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Amazon Aurora vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
266
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 3.6%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 21.4%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Julius Mboya - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers features for day-to-day management of large-scale databases
There should be constant changes, which can be challenging to keep up with annually. The UAE evolves rapidly, and after just a two-month break, you might find that things have shifted around. It would be helpful to have a more structured way of introducing these changes. I like how Microsoft does it with Patch, where you know to expect updates regularly. If AWS implemented something similar, the update pattern would be more predictable. The only database issue we encountered was when we were using a read replica for both read and write operations. This sometimes caused the database to be slow, likely because the read queries weren’t optimized. However, the issue was resolved once we split the read and write operations into separate replicas, and everything has been smooth since then.
Kapil Dev Khatri - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps monitor queries and identify which indexes need to be created in the databases
SQL Server is very simple due to its GUI, which is available for users. It allows for modifications and has execution plans available, along with options such as activity monitoring. This helps monitor queries and identify which indexes need to be created in the databases, tables, or columns to improve performance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Aurora is a key pillar for us, offering performance and availability."
"We had better control over the parameters that we could tweak in terms of intermediate storage and better indexing capabilities."
"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 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."
"Amazon Aurora stands out for its ease of use in a managed environment, inbuilt security, continuous backups, numerous read replicas, multi-region automated replication, and seamless integration with other AWS services."
"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 provision of custom read and write endpoints eliminates the need for managing a separate proxy load balancer."
"I believe Always On is the most valuable feature. It's also easy to use and not very tricky."
"It's more user-friendly than most databases."
"The product can scale if a company needs it to."
"The ease of administration, in general, is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The installation is really easy."
"We found it to be quite scalable."
"SQL Server stands out due to its robust parallel processing capabilities."
"SQL Server is a highly stable solution."
 

Cons

"While Amazon Aurora meets your current scaling and storage needs, there is room for improvement in cryptography and scalability compared to other databases."
"The product's distributed query process for MySQL needs improvement."
"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."
"Room for improvement might be in the UI, integrations, or data working capabilities for better user experience."
"I would like to see more AI-related features in future releases."
"The pricing could improve. It should be reduced."
"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."
"SQL Server could be more robust than one of its competitors."
"Technical support could be better."
"I would like to see more integration with other products and it needs to be more secure."
"You do need to have technical knowledge in order to install the solution. It's not something a layperson can do."
"The performance could improve."
"The user interface and the reporting could also be improved."
"SQL Server backups could be better."
"The solution could offer more integration with other platforms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is quite expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
"There is no need to buy a license for the product. We can pay as per the use case."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The price could be lower compared to its competitors."
"The tool’s pricing depends on the instance type. For cost optimization purposes, we use the result instance category."
"Its price is fine. You have to buy the license and support."
"Although it comes with a cost, using the most recent version is highly advisable, since it would ensure a certain measure of bug fixes and stability. The sole issue would involve the cost, as this is expensive."
"The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive."
"To scale the solution there are additional costs."
"The price of SQL Server is great. In my company, SQL Server is part of the Microsoft Suite, we don't have to pay for any additional license costs, it's quite cost-effective for us."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The price has been going higher and higher. The market is quite price sensitive."
"The enterprise-level license agreement is very complicated."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
50%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
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?
While the setup cost of Aurora is not explicitly discussed, managing cloud pricing effectively is key to understanding overall expenditures. There is a preference to reduce costs per hour to encour...
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
Aurora’s finance aspects could be improved, particularly in reducing the per-hour use cost. This would help more users accept Aurora. I also faced challenges due to the static memory provisioning s...
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: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.