Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs SingleStore comparison

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Microsoft Azure SQL Database and SingleStore compete in the enterprise database solutions category. Azure SQL Database has an edge in integration and scalability, while SingleStore leads in performance and real-time analytics capabilities.

Features: Azure SQL Database integrates comprehensively with the Microsoft ecosystem, offers high availability, and advanced security features. SingleStore is known for high-performance analytical processing, real-time data capabilities, and handling complex queries efficiently.

Room for Improvement: Azure SQL Database needs better documentation, enhanced technical support, and more cost-effective advanced features. SingleStore should improve integration with third-party tools, offer more flexible pricing models, and better address initial setup difficulties.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure SQL Database is straightforward to deploy within the Azure ecosystem and has responsive customer service. SingleStore has a steeper learning curve, but users benefit from performance improvements post-deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Azure SQL Database involves high initial setup costs but provides long-term ROI with its integration and scalability. SingleStore demands a higher upfront investment but offers significant ROI through high performance and real-time analytics gains.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. SingleStore Report (Updated: January 2025).

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. SingleStore

January 2025

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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

SingleStore

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

7th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vector Databases (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 16.2%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SingleStore is 1.6%, up from 0.8% 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.

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Hitesh Kunchakuri

Associate Consultant at University of California at Davis

A reasonably priced product that offers good speed and seamless support

Currently, I can't think of any areas that require improvement because SingleStore was recently launched in the market. The product can be developed further to provide more appropriate output to users as it is one of the areas where there are shortcomings. The current SingleStore model provides output based on the RANK function. If a user searches for a liquor bottle, then with all the data the product has, it will search for the liquor bottle in the data, and based on a match, the product has an algorithm to rank the product because of which the paragraph that has the best match will be ranked as a 100, the next one as 99, following which the next product will be ranked as 98 and so on. The output from the solution will fetch you all the 100 products that are available in a store, but sometimes a user might require a product with a 97 or 98 percent match from the DB, meaning the product doesn't always work to provide a 100 percent match, an area I feel that can be optimized in the product. Currently, SingleStore's features are excellent as it can read documents, images, and everything. The product works seamlessly for me.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I'd give Microsoft Azure SQL Database a nine out of ten."

"The stability is good and the performance is fantastic. Even when we try to do an inquiry into issues we can do it easily."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database has significantly improved our operations by allowing us to extract data and generate comprehensive reports in Power BI."

"We're a Microsoft customer, so it fits in with everything else we work with."

"Azure SQL connects directly to our Power Platform apps, making it easy to use."

"Shifting our corporate programs to the cloud is more or less the same due to the ease of implementation. We've cut costs by around 70 percent."

"Valuable features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database include its quick deployment capabilities, the ability to spin up an environment easily, and seamless integration with Microsoft products."

"Their technical support is the most valuable."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"The ability to store data in memory is a standout feature, enhanced by robust failover mechanisms."

"The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed."

"The product's initial setup phase was pretty straightforward, with no complex processes."

"The product can automatically reinstall and reconfigure in case of a shutdown."

"It's a distributed relational database, so it does not have a single server, it has multiple servers. Its architecture itself is fast because it has multiple nodes to distribute the workload and process large amounts of data."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to create pipelines, streamline and extract data from the pipelines."

"MemSQL supports the MySQL protocol, and many functions are similar, so the learning curve is very short."

Cons

"If the product could support applications requiring an SQL server for installation, by using SQL Azure as a backend, that would be useful."

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

"I need Microsoft to allow their network to access open source technologies."

"Azure SQL had a bit of a learning curve to start, but it was fairly simple once I understood how to develop it."

"Their availability in the Middle East and Asia regions needs to improve."

"We haven't had any major issues that have prevented us from doing stuff fundamentally. For its implementation, sometimes, it is complicated to understand what your needs are. It would be good to have a few use cases that provide different cloud variations that match on-premise installations and show how they can be moved to the cloud a bit better."

"The latency and availability of Microsoft Azure SQL Database can be problematic when connecting to an instance in a geographically distant location."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database could improve by having better tooling in terms of connecting to other database platforms and better capabilities around programmable interfaces. There should be more fine-tuning on the storage layer. I would like to see T-SQL improvements to automatically translate features from other database platforms for easier migration, as well as some improvements around column store and native capabilities like those in Iceberg and PowerK built into the SQL Server product."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"There should be more pipelines available because I think that if MemSQL can connect to other services, that would be great."

"It is not the optimal choice for direct data collection through queries, and it's more suited for aggregation tasks."

"Having the ability to migrate servers using a single command would be extremely beneficial."

"For new customers, it's very tough to start. Their documentation isn't organized, and there's no online training available. SingleStore is working on it, but that's a major drawback."

"We don't get good discounts in Pakistan."

"The product can be developed further to provide more appropriate output to users as it is one of the areas where there are shortcomings."

"Poor key distribution can significantly impact performance, requiring a backward approach in design rather than adding tables incrementally."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The licensing for this solution is based on subscription."

"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."

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

"We have a three-year contract. The cost was somewhere around $70-80,000 for the original deployment, which was about two years ago"

"We have had some issues with the licensing of the solution."

"There is no licensing cost for the solution."

"I believe the licensing is more on a global scale."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The product's licensing is not expensive. It is comparable."

"Using it for analytical purposes can be cost-effective in the long run, especially in terms of infrastructure."

"SingleStore is a bit expensive."

"I would advise users to try the free 128GB version."

"They have two main options: cloud installation and bare-metal installation, each with different pricing models."

"The price of the product is okay compared to the other available solutions in the market. SingleStore is a reasonably priced product, considering the functions it offers."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

73%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

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 SingleStore DB?

The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SingleStore DB?

Using it for analytical purposes can be cost-effective in the long run, especially in terms of infrastructure. While building an on-premise cluster incurs an initial cost for servers with ample RAM...

What needs improvement with SingleStore DB?

There's a noteworthy consideration when it comes to collecting massive amounts of data. It is not the optimal choice for direct data collection through queries, and it's more suited for aggregation...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

February 2025

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Download SingleStore product report

January 2025

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.

Microsoft

SingleStore enables organizations to scale from one to one million customers, handling SQL, JSON, full text and vector workloads — all in one unified platform.

Sample Customers

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

6Sense, ADNOC, Adobe, Akamai, CARFAX, Cigna, Cisco, Comcast, DBS Bank, Dell, Dentsu, EY, FirstEnergy, GE, Goldman Sachs, Heap, Hulu, IMAX, Kakao, Kroger, LG, LiveRamp, Lumana, NBC, OpenDialog, Outreach, Palo Alto Networks, PicPay, RBC, Samsung, Siemens, SiriusXM, SK Telecom, SKAI, Sony, State Street Financial, STC, SunRun, TATA, Thorn, and ZoomInfo.