystore being a Redis-compatible in-memory data store. The choice of database depends on factors such as the need for horizontal write scalability, data structure, and transactional requirements. YugabyteDB is an open-source PostgreSQL-compatible distributed SQL database that offers agility and simplicity, making it an ideal alternative to Google Cloud's databases.