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Google Cloud Spanner vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Cloud Spanner
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 3.6%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 18.2%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

BA
Feb 17, 2023
Very easy to deploy and execute
I am currently working as an independent consultant and am not part of a company that uses Google Cloud Spanner.  My ultimate goal is to work on the deployment of Google Cloud Spanner in other infrastructure projects as well The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the…
RP
Jan 12, 2023
A solution with good uptime and multi-region features with a valuable dashboard
Our primary use case for the solution is for applications. We get many applications in the environment, and most applications use Microsoft SQL, Azure SQL, and DBs, and a few use Postgres SQL. So primarily, the focus is to connect with the DB team and have a specific expert in the SQL environment…

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 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."
"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"The dashboard is valuable."
"We have multiple applications running for our customers that we can integrate into Azure SQL."
"The most valuable feature from the infra point of view is you don't have to keep any on-prem infrastructure, it is available all the time whenever you want to access it."
"We like the ease of integrating it with our on-premises environment. We use a hybrid model. We have a SQL Server on-premises, and we have an integration with the cloud version. We do CPU or disk intensive processes on-premises. For accessibility, we offload onto the cloud. When you do a lot of IO and things like that in the cloud, Microsoft charges for the CPU activity."
"The stability is good."
"SQL Azure can integrate well with other Microsoft Windows services."
"The SQL connector effectively syncs data to our database."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It took less than one day for deployment."
 

Cons

"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"The tool lacks to offer AI features."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"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 cost can be a bit high."
"Their support is nice but their responses aren't effective."
"There is probably more functionality in our on-prem SQL Server than SQL Azure."
"Its compatibility with existing applications can be improved. Its compatibility is currently a little bit imbalanced."
"Lacking in technical documentation."
"There is room for improvement regarding the pricing structure."
"There could be more collaboration with other tools like Data Factory and Databricks."
"One of the nice features in Microsoft SQL Server is the SQL Server CLR, which we sometimes need to use to protect our procedures using C# or CLR. This is not available in the SQL Azure database."
"I'm not really a SQL DBA, so I can't go into the depths of the areas that need to be improved. They can maybe make it a bit easier to educate people on how to develop SQL Server in Azure. They can provide some free seminars and webinars and more training in general for easier migration. I know there is some stuff on Microsoft learning, but it would be helpful and useful to have more up-to-date content."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."
"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"The solution is expensive."
"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is flexible and can be adapted based on our requirements but the pricing options are complex especially if we are using a VM."
"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."
"It is beneficial in terms of cost because you are charged per data unit instead of licensing."
"The solution is moderately expensive."
"The pricing is actually complicated, and that is probably one downside of it. In some respects, although we can plan for the costs on a month-by-month basis, we are finding it hard to project our costings for it. Fundamentally, Microsoft is offering two pricing models, and it is challenging to understand the differences between the two. We're basically on the DTU model at the moment. That may change in the future as the size grows, but it is one of those things that we'll end up monitoring as we progress. At the moment, to get a reasonable response, generally, the price is a little high for us, but it is one of those things for which we know that we can do improvements on our code. So, it is not just the service that's the problem; it is some of the things that we need to do as well."
"In terms of the cost, SQL Azure is a pay-per-use solution, particularly because it's a cloud subscription, so you pay as much as you use it."
"It is expensive. Snowflake and PostgreSQL are cheaper than this. Google is also cheaper than Azure. Its licensing is on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is based on usage and storage."
"SQL Azure's licensing cost is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
14%
Retailer
11%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
68%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Healthcare Company
2%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 transactions, and provides excellent integration and monitoring tools as well as...
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 news, but I believe that having BigQuery and GCP together could be a little cos...
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 cloud.
What needs improvement with SQL Azure?
The solution’s pricing needs improvement because it is too high.
 

Also Known As

Google Spanner
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
801,634 professionals have used our research since 2012.