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 8.8, and holds a 1.7% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in SQL , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 18.6% 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

204 Views
169 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 268 SQL Server reviews

18,969 Views
14,206 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)

March 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

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

SQL Server

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

268

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 1.7%, up 0.8% compared to last year.
SQL Server, on the other hand, focuses on Relational Databases Tools, holds 18.6% 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

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

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

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

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

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

"The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed."

"SQL Server is a stable product."

"The solution is easy to use and provides similar features to other competitors."

"The solution is stable."

"I have found the whole solution with all its features wonderful."

"I use the menu on the management view credit section to get information from the database."

"The initial setup is time-efficient and can be done independently."

"SQL Server, a widely adopted database management system, is utilized across numerous sectors. Initially competing with Oracle and Db2, SQL Server has gained popularity. It serves as the backend database for a variety of applications."

"The solution is user-friendly, is a robust tool and is always reliable to users."

More SQL Server pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"The pricing in general could be better."

"We want to move to Azure, and the solution could be made better to make the process easier for the migration from on-premise to the cloud."

"Their datatypes need improvement."

"Security is an area that can be improved."

"It is very costly, and that's the reason people are moving away from SQL Server."

"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."

"On the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) side, I have noticed more bugs in terms of being able to connect to our SQL servers. I can't tell how many times my recent server list got dropped or cleaned out. It is a pain, and it would be nice to have that recent connect list when you connect in. For whatever reason, once in a while, I get a hard error, and it'll close. When I go back in, everything is cleared out. It is annoying when you are working with more than a hundred database instances."

"Performance could be improved. There could be more support to PHP-based websites and to providing direct plugins for connections, and the related services or application services could be improved."

More SQL Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"SingleStore is a bit expensive."

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

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

"To scale the solution there are additional costs."

"SQL Server is expensive if you use the advanced SQL version, but if you use the standard version, it's not expensive."

"We are a Microsoft shop, so we use Active Directory. That integrates well with this product, but we did look at Oracle. We also looked at IBM. This was the best price point for us for what we were getting."

"There is an annual license and it is priced reasonably."

"As compared to Oracle Database, SQL Server is less expensive. For mid-sized organizations, SQL Server is completely all right, but people say it can't support large organizations with more than 2,000 users."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"We pay per second of usage, but there are different offerings of the license."

"With recent releases, the Standard Edition (cheaper) SKU has some of the earlier version Enterprise features. SQL Express has some limitations."

More SQL Server pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

13%

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

53%

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 14% of the time

Chroma vs SingleStore

Compared 7% 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 14% of the time

MariaDB vs SQL Server

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server

Compared 11% of the time

LocalDB vs SQL Server

Compared 9% of the time

CockroachDB vs SQL Server

Compared 2% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SingleStore

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

March 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

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

March 2025

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