Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs MongoDB Atlas comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Azure Cosmos DB offers cost savings and performance benefits, despite complexities and expertise requirements for optimal implementation.
Sentiment score
7.9
Organizations benefit from MongoDB Atlas with cost savings, efficiency, scalable features, but should manage data to avoid extra costs.
Getting an MVP of that project would have taken six to eight months, but because we had an active choice of using Azure Cosmos DB and other related cloud-native services of Azure, we were able to get to an MVP stage in a matter of weeks, which is six weeks.
When I have done comparisons or cost calculations, I have sometimes personally seen as much as 25% to 30% savings.
It's an excellent option for NoSQL or semi-structured data because our agreements start as a morass of raw data from PDF, OCR PDF, or paper OCR scans.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB support is mixed; effective for some, but others face delays and rely on community forums.
Sentiment score
7.0
MongoDB Atlas customer service is generally appreciated, but experiences with technical support vary based on plan and response time.
Premier Support has deteriorated compared to what it used to be, especially for small to medium-sized customers like ours.
The response was quick.
I would rate customer service and support a nine out of ten.
I have used them sometimes, even recently, and found the feedback to be spot on our needs.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB excels in scalability, offering dynamic resource adjustment and efficient global application support for large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.7
MongoDB Atlas is highly scalable and adaptable, efficiently managing data despite sharding costs and configuration challenges.
The system scales up capacity when needed and scales down when not in use, preventing unnecessary expenses.
We like that it can auto-scale to demand, ensuring we only pay for what we use.
Its scalability deserves a ten out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers reliable performance, high availability, low latency, and seamless global replication for handling critical workloads.
Sentiment score
8.0
MongoDB Atlas is highly reliable and stable, with strong performance and customer satisfaction, despite minor UI issues.
We have multiple availability zones, so nothing goes down.
Azure Cosmos DB would be a good choice if you have to deploy your application in a limited time frame and you want to auto-scale the database across different applications.
I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of availability and latency.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Cosmos DB needs better query support, integrative options, documentation, cost clarity, and improved analytics and data handling.
MongoDB Atlas requires a more user-friendly dashboard, better integration, enhanced security, and improved support for efficient scalability.
We must ensure data security remains the top priority.
The first one is the ability to assign role-based access control through the Azure portal for accounts to have contributor rights.
SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB.
 

Setup Cost

Azure Cosmos DB pricing is seen as high but justified by scalability, reliability, and pay-as-you-go flexibility.
MongoDB Atlas offers flexible, cost-effective cloud pricing with scalable options, though support costs can be high without discounts.
Initially, it seemed like an expensive way to manage a NoSQL data store, but so many improvements that have been made to the platform have made it cost-effective.
Cosmos DB is expensive, and the RU-based pricing model is confusing.
Cosmos DB is great compared to other databases because we can reduce the cost while doing the same things.
For our service, it was around 300 to 600 euros per month, which was acceptable for our customers.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB excels in scalability, flexibility, and security, offering seamless auto-scaling and versatile data model support.
MongoDB Atlas provides high scalability, flexibility, and ease of use with excellent security and seamless integrations for diverse data needs.
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is its real-time analytics capabilities, which allow for turnaround times in milliseconds.
Performance and security are valuable features, particularly when using Cosmos DB for MongoDB emulation and NoSQL.
The performance and scaling capabilities of Cosmos DB are excellent, allowing it to handle large workloads compared to other services such as Azure AI Search.
I find MongoDB Atlas highly scalable and easy to use, with very good support.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
6th
Ranking in Managed NoSQL Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (3rd), Vector Databases (3rd)
MongoDB Atlas
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
3rd
Ranking in Managed NoSQL Databases
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 1.2%. The mindshare of MongoDB Atlas is 14.8%, up from 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

MichaelJohn - PeerSpot reviewer
Very efficient for application-facing scenarios
There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.
Luca Botti - PeerSpot reviewer
Supportive features enable effective data management and growth
I find MongoDB Atlas highly scalable and easy to use, with very good support. The pricing is quite scalable and applies to various scenarios, both for smaller and bigger companies. MongoDB Atlas has supported our data growth well, and my overall impression is very positive. It is easy to work with and has a reliable support structure. For structured data storage and performance, it provides a comprehensive solution, and the feedback was generally positive.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Database as a Service (DBaaS) solutions are best for your needs.
841,540 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Legal Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB is generally a costly resource compared to other Azure resources. It comes with a high cost. We have reserved one thousand RUs. Free usage is also limited.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Overall, it is a good resource. I am not aware of the background, but it seems to currently support only JSON documents. They could expand their scope to support other types of data, such as XML or...
What do you like most about MongoDB Atlas?
There are many valuable features, but scalability stands out. It can scale across zones. You can define multiple nodes. They have also partnered with AWS, offering great service with multiple featu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MongoDB Atlas?
The pricing is quite acceptable and scalable. For our service, it was around 300 to 600 euros per month, which was acceptable for our customers. We could scale up for better performance and scale d...
What needs improvement with MongoDB Atlas?
I am not an expert on what improvements could be made to MongoDB. The service is continually evolving with new features while maintaining reasonable pricing, making it attractive for developers.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB
Atlas
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify
Wells Fargo, Forbes, Ulta Beauty, Bosch, Sanoma, Current (a Digital Bank), ASAP Log, SBB, Zebra Technologies, Radial, Kovai, Eni, Accuhit, Cognigy, and Payload.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. MongoDB Atlas and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
841,540 professionals have used our research since 2012.