BigMemory SQL allows you to search the in-memory data of BigMemory using expressions similar to those of Structured Query Language. BigMemory SQL is an alternative to the programmatic, Java-based Search API described in Searching a Cache.

Any query that can be constructed using the Search API can also be expressed using BigMemory SQL. Similarly, any BigMemory SQL query can be expressed in the Search API. Because the Search API allows only lookup-style queries, BigMemory SQL supports only SELECT statements (and not, for example, INSERT or DELETE, even though they are found in SQL92). For information about null support, see Options for Working with Nulls.