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Oracle Database In-Memory vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

Oracle Database In-Memory
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (3rd)
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
268
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Oracle Database In-Memory is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 18.6%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Laksiri Bala - PeerSpot reviewer
Faster processing and improved memory operations have enhanced transaction and analytics efficiency
The valuable features of Oracle Database In-Memory ( /products/oracle-database-in-memory-reviews ) include its capability to bypass disk storage for faster memory operations, which is critical for transactions and analytics. It also offers specific memory areas, like in-memory cache, that act as intermediaries between disk and buffer cache. This feature helps organizations handle real-time memory requirements effectively.
Azizul Haque - PeerSpot reviewer
It has eliminated all kinds of inconsistencies, and it is reliable, secure, and fast
I don't know whether SQL Server can support large organizations where the database size is more than 100 GB. It might be because of SQL Server, or it might be because of the programming of the software vendor, but a lot of people think that it is a problem with SQL Server. It can't handle a large amount of data or large data size. In terms of its usage, about 90% of our applications are running on the SQL Server database. We have around 1,600 users for our software, and all the applications are connected to the SQL Server database.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find the performance features of Oracle Database In-Memory to be most beneficial."
"The scalability is very good."
"We find the dashboard and the speed of data processing very valuable in Oracle Database In-Memory."
"It accelerates query processing, which in turn speeds up operations and streamlines workflow, and ultimately enhancing productivity."
"Normally, every database server uses hard disks. In-Memory has a feature, apart from their database, which is very good. When we start our server, all your data needs loading memory. We can use that. It's a very good feature. I think they added this feature in 2019. We can mount memory in the partition, create partitions in there, and create table space from that spot to share. It's a really good feature. We use it a lot."
"Oracle Database In-Memory is a suite of features that improves performance for real-time analytics and mixed workloads."
"It efficiently handles low-code data and supports read-and-write operations for clustering."
"The most valuable feature is that Database-In-Memory is more consistent and faster than traditional databases as it requires fewer CPUs to process instructions."
"I like that it's relatively stable."
"It's a flexible solution."
"The pricing of the solution is okay. It's less expensive than Oracle, for example."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable features of SQL Server are the speed, great support, and it is from a known vendor."
"It is the latest technology and pretty powerful in terms of the high availability of the virtual server."
"SQL Server is very scalable because we use it across a couple of different types of applications, such as micro-infrastructure setup and server farm."
"In Poland, SQL Server is the most popular database engine, and overall, our customers like it."
 

Cons

"Oracle Database In-Memory appliance-based solutions can be restrictive for some applications, as they may require more flexibility in the database design to be tuned and sized to the customer's needs."
"Oracle Database In-Memory is more expensive than Azure, and the support from the Oracle team is not very good, especially since they do not have a support team in our region."
"They should improve the solution's scalability for large databases."
"The platform’s pricing needs improvement."
"They should lower the price. My customers think that it's too expensive."
"The dashboard requires some refreshment or configuration improvements."
"It would be good if Oracle could reduce downtime when transferring from non-In-Memory to In-Memory."
"I would like Oracle Database In-Memory to include a data replication feature."
"SQL Server could improve by providing something similar to an interface or dashboard where a developer can do debugging, this would make a developer's work easier. Additionally, the optimization could be better. If there was an interface showing information needed for the optimization it would help because there can be some data loss making it difficult to optimize the SQL Server."
"When we run into problems, it's usually during installation, and finding answers to the problem has been a nightmare because the documentation is terrible."
"The solution could be more secure."
"They do not offer the SQL Server Management tool via the installation. It is a separate tool I use when I'm trying to configure the mirroring with SQL Server Mirroring. This is not supported and I'm getting some errors on the database mirroring."
"Its support for JSON should be improved. It does support JSON, but the support is not good enough currently. They should also improve the way indexes work. Its performance can also be improved because sometimes it becomes very slow for certain table designs. It cannot have more than a certain amount of data. As compared to other databases, its capability to handle large volumes of data is not very good."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
"When transferring data from the SQL Server to Excel, the data types are not copied correctly. This issue might be associated with the formatting of the data types."
"They can build more performance-tuning tools in it. They can also make the stuff a little more user-friendly and provide the ability to schedule jobs. They can perhaps also streamline it a little bit so that it is not so resource-intensive, which would be helpful. SQL Server has a tendency to consume all the memory you allow it to. If you are not careful, you can basically break your server. I would like to see it having a smaller footprint in terms of system resource consumption. They might want to consider re-evaluating their pricing. It is expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a need to make a yearly payment towards the licensing costs, after which there is any to pay towards the support cost attached to the solution."
"The product is expensive."
"Database In-Memory is priced a bit higher than its competitors like Microsoft."
"It's quite costly and it comes with a fixed price."
"The pricing is pretty good so I rate it an eight out of ten."
"The solution's pricing is high."
"Oracle Database In-Memory is expensive."
"I rate the pricing a zero out of ten because Database In-Memory is too costly."
"It is expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"There is a license required to use the solution and I am satisfied."
"With recent releases, the Standard Edition (cheaper) SKU has some of the earlier version Enterprise features. SQL Express has some limitations."
"SQL Server offers three versions. You can get a free trial for 30 days."
"This is a downside of enterprise Microsoft products."
"You need to pay for the license. It most probably has per-core licensing."
"There is no licensing cost for SQL Server."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
53%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Database In-Memory?
We can integrate it with any data sources as well.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database In-Memory?
Oracle Database In-Memory is very expensive. Additionally, there are extra costs for some features.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database In-Memory?
The dashboard requires some refreshment or configuration improvements. Also, the pricing could be addressed.
Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?
SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...
Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?
SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...
Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?
My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shanghai Customs
Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database In-Memory vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.