Amazon Aurora vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 6, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
260
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the market share of Amazon Aurora is 3.3% and it decreased by 23.8% compared to the previous year. The market share of SQL Server is 22.8% and it increased by 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
Unique Categories:
No other categories found
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Serg Anonymous - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 31, 2024
Supported our high-volume transactional workload and scalable product
I use Aurora for data storage It works well for our needs. Amazon Aurora has supported our high-volume transactional workload. We leverage existing AWS services, and that works fine for us. I like that it is compatible with MySQL and the fact that it's maintained by Amazon. Aurora's…
SE
Dec 21, 2023
Stores and retrieves data as requested by other software applications
The solution is used as our backend database for our in-house applications.  It's consolidated all of our Microsoft Access databases. Having everything in one centralized set of databases is the most valuable feature. Over the years additional features, data warehousing, cubing, just better…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The provision of custom read and write endpoints eliminates the need for managing a separate proxy load balancer."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon Aurora is SQL standardization, it doesn't have its own syntax which is good. It has a lot of hands-off self-management type of activities, such as log rolling and auto-scaling."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to do multiple-read and single-write. These are the kinds of features that we were interested in, and Aurora takes care of that natively."
"Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code."
"The most valuable feature is that the maintainability is offloaded to the service provider. I don't have to maintain a database or do any administrative tasks, which comes in handy."
"The solution’s scalability is good since we don’t need to take a maintenance window during unpredictable workloads. I like the solution’s behind-the-scenes happenings. It is a great feature."
"We had better control over the parameters that we could tweak in terms of intermediate storage and better indexing capabilities."
"The most valuable features of SQL Server are the speed, great support, and it is from a known vendor."
"Many developers like SQL Server."
"Managing database is very good."
"I value the ability it gives me to test on small machines and easily scale up to larger devices for live applications."
"What I like most is the management, as it is very easy compared with other products."
"SQL Server scales well."
"SQL Server, a widely adopted database management system, is utilized across numerous sectors. Initially competing with Oracle and Db2, SQL Server has gained popularity. It serves as the backend database for a variety of applications."
"The performance of the SQL Server is very good."
 

Cons

"I would like to see performance insights on the database based on the queries. Currently, we use SolarWinds as the monitoring tool. I would like to leverage SolarWinds’ performance insights in AWS services. SolarWinds gives larger insights when we run performance issues."
"It would have been helpful if they had provided some benchmarking numbers."
"There is improvement needed to have more developer focus. Additionally, it would be helpful to have a stand-alone solution outside of Amazon. Amazon has a tendency to favor developing web-based clients, which may not always provide the fastest or most responsive solution as desired."
"I would like to see more AI-related features in future releases."
"The product's distributed query process for MySQL needs improvement."
"It is a bit costly. The features are quite good, and I wouldn't say it requires any technical improvements. But from a cost perspective, some clients wouldn't go for Aurora because of that."
"The pricing could improve. It should be reduced."
"We want to move to Azure, and the solution could be made better to make the process easier for the migration from on-premise to the cloud."
"They could improve the solution by allowing more portability between on-premise and the cloud."
"More things in SQL Server need to be automated."
"We experience latency at times when there is a lot of data being processed."
"Database support could be improved."
"The documentation could be much better. It's lacking right now. If there are better help pages, for even complicated queries and stuff like that that would be quite a help for users."
"Performance could be improved. There could be more support to PHP-based websites and to providing direct plugins for connections, and the related services or application services could be improved."
"Could have additional security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is quite expensive."
"The tool’s pricing depends on the instance type. For cost optimization purposes, we use the result instance category."
"There is no need to buy a license for the product. We can pay as per the use case."
"The price could be lower compared to its competitors."
"It is an expensive solution."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The price of SQL Server could be reduced, the license is expensive. We have an annual subscription."
"The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"It is expensive in terms of licensing costs and pricing. If you want to scale SQL Server, it is very expensive. We probably have to pay extra for technical support. We also have to pay for the license of Windows on which the SQL Server resides, which is an extra cost."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"For smaller companies, they find this solution expensive."
"We are on an annual enterprise license for the solution and the cost of the license could be reduced."
"For a brief period, approximately one year before 2018, I had experience working with the open-source version of SQL Server. During that time, I found SQL Server to be the preferred choice, in my opinion."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
43%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Aurora?
Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
There is room for improvement in pricing. I would like to see more AI-related features in future releases.
Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?
SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...
Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?
SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...
Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?
My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel
Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Aurora vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.