SQL Server vs SingleStore comparison

The compared SingleStore and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. SingleStore is ranked #7 in DS , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 1.6% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in SQL , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 20.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of SingleStore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

SingleStore

Read 7 SingleStore reviews

242 Views
192 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 266 SQL Server reviews

23,379 Views
17,471 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

SingleStore

SQL Server

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SingleStore and SQL Server based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MongoDB and others in Database as a Service (DBaaS).

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Database as a Service (DBaaS)

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

SingleStore

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database as a Service (DBaaS) (7th), Vector Databases (13th)

SQL Server

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

266

Ranking in other categories

Relational Databases Tools (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Databases solutions, they serve different purposes. SingleStore is designed for Database as a Service (DBaaS) and holds a mindshare of 1.6%, up 0.8% compared to last year.
SQL Server, on the other hand, focuses on Relational Databases Tools, holds 20.1% mindshare, down 23.1% since last year.

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

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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Azizul Haque

AVP, IT Division at NCC BANK LIMITED

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.

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

"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."

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

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

"The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed."

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

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

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

"Microsoft is less demanding because everything is GUI, unlike Oracle, where you need to use command lines."

"It's a good learning environment, it's easy enough to learn and understand. Anybody that picks up the language early on will be able to develop in it."

"The product's initial setup phase was simple."

"The installation is really easy."

"I like that it's very easy to use, and Veeam is excellent. There are tons of experts and writers in the area now, and we don't find the same for other databases."

"It's more user-friendly than most databases."

"I would say that it is a stable product."

"It works fine in terms of performance and stability."

More SQL Server pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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 tool needs to improve its pricing and technical support."

"The documentation could be much better. It's lacking right now. If there are better help pages, for even complicated queries and stuff like that that would be quite a help for users."

"The performance is not always the best."

"I have experience working with SQL Server 2016 and older versions, including handling JSON data. Initially, I found the JSON capabilities to be less helpful, but over time, they have greatly improved. SQL Server now offers extensive capabilities for working with various forms of data, particularly when communicating with text, such as in JSON format. I particularly prefer working with these features on Azure, as it provides numerous possibilities, especially in the field of business intelligence (BI). Additionally, the serverless platform offered by Azure is highly beneficial and makes tasks easier to manage."

"The number of concurrent users is too limited and other databases are better than SQL in this regard."

"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."

"The solution is rather expensive."

"From a development perspective, the solution needs to be a lot easier to understand or it needs to be easier to implement API packages for connection pooling so we don't have connection interruptions when, let's say, a hundred people simultaneously access the network on a given system, utilizing a specific or single database."

More SQL Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"We pay approximately $12,000 USD per month for both the server and the license."

"I believe the licensing to be on an annual basis."

"There is a license required for this solution and we pay monthly. The price is reasonable compared to other solutions."

"SQL Server has the best licensing price."

"The price of the solution is fine."

"This is a downside of enterprise Microsoft products."

"It is expensive, especially when you have open-source products that are just about as functional and they're free. They might want to consider re-evaluating their pricing. We purchased it in retail. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000. There is just the standard licensing fee. If they migrate this product the way they're trying to do everything else, eventually, it is going to be subscription-based, which is going to suck, but that's the way the industry is going, so it is what it is."

"It is expensive in terms of licensing costs and pricing. If you want to scale SQL Server, it is very expensive. We probably have to pay extra for technical support. We also have to pay for the license of Windows on which the SQL Server resides, which is an extra cost."

More SQL Server pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

31%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

52%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SingleStore DB?

The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

ClickHouse vs SingleStore

Compared 12% of the time

Chroma vs SingleStore

Compared 8% of the time

Teradata vs SingleStore

Compared 7% of the time

MongoDB vs SingleStore

Compared 6% of the time

CockroachDB vs SingleStore

Compared 6% of the time

More SingleStore Competitors

SAP HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 16% of the time

MariaDB vs SQL Server

Compared 14% of the time

LocalDB vs SQL Server

Compared 12% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server

Compared 10% of the time

SAP BW4HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 1% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SingleStore

January 2025

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Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

January 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL

Overview

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

SingleStore

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) by Microsoft. The product's main purposes are to store data and retrieve it as requested by other software applications - on the same computer or on another computer across a shared network. The solution is built on top of Structured Query Language (SQL), which is a standardized programming language used for relational database management.

The product is tied to Transact-SQL (T-SQL), which is an implementation of SQL from Microsoft that adds several proprietary programming extensions to the standard language. SQL Server is built similarly to other RDBMS products, as its structure is a row-based table that connects related data elements in different tables to one another. One of its most important components is the SQL Server Database Engine, as it controls data processing, storage, and security. Beneath the Database Engine is the SQL Server Operating System, which is used for memory and I/O management, locking data to avoid unneeded upgrades, and job scheduling.

The solution has four editions with different sets of services and tools. They include:

SQL Server Developer
SQL Server Expression
SQL Server Standard
SQL Server Enterprise

The first two are available for free and are typically utilized by smaller companies, as they work with fewer functions and storage. The second two editions are generally used by bigger organizations and enterprises and offer more features.

The solution has several functions through which users can facilitate different data-related processes. These include:

Aggregate functions: These functions are used to calculate one or more values and return a single value.
Window functions: Window functions calculate an aggregate value based on a group of rows and return multiple rows for each involved group.
Date functions: These functions allow clients to handle data and time data efficiently.
String functions: Through the string functions, SQL Server processes an input string and returns a string or numeric value.
System functions: The system functions of the product return objects, values, and settings.

SQL Server Services

SQL Server has a wide range of add-on services that provide additional benefits beyond database management. These services include:

Machine learning: SQL Server machine learning services allow users to do machine learning and data analytics within the product.
Service broker: This feature is a part of the database engine and offers messaging and message queuing for applications on the platform.
Replication: This feature consists of transaction replication, merge replication, and snapshot replication.
Analysis: SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) adds online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining capabilities to SQL Server databases.
Reporting: This feature supports the development of custom reporting applications.
Notifications: This feature generates data-driven notifications which are sent to subscribers of Notification Services.
Integration: This SQL Server feature provides capabilities for data integration, data import, and data warehousing.
Full-text search: Through this feature, users can utilize specialized indexing and query for unstructured text stored in the solution.
Visual studio: This feature supports data programming with SQL Server.
Azure Data Studio: This is a cross-platform query editor that can be downloaded and used alongside SQL Server.

SQL Server Benefits

The solution has many benefits for users. These include the following:

The platform ensures a consistent experience across other platforms while being fast and agile.
Through the built-in intelligence features, users can understand their data better.
The solution has enterprise-level security, which ensures the smooth and safe performance of users' data.
SQL Server offers the ability to retrieve large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.
The product installation process is fairly easy, and it offers a user-friendly interface.
SQL Server offers improved data storage and retrieval functions through frequent upgrades.
The solution reduces the risk of database server attacks, since it is not an open-source database.

Reviews from Real Users

A president at a consultancy evaluates SQL Server as a veteran solution with critical log shipping feature.

Harkamal S., a user at a manufacturing company, rates SQL Server with a high mark because it is a stable, scalable, and easy-to-deploy solution that pretty much covers everything.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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.

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.

Buyer's Guide

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January 2025

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