Difference determination in a database environment

Techniques are disclosed to determine differences between a source table and a target table in a database environment, as being persistent or transient. A first set of differences between the source table and the target table is determined at a first point in time. A second set of differences between the source table and the target table is determined at a second point in time subsequent to the first point in time. At least one of a set of persistent differences and a set of transient differences is determined. The set of persistent differences includes a set intersection of the first and second sets of differences, the set intersection being filtered based on matching non-key values of the differences. The set of transient differences includes a relative complement of the second set of differences in the first set of differences.