COUNT(*) vs COUNT(column) — will the result be the same or different?

COUNT(*) counts the total number of rows in a table, including those where column values may be NULL.

COUNT(column) counts the number of rows where the value in the specified column is not NULL.

Example:

id	value
1	10
2	NULL
3	20

• COUNT(*) will return 3
• COUNT(value) will return 2

Thus, the result will differ if there are NULL values in the column.