Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Oracle Database as a Service comparison

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Database as a Service

Download the complete report

Helped 831,158 peers since 2012

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

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

116

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Database as a Service

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 17.1%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database as a Service is 9.1%, up from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Charley Hanania

Data Platform Specialist at QS2 AG - Quality Software Solutions

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.

Read full review

Duy AnhMai

Product Owner at Heineken

Offers security and good performance

Price-wise, the tool is expensive, and I feel it is an area where improvements are needed. Oracle Database as a Service is not as popular as other tools because we use AWS and GCP. Oracle is okay in terms of performance for banking businesses and some big companies. As I use the tool in Heineken, I know Oracle is an okay security solution. We use and deploy some applications and features from Oracle that are better than what others offer. The data in the tool is actually stored in the production part, so it is always kept a secret. I don't think that AI has been integrated into the tool. The AI used by Oracle is not as strong as that used by AWS. I recommend the tool to others, especially banking, finance, and insurance companies where the security needs to be better. There is maintenance for the tool required, but I don't know which company does it for our organization. I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

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

"The most useful feature of Azure SQL is the queries for manipulating the data, such as the tables and the storage processors."

"What I like the most is the processes and the easiness of deployments."

"The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment takes about one hour."

"Its cost benefit is most valuable because you are charged per data unit instead of licensing. You can easily migrate your on-premise SQL to the cloud with a managed instance. That's what it is designed to do. It is easy to take your on-premise or older SQL instance and move it to the cloud. It makes it easy to get off your on-premise SQL and start utilizing the cost benefit of the cloud."

"The administration console in Azure, all in one is the most valuable feature."

"The initial setup was straightforward. We did not migrate from an existing system but implemented it from scratch and did not require Microsoft support. We were building Power Platform apps using SharePoint databases and Excel. And after that, we realized that we had to integrate it with SQL. It wasn't too hard, and our partners have people with experience."

"The integration with Azure Data Factory is seamless and straightforward, described as just a click away."

"Azure SQL Database is very quick and easy to use."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are processing, indexing, monitoring, scalability, network, performance of the clustering, clusters, and availability."

"The most valuable feature of Oracle Database as a Service is that it is managed by the vendor and you do not have to purchase on-premise hardware."

"Oracle DBaaS performs well. It's similar to the MS Store."

"Oracle Database as a Service's most valuable feature is its financial applications."

"It is very easy to use."

"The solution's technical support is good."

"The functionality is good."

"The most valuable features of Oracle Database as a Service are the ease of use. We can use a simple syntax to get data and we can easily go to procedures to see data other than using a query."

More Oracle Database as a Service pros

Cons

"The pricing is very high."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap."

"The problem is the automated configuration."

"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."

"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."

"There is a need for dynamic scaling support without losing current transactions. That should be part of the standard offering to SKUs."

"Sometimes, we encounter limitations due to our use of a government cloud environment, which differs from commercial cloud platforms."

"The solution is somewhat user-friendly, but it's limited by the lack of full backward compatibility."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"I would like to see a better dashboard for the storage. It need to be more complete overall."

"The product is very expensive."

"I have had a hard time finding some documentation. There should provide easier accessible documentation for Oracle Database as a Service."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"Oracle Database as a Service could improve by having ETL for larger data."

"Its application development could be enhanced to fully utilize its features."

"The solution’s initial setup is very complex."

"The solution can be improved by reducing the pricing, making the deployment less complex, and increasing security."

More Oracle Database as a Service cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"I would like it to be cheaper, but comparatively, it is reasonably priced."

"It is quite expensive. I would definitely recommend not using the pay-as-you-go model because this will just mean all your money will go to Microsoft. So, really make sure to control resource usage as much as possible."

"The solution is more cost-effective than Google BigQuery. Compared to Google BigQuery, downloading data can be more expensive."

"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."

"The price could be slightly cheaper."

"The solution is moderately expensive."

"I'm not sure what the exact price is, but it's a moderate amount. It's not too expensive."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is a little bit expensive."

"In my opinion, it's not cheap, but every business can decide for itself."

"Oracle Database as a Service is an expensive product."

"This solution is costly because it saves a lot of data."

"Customers need to pay extra costs for the solution based on their scope and business."

"The price of Oracle Database as a Service is expensive compared to other similar solutions."

"Oracle Database as a Service has a yearly licensing fee, which is expensive."

"The cost for Oracle Database as a Service is higher than that for other similar solutions."

More Oracle Database as a Service pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Database as a Service (DBaaS) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

72%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 price for running the server increased more than expected in recent months, and better alignment of pricing expectations is needed. Notably, costs related to IT staff coming into the office on ...

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

We're trying to manage our costs better. We've noticed an unexpected increase in the cost of running the server over the past few months. Addressing pricing clarity and alignment would help us. Als...

What do you like most about Oracle Database as a Service?

It has significantly enhanced our application development process by introducing substantial time savings and streamlining routine tasks.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database as a Service?

The pricing of the tool depends on the organization. If your organization is not making that much money, then I don't think you should use the enterprise or any other expensive versions of the solu...

What needs improvement with Oracle Database as a Service?

The solution’s initial setup is very complex.

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Comparisons

Compared 43% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 28% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 16% of the time

vCloud Air vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 2% of the time

IBM Db2 on Cloud vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Amazon RDS vs Oracle Database as a Service

Compared 46% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Oracle Database as a Service

Compared 23% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Oracle Database as a Service

Compared 9% of the time

Redis vs Oracle Database as a Service

Compared 4% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Oracle Database as a Service

Compared 3% of the time

More Oracle Database as a Service Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Oracle Database as a Service

Download Oracle Database as a Service product report

Also Known As

No data available

Oracle DBaaS, Oracle Database Cloud

Learn More

Microsoft

Oracle

Overview

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.

Oracle Database Cloud Service combines the power of Oracle Database, with the unique capabilities of the Oracle Cloud. The service provides a secure, automated data management platform that leverages on demand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services via a simple web based user interface and RESTful API. Oracle Database Cloud Service provides elastic database services for development, test, and production environments of custom and packaged online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing, and mixed workload applications. It enables businesses to reap all Oracle Platform as a Service (PaaS) benefits including subscriptionbased, self-service access to reliable, scalable, and elastic cloud environments and accelerates time to value by simplifying the provisioning and administration of Oracle databases.

Sample Customers

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

Solution-Soft, DX Marketing, Suredell and Partners, Frontiers, SettleOurEstate.com, Demand Analysis Ltd, endlich IT & Projekt Service OHG

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Database as a Service