The dialect of SQL supported by SQL Anywhere is referred to as Watcom SQL. The original version of SQL Anywhere was called Watcom SQL when it was introduced in 1992. The term Watcom SQL is still used to identify the dialect of SQL supported by SQL Anywhere.

SQL Anywhere also supports a large subset of Transact-SQL, the dialect of SQL supported by Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise. See Transact-SQL compatibility.