# Introduction to SQL

In addition to its Admin and Data APIs, Bigtable supports SQL queries.
You can use SQL to query your Bigtable data in the following
ways:

- For low-latency application development, GoogleSQL for Bigtable
- For batch processing and ETL, Spark SQL
- To analyze data from multiple sources, BigQuery

## GoogleSQL for Bigtable

GoogleSQL is a query language used by multiple Google Cloud
services, including Spanner and BigQuery. You can create
and run GoogleSQL queries, including queries that use
[pipe syntax](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/reference/sql/pipe-syntax),
in [Bigtable Studio](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/manage-data-using-console)
in the Google Cloud console, or you can run them programmatically using one of
the client libraries for Bigtable that support SQL queries. For
more information, see
[Use SQL with a Bigtable client library](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/googlesql-overview#client-libraries).

GoogleSQL for Bigtable is similar to the Cassandra
query Language (CQL) in many ways, and it includes a map data type, designed to
query the Bigtable data stored in column families, columns, and
cells.

To get started, see the [GoogleSQL for
Bigtable overview](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/googlesql-overview).

## Spark SQL

For data science use cases or other batch processing and ETL, the
Bigtable Spark connector lets you read and write
Bigtable data using Spark SQL. For more information, see
[Use the Bigtable Spark connector](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/use-bigtable-spark-connector).

## BigQuery

If you want to blend data from multiple sources, including
Bigtable, and run batch, ad hoc analytics, you can create
BigQuery external tables and run SQL queries from
BigQuery. For more information, see
[Query and analyze Bigtable data with BigQuery](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/bigquery-analysis).

## What's next

- [Write SQL with Gemini assistance.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/write-sql-gemini)
- [Learn how to run queries in the Google Cloud console without SQL.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/query-builder)
- [Explore the GoogleSQL for Bigtable reference documentation.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/reference/sql/functions-all)
- [Compare tables and views.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/tables-and-views)