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Google Cloud Spanner vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Google Cloud Spanner
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
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
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 5.5%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 13.0%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure SQL Database13.0%
Google Cloud Spanner5.5%
Other81.5%
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Saurav Krishna - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable but expensive solution that needs to look into the horizontal scaling feature
The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling.  I have been using the product for a year.  Google Cloud Spanner is stable.  My company has 15-20 users for the product.  The tool's deployment is easy.  The solution is expensive.  You need to look at the data set and company requirements. I rate…
Charley Hanania - PeerSpot reviewer
It is very easy to implement, manage, and offers great insights into what is happening inside the engine
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. Once you've set up a server, adding databases is easy. There's a minor challenge with having data in separate databases that you want to connect like we do on premises. I'm looking forward to using some of these new AI-driven functions that have come out around vectorization. Having the data closer to my transactional databases or data makes it easy to augment and enhance the Database and applications I currently use. It's great that Azure SQL now seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Fabric. It's a first-tier service in the cloud that connects to web applications and other databases. The data transformation orchestration capabilities within Database Factory and similar capabilities make it effortless to move that stuff forward.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"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."
"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."
"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."
"It is good for scalability and high availability. It is also secure because of Microsoft's cloud investment. It is easy to use because it is on the cloud. Creation or making it available through web services is super easy. Azure SQL can be quickly published as web services for APIs to connect with other applications. Because it is in Microsoft Cloud, you can easily integrate with Microsoft stack."
"Some of the best features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database are its scalability, pricing, and ease of setup."
"Database services and Active Directory related functions for this solution are good. Stable, scalable, and easy to install. Its technical support is good."
"The most valuable aspect of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is its accessibility."
"Microsoft is at the forefront of databases, and everyone uses SQL."
"The backup solution in Azure is great, the firewall settings in SQL are very easy to use and work very well. Additionally, the turning process is very good and has improved the SQL services and queries."
"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."
 

Cons

"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."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"There are certain shortcomings when it comes to the stability of the product, especially if I consider the fact that there can always be some bug-related issues in the tool."
"A potential area for improvement could be integrating with third-party clouds. Adding a feature to bring Azure SQL in Azure with SQL on-premises would be helpful."
"Some issues with scalability."
"Some more documentation and suggestions for network policies could be helpful."
"The solution could be less expensive. They need to work on their pricing model."
"It is a little bit expensive for us. They can improve the price. It would also be very helpful if they can offer some free trial."
"Lack of flexibility for developers in terms of performance assistance."
"There isn't any new improvement that I can think of at the moment. We have different deployment choices, such as running SQL on an Azure VM or deploying SQL-managed instances. The managed instance is a significant improvement over running SQL in an Azure VM."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is expensive."
"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"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."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"When you go with SQL Azure Database, you can create a small database, which is around $4 to $5 per month for development purposes."
"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."
"The solution is more cost-effective than Google BigQuery. Compared to Google BigQuery, downloading data can be more expensive."
"I find that they are relatively expensive, especially when compared to AWS, where the prices are notably lower."
"Offers options for paying the license on a yearly or a monthly basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise50
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?
The pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could improve accessibility and user numbers, making it easier for users to adopt the s...
What needs improvement with SQL Azure?
I have used the Microsoft Azure SQL Database for two years now, and I don't find it satisfactory. It's slow and expensive. The Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not the latest version of Microsoft SQ...
 

Also Known As

Google Spanner
No data available
 

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 2025.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.