Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud Spanner vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Google is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 25.9% mindshare in DS, compared to Google’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Amazon RDS

Read 53 Amazon RDS reviews

6,510 Views
5,468 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Google Cloud Spanner

Read 5 Google Cloud Spanner reviews

975 Views
738 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Read 116 Microsoft Azure SQL Database reviews

8,417 Views
3,609 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Amazon RDS

Google Cloud Spanner

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Amazon RDS, Google Cloud Spanner, and Microsoft Azure SQL Database based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MongoDB and others in Database as a Service (DBaaS).

To learn more, read our detailed Database as a Service (DBaaS) Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

December 2024

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Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Amazon RDS is 25.9%, down from 28.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 3.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 17.3%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Udhay Prakash Pethakamsetty

Data Engineer Manager at Capgemini

Provides excellent authentication, authorization, integration, data protection, and autoscaling features

The product should support new databases. RocketDB is written in C++. It is useful when we work with Kafka. The product should support more databases and not just the standard four to five databases. It will help the users to explore new avenues and not be confined to the standard ones. The tool provides automatic backup, but the recovery is slow if something goes wrong. We need to wait for some time. If a failure happens, recovery takes some time. Meanwhile, we lose business. It would be great if it happens much faster. The cross-region replication settings are very complex. We need to do careful planning.

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Ethan Lo

Infrastructuer Security at Premise Data

A stable and scalable relational database that ensures a return on investment for its users

The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically. You can change Google Cloud Spanner's resource configuration, which is done through processing units. Suppose you set up Google Cloud Spanner initially with a hundred processing units, and then you run out of resources since your database used too much CPU. In the aforementioned scenario, you can scale up or down and face no downtime in the production phase. The solution's features are important when running a company twenty-four hours, seven days a week.

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Adam Carlson

Senior Technical Lead (Sharepoint) at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Integrates with other Microsoft applications very well

Azure SQL had a bit of a learning curve to start, but it was fairly simple once I understood how to develop it. I was using PowerShell to connect to it, and I've never connected to online databases through Azure using PowerShell. Scripting the PowerShell connections could be simpler. The coding is familiar, but figuring out how to use it initially can be easier.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon RDS makes it easier for me to manage databases compared to traditional databases like MongoDB or local host servers."

"The time to install or set up a database environment is very fast."

"The product's most valuable features are option groups, S3 integration, automated and scheduled snapshots, and cross-region replication."

"One of the most valuable features is that it is serverless, so we don't have to worry about scaling."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"It's a fully managed database, so that makes our life easier from the operational standpoint. That is the key, basically."

"The provisioning is much faster. You don't have to prepare hardware or install software. You just need to create an instance and you have a database."

"The product's initial setup phase is totally easy."

More Amazon RDS pros

"It is a very scalable solution."

"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically."

"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."

"We can scale the solution if we need to."

"The most valuable features of SQL Azure are its reliability and quick scalability."

"The solution has become easier to use over time and it's also reasonably priced."

"SQL Server's ability to automate data processing and validation through virtual agents and integration with other Microsoft applications like Power Virtual Agents and Azure SQL has dramatically improved efficiency."

"I rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database 10 out of 10."

"Cost savings are the most valuable. The DR/high availability is also valuable. The failover group with the built-in DR/high availability features is probably one of the easiest things."

"Great auto-scaling and security features."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is integrated into other Azure capabilities and has a great foundation being on SQL Server with a long history of security, performance, and usability from a DBA perspective."

"The most valuable aspect of SQL Azure is the SQL language itself. It's open and everybody can use it at my company. Also, we thought in the beginning that the response time would be inadequate, but it's actually decent. It's much better than expected. Then again, I'm not a programmer, but that's what I hear from our development team."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

Cons

"I also don't think it's very scalable."

"They should add a feature for manual SQL patching in RDS."

"The Amazon RDS engine could provide features for additional databases, such as Db2. It could also provide support for other databases, such as NoSQL databases, DynamoDB, and Apache Cassandra. They could all stay under one hood."

"You can only get access from the sales support. That means if you want to buy something or renew your subscription or upgrade, all these services are easily available. Yet, if you would like to get some technical support, you have to pay for it. You have to pay for an additional subscription."

"One of the challenges of AWS RDS is that it doesn't support performance insight. So we need to write our own script or use third-party tools."

"AWS support is decent, but it's not as good as before. Sometimes, we get junior staff who are unable to answer our questions. It also depends on the support team you get. Support based in Europe and Australia is better than US support. For example, European support is quick to deliver the right answer. US support handles routine maintenance issues, and it's mostly junior staff who don't know the product well."

"I would like to see improvements in the tool's automatic restart."

"The product should support new databases."

More Amazon RDS cons

"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."

"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."

"The cost can be a bit high."

"Google came up with something called Cloud Spanner Emulator, which fails to work like the real product if I want to develop some code and run a database locally on my machine."

"The tool lacks to offer AI features."

"Its compatibility with existing applications can be improved. Its compatibility is currently a little bit imbalanced."

"The preset configuration switches we can select on SQL Azure should be made more liberal to work on."

"Lacks some tools on the SQL Server for data virtualization."

"Adding users to Azure SQL could be easier. You need to script it out, but it would be nice if it had a UI where you can click and add them. It's not a major thing because we script things all the time, but it would be a minor thing that helps us."

"The initial setup is complex."

"If it's a transitional system, there is a lot of reporting, so the solution becomes a bit slow when it's churning out tons of data, but it's good for a mid-sized application"

"We've had many concurrency issues with it, particularly with applications that do a lot of parallel processing. We noticed that sometimes the Azure SQL databases would spike and peak their CPU units, causing some performance issues for us. It would be helpful if CPU performance were not pinned to the amount of storage you're using, and we could scale different properties of the Azure SQL database independently."

"One area for improvement is setting up logs, especially for servers like VM SQL. It was also tricky to connect services on VNets to on-premise."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"if you don't know how to optimize and use your tool properly, the cost might hurt you."

"We are paying for a service license."

"The solution's price is good."

"Amazon RDS is cheaper compared to other tools."

"It is less expensive than SQL Server. We pay based on the usage on a monthly basis."

"Amazon RDS is not a very expensive solution."

"The cost of using this solution is similar to that of having your own data center."

"The solution is expensive."

More Amazon RDS pricing and cost advice

"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."

"The solution is expensive."

"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."

"It is expensive."

"When you go with SQL Azure Database, you can create a small database, which is around $4 to $5 per month for development purposes."

"Compared to other providers, the pricing is definitely on the affordable side."

"The solution is moderately expensive."

"There is a license required to use the solution and it cost $30 to do the installation."

"When looking at the long-term expenses associated with running software on an on-premises server, the costs are almost equivalent but when we include insurance for devices, onsite fees for servers, and other related costs, we may find that this is a cost-effective solution."

"I recommend considering a pay-as-you-go pricing model initially."

"It is reasonable."

"If we use a smaller or free-sized Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it is extremely cost-effective and much cheaper than on-premise enterprise licenses, which are expensive."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

University

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Retailer

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

71%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon RDS?

The product's installation phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon RDS?

I find the pricing of Amazon RDS fair, as AWS operates on a pay-for-what-you-use model. Auto scalability helps handle...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon RDS?

For improvements, Amazon RDS could work on more features for multi-availability zone deployment to enhance higher ava...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Spanner?

Google Cloud Spanner has all the features of a traditional relational database, including schemas, SQL queries, ACID ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Cloud Spanner?

Google Cloud Spanner is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Spanner?

Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side. I am not sure if this is a rumor or if it's fake...

See all answers

What do you like most about SQL Azure?

The automated scalability feature of SQL Azure has proven to be highly beneficial, particularly when deployed in the ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?

While the pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is good, obtaining an estimate of monthly costs based on specific n...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

One area for improvement is the need for accurate cost estimates. When I initially tried to set it up, I could not ge...

See all answers

Comparisons

MongoDB Atlas vs Amazon RDS

Compared 31% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Amazon RDS

Compared 23% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Amazon RDS

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Amazon RDS

Compared 4% of the time

Yugabyte Platform vs Amazon RDS

Compared 3% of the time

More Amazon RDS Competitors

MongoDB Atlas vs Google Cloud Spanner

Compared 15% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Google Cloud Spanner

Compared 12% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Google Cloud Spanner

Compared 10% of the time

SingleStore vs Google Cloud Spanner

Compared 9% of the time

Redis vs Google Cloud Spanner

Compared 7% of the time

More Google Cloud Spanner Competitors

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 41% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Db2 on Cloud vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 2% of the time

Redis vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS

December 2024

Download Amazon RDS product report

Buyer's Guide

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

December 2024

Download Google Cloud Spanner product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

December 2024

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Also Known As

RDS

Google Spanner

No data available

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Google

Microsoft

Overview

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easier to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient, resizeable capacity for an industry-standard relational database and manages common database administration tasks.

Cloud Spanner is the first and only relational database service that is both strongly consistent and horizontally scalable. With Cloud Spanner you enjoy all the traditional benefits of a relational database: ACID transactions, relational schemas (and schema changes without downtime), SQL queries, high performance, and high availability. But unlike any other relational database service, Cloud Spanner scales horizontally, to hundreds or thousands of servers, so it can handle the highest of transactional workloads. With automatic scaling, synchronous data replication, and node redundancy, Cloud Spanner delivers up to 99.999% (five 9s) of availability for your mission critical applications. In fact, Google’s internal Spanner service has been handling millions of queries per second from many Google services for years.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is a relational database-as-a-service that delivers predictable performance, scalability, business continuity, data protection, and near-zero administration to cloud developers and solution architects. This is the deep technical library for Azure SQL Database.

Sample Customers

Edmodo

Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel

adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH

Buyer's Guide

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

December 2024

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