- A Clustered Index physically stores the data of the table in the order of the keys values and the data is resorted every time whenever a new value is inserted or a value is updated in the column on which it is defined, whereas a non-clustered index creates a separate list of key values (or creates a table of pointers) that points towards the location of the data in the data pages.
- A Clustered Index requires no separate storage than the table storage. It forces the rows to be stored sorted on the index key whereas a non-clustered index requires separate storage than the table storage to store the index information.
- A table with a Clustered Index is called a Clustered Table. Its rows are stored in a B-Tree structure sorted whereas a table without any clustered indexes is called a non-clustered table. Its rows are stored in a heap structure unsorted.
- The default index is created as part of the primary key column as a Clustered Index.
- In a Clustered Index, the leaf node contains the actual data whereas in a non-clustered index, the leaf node contains the pointer to the data rows of the table.
- A Clustered Index always has an Index Id of 1 whereas non-clustered indexes have Index Ids > 1.
- A Table can have only 1 Clustered Index whereas prior to SQL Server 2008 only 249 non-clustered indexes can be created. With SQL Server 2008 and above 999 non-clustered indexes can be created.
- A Primary Key constraint creates a Clustered Index by default whereas A Unique Key constraint creates a non-clustered index by default.
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Gautam Sarswat Changed status to publish January 11, 2023
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