Although many features can be seen moving across it at various wavelengths, the Sun is an almost constant star with regard to its radiative output. Its radiative variability has generally only been discovered after the beginning of the space age. For Sun-like stars it is easier to measure their small levels of variability from the ground, leading to some unexpected discoveries that seemed to suggest a behaviour rather different than that displayed by the Sun. However, revisions of the measurements as well as advances in modelling have in recent years shown that some of the main differences between the Sun and stars can be reconciled. A much richer data set of short and medium-term variability has been provided by the COROT and Kepler missions. Although a number of exciting results have already been obtained from these data, many more are expected in the coming years as the data are more thoroughly analysed and models of solar variability are extended to describe stars which, while similar to the Sun, are not exact solar analogs.

Invited talk at the Splinter Session on "Variability of Solar/Stellar Magnetic Activity" (http://coolstars19.com/splinters/stellar-var/index.html) at the "Cool Stars 19" Workshop