Oracle Client version

Not applicable

Release 11.2 and later

Release 11.2 and later

Oracle Database version

Release 12.1 and later

Release 9.2 and later depending on Oracle Client library version

Release 9.2 and later depending on Oracle Client library version

Standalone connections (seeStandalone Connections)

Yes - must use keyword arguments

Yes - must use keyword arguments

Yes

Connection Pooling - Heterogeneous and Homogeneous (seeConnection pooling)

Homogeneous only - must use keyword arguments

Yes - must use keyword arguments

Yes

Named Connection Pools (seeUsing the Connection Pool Cache)

Yes

Yes

No

Connection Pool Connection Load Balancing (CLB) (seeClient-Side Load Balancing)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Connection Pool Runtime Load Balancing (RLB) (seeRuntime Connection Load Balancing)

No

Yes

Yes

Connection Pool draining (seePrepare Applications for Planned Maintenance)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Connection Pool session state callback (seeSession Callbacks for Setting Pooled Connection State)

Yes - Python functions but not PL/SQL functions

Yes

Yes

Connection pool session tagging (seeConnection Tagging)

No

Yes

Yes

Password authentication

Yes

Yes

Yes

External authentication (seeConnecting Using External Authentication)

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) Tokens (seeConnecting Using OCI IAM Token-Based Authentication)

Yes

Yes

Yes - in connection string with appropriate Oracle Client

Open Authorization (OAuth 2.0) (seeConnecting Using OAuth 2.0 Token-Based Authentication)

Yes

Yes

Yes - in connection string with appropriate Oracle Client

Kerberos and Radius authentication

No

Yes

Yes

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) connections (seeLDAP Directory Naming)

Yes - via a user function enabled withoracledb.register_protocol()

Yes

Yes

Proxy connections (seeConnecting Using Proxy Authentication)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Socket Secure (SOCKS) Proxy connections

No

No

No

Connection mode privileges (seeConnection Authorization Modes)

Yes

Yes - onlyAUTH_MODE_SYSDBA is supported

Yes - onlyAUTH_MODE_SYSDBA is supported

Preliminary connections

No

Yes

Yes

Set the current schema using an attribute

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Cloud Database connectivity (seeConnecting to Oracle Cloud Autonomous Databases)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Real Application Clusters (RAC)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Globally Distributed Database - previously known as Oracle Sharded Databases (seeConnecting to Oracle Globally Distributed Database)

No

Yes - No TIMESTAMP support

Yes - No TIMESTAMP support

Oracle Database Native Network Encryption (NNE) (seeNative Network Encryption)

No - useTLS instead

Yes

Yes

Connection health check APIs (seeis_healthy() andping())

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Net Servicestnsnames.ora file (seeOptional Oracle Net Configuration Files)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Net Servicessqlnet.ora file (seeOptional Oracle Net Configuration Files)

No - many values can be set at connection time

Yes

Yes

Oracle Client library configuration fileoraaccess.xml (seeOptional Oracle Client Configuration File)

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Easy Connect connection strings (seeEasy Connect Syntax for Connection Strings)

Yes - mostly supported. Unknown settings are ignored and not passed to Oracle Database.

Yes

Yes

Centralized Configuration Providers (seeCentralized Configuration Providers)

Yes

Yes

No

One-way TLS connections (seeOne-way TLS Connection to Oracle Autonomous Database)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Mutual TLS (mTLS) connections (seeMutual TLS (mTLS) Connection to Oracle Autonomous Database)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Secure External Password Store (SEPS) wallet (e.g. wallets created by mkstore)

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database Dedicated Servers, Shared Servers andDatabase Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP).

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database 23ai Implicit Connection Pooling withDRCP and PRCP (seeImplicit Connection Pooling)

Yes

Yes

No

Multitenant Databases

Yes

Yes

Yes

CMAN and CMAN-TDM connectivity

Yes

Yes

Yes

Password changing (seeConnection.changepassword())

Yes

Yes

Yes

Statement break/reset (seeConnection.cancel())

Yes

Yes

Yes

Edition Based Redefinition (EBR) (seeEdition-Based Redefinition (EBR))

Yes

Yes

Yes

SQL execution (seeExecuting SQL)

Yes

Yes

Yes

PL/SQL execution (seeExecuting PL/SQL)

Yes for scalar types. Yes for collection types using array interface.

Yes

Yes

Simple Oracle Document Access (SODA) API (seeSODA)

No

Yes

Yes

Bind variables for data binding (seeUsing Bind Variables)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Array DML binding for bulk DML and PL/SQL (seeBatch Statement and Bulk Copy Operations)

Yes

Yes

Yes

SQL and PL/SQL type and collections (seeFetching Oracle Database Objects and Collections)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Query column metadata (seeQuery Column Metadata)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Client character set support (seeCharacter Sets and Globalization)

UTF-8

UTF-8

Yes - can use Python encodings. Default in 8.0 is UTF-8

Globalization support (seeCharacter Sets and Globalization)

Yes - via Python globalization support

Yes - Oracle Database NLS environment variables are respected, excluding the character set in NLS_LANG

Yes - Oracle Database NLS environment variables are respected, excluding the character set in NLS_LANG

Row prefetching on first query execute (seeTuning Fetch Performance)

Yes - unless the row contains LOBs or similar types

Yes - unless the row contains LOBs or similar types

Yes - unless the row contains LOBs or similar types

Array fetching for queries (seeTuning Fetch Performance)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Statement caching (seeStatement Caching)

Yes - new driver also supports dropping from the cache

Yes - new driver also supports dropping from the cache

Yes

Client Result Caching (CRC) (seeClient Result Caching (CRC))

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database 23ai JSON-Relational Duality Views (seeJSON-Relational Duality Views)

Yes

Yes

No

Continuous Query Notification (CQN) (seeWorking with Continuous Query Notification (CQN))

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Transactional Event Queues and Advanced Queuing (AQ) (seeUsing Oracle Transactional Event Queues and Advanced Queuing)

Yes - only “Classic” queues are supported (RAW, named Oracle object, and JSON payloads)

Yes

Yes

Call timeouts (seeConnection.call_timeout)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Scrollable cursors (seeScrollable Cursors)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database startup and shutdown (seeStarting and Stopping Oracle Database)

No

Yes

Yes

Transaction management (seeManaging Transactions)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Events mode for notifications

No

Yes

Yes

Fast Application Notification (FAN) (seeFast Application Notification (FAN))

No

Yes

Yes

In-band notifications

Yes

Yes

Yes

Transparent Application Failover (TAF)

No

Yes - no callback

Yes - no callback

Transaction Guard (TG) (seeTransaction Guard)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Data Guard (DG) and Active Data Guard (ADG)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Application Continuity (AC) and Transparent Application Continuity (TAC) (seeApplication Continuity (AC))

No

Yes

Yes

Concurrent programming with asyncio (seeConcurrent Programming with asyncio)

Yes

No

No

Oracle Database 23ai Pipelining (seePipelining Database Operations)

Yes

No

No

End-to-end monitoring and tracing attributes (seeTracing python-oracledb)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR) (seeAbout Fault Diagnosability in OCI)

No

Yes

Yes

Java Debug Wire Protocol for debugging PL/SQL (seeDebugging PL/SQL with the Java Debug Wire Protocol)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Two-phase Commit (TPC) (seeUsing Two-Phase Commits (TPC))

Yes

Yes

Yes - limited support

REF CURSORs and Nested Cursors

Yes

Yes

Yes

Pipelined tables

Yes

Yes

Yes

Implicit Result Sets

Yes

Yes

Yes

Application Contexts (seeConnection Metadata and Application Contexts)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Persistent and Temporary LOBs

Yes

Yes

Yes

LOB length prefetching

Yes

Yes

Yes

LOB locator operations such as trim

Yes

Yes

Yes