NVARCHAR(MAX) VS NTEXT in SQL Server

Here are some differences between nvarchar(max)/nvarchar and ntext in SQL Server


Nvarchar(max)/Nvarchar()



Ntext


Nvarchar(max) is supported only from version 2005 onwards Ntext is available in prior versions too
You can specify the length in advance for nvarchar datatype i.e. nvarchar(100), nvarchar(4000) You can't specify the length for Ntext datatype
All types of string functions such as left, right, len, etc. can be used for Nvarchar data type Only limited functions like substring, datalength are used for Ntext datatype
Nvarchar datatype can be used in local variables Ntext can't be used in local variables
Nvarchar datatype is available from version 2005 onwards and will be supported for further releases Ntext will be removed from future release of SQL Server and will be substituted by nvarchar(max) datatype


In one of the upcoming posts, I will tell you how to convert an Ntext column to Nvarchar(max) and some points to consider while doing so.