Disadvantages of Guid in SQL Server
- As GUIDs are 16 bytes it takes more storage as compared to INT which is 4 bytes and even BIGINT which is 8 bytes.
- Compared to WHERE id = 101 and WHERE id = ‘E4CD02B7-5D56-403D-9041-CC4F3851E751’, GUIDs make it more difficult to retrieve the data with ease.
- Indexing and Fragmentation: Non-sequential nature can lead to index fragmentation.
- Not human-readable, making debugging more challenging.
- Slower insert performance compared to sequential integers.
What is a GUID in SQL Server?
Globally Unique Identifiers, or GUIDs, are 16-byte (128-bit) binary data types in SQL Server that contain values and are represented by unique identifiers. Each table modeling procedure starts with a business key, surrogate key, identity key, etc. An increasingly distinct identity is required when common business entities need to be joined for data storage and analytics.
GUIDs are utilized in these situations since they are distinct for all servers, databases, and tables. Furthermore, when compared to other data formats, GUIDs might be somewhat large.