The solution's most valuable feature is the row-level security that helps mask and encrypt data. In industries like healthcare and retail marketing, the details of patients' diseases and diagnostic reports can be masked using rollover encryption. In the financial sector, credit card numbers, user IDs, and passwords can also be masked using row-level encryption.
Archtect - software engineering at Innominds
Offers good return on investment to users
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's most valuable feature is the row-level security that helps mask and encrypt data."
- "Oracle Cloud has a bit of a learning curve, so from an improvement perspective, we need to have a simple way to connect to computing in Oracle Cloud."
What is our primary use case?
What needs improvement?
Oracle Cloud has a bit of a learning curve, so from an improvement perspective, we need to have a simple way to connect to computing in Oracle Cloud. Oracle Cloud should be leveraged to have structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Oracle Cloud should be like Amazon S3 bucket and needs to come with the versioning part. If the tool can provide options for versioning the data, it would be more useful.
There is a need to have backward compatibility from version to version. If a tool has all its versions, it would be better. Sometimes, we are missing the backward compatibility function in Oracle. Some versions are deprecated and removed. Migration somewhat involves coding of data and coding of queries, along with pre-querying the data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle Database for ten years. I am a user of the tool.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is always upgraded as per the user's requirements. So I don't feel any issue. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a good and scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
I have seen multiple use cases in different companies. I see that for one million or two million files, it works fine, but with twenty million files, it slows down because it lacks NoSQL properties. Around 30 to 40 developers use the tool in my company.
How was the initial setup?
I have ten years of experience with the product, so I am habituated to installing the solution all the time. I did not find any issues during the installation of the product. The product is simple to install, especially because the instructions offered by the solution are very user-friendly. The tool offers a very good User experience during the installation phase. Each installation step is very well documented for a user to be able to understand.
I rate the product's initial setup phase as a nine out of ten.
The product's deployment process can be completed in a very optimal amount of time.
What was our ROI?
The tool's ROI is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is expensive. Compared to its stability and eligibility, the tool is expensive, but if I consider the tool's ROI to be better, the tool is affordable with its set of features.
What other advice do I have?
I use Oracle Database in our company's daily operations as we have a data pipeline which can cleanse the database. We have many connectors to ingest the data in Oracle Database. In the data lake, we do perform transformation, after which the cleansed data is moved to the warehouse.
The security features of Oracle Database match our data protection needs since it provides a particular user ID and a password while binding to the roles and privileges, like in the case of admin accounts and user accounts.
When it comes to data analysis, the tool has a very huge kind of data in it. In our company, we used to write queries, and Oracle helped us analyze the data, after which we can select a particular data set based on what we require. The queries are very fast.
The migration from Oracle Database 18c to Oracle Database 19c has affected my operations because I think that some of the features are being deprecated during each of the migration processes. I can rate the whole migration process as seven out of ten.
I started with Oracle Linux 7, and now I use Oracle Database 21c. The tool has matured and is good.
I recommend the tool to others. It is better to use Oracle's functions, whichever will improve scalability and app performance. The tool has many areas that will help us query data, code data, and perform analytics.
I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Aug 29, 2024
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Subject Matter Expert at Cyprobes
Comes with encryption features and security is good
Pros and Cons
- "The tool's most valuable feature is data encryption. The security features are good. They include field-level security, role-level security, and easy access controls."
- "The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult."
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable feature is data encryption. The security features are good. They include field-level security, role-level security, and easy access controls.
What needs improvement?
The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Oracle Database's stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool's scalability is fine. However, you need to pay for additional nodes.
Scalability is an issue because expanding the system requires additional hardware and licenses for each node. There's no option for mirroring the initial license across different nodes, so each new node requires its license. My company has 300,000 users. We're planning to increase usage gradually, depending on customer demand and database growth, aiming for about a 10 to 20 percent increase annually.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Microsoft SQL Server before Oracle Database.
How was the initial setup?
Oracle Database's deployment is fine. The deployment process for the Oracle database involves considering hardware compatibility. Licensing costs may vary based on the server model used.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is not based on a yearly subscription but rather on the number of devices used annually.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. Consider starting with an open-source database instead of Oracle Database, as the enterprise versions and licensing costs can be quite significant.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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March 2025

Learn what your peers think about Oracle Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
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Head of Sale and marketing at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Ensures data security with robust features but needs better cost-effectiveness
Pros and Cons
- "It is highly secure, with an architecture that prevents hacking incidents, making it the most secure database available."
- "The pricing could be more cost-effective, as the high price is driving some customers to consider migrating to open-source alternatives."
What is our primary use case?
My clients use Oracle Database for their ERP applications. Manufacturing companies use it for their ERP systems, and there are financial organizations, including banks, using the database to secure their data. They specifically use the enterprise database Oracle with licensed products.
What is most valuable?
Oracle Database is a Gartner-listed number one database, renowned for its robust and mission-critical capabilities. It is highly secure, with an architecture that prevents hacking incidents, making it the most secure database available.
The database also supports mission-critical applications and large datasets, providing high availability and reliability. It is equipped with features like autonomous functionality and memory-efficient operations, reducing the need for machine resources.
What needs improvement?
Regarding room for improvement, there is not anything specific from a feature standpoint, as Oracle is a database company always enhancing and updating its products. However, the pricing could be more cost-effective, as the high price is driving some customers to consider migrating to open-source alternatives.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been connected with Oracle Database for 15 to 16 years, starting from my career's inception.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Oracle Database is excellent, rated at ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Oracle Database is very good, which I rate between nine and ten.
How are customer service and support?
Oracle's technical support is generally rated at eight out of ten due to some delays and challenges with ticket resolution, particularly regarding different time zones. The quality of the support is top-notch and deserves a ten, but response times can be improved.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Oracle Database is straightforward, with a step-by-step guide available. The abundance of documentation and resources makes it easy to follow along and complete the setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Oracle Database is highly-priced. Although it is robust and feature-rich, the pricing can be a concern for some customers, leading them to consider alternative options.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Oracle Database a seven out of ten. While highly functional and stable, the cost remains a significant factor for many customers. If Oracle could make it more cost-effective, it would benefit many users. I rate the overall solution on a scale of one to ten at a seven.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: Dec 24, 2024
Flag as inappropriateData Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Offers performance optimization that has an excellent impact on the database
Pros and Cons
- "Oracle's performance optimization has had an excellent impact on our database."
- "Oracle itself does not provide an excellent migration tool to users, which is a shortcoming where the product needs to improve a lot."
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable feature is its ACID transaction, as it is a consistent way of storing the database. The tool offers an RBAC or a role-based access system, and as per the role, you define the role, and then only those forms, reports, and tables will be accessible to the end user. The tool's features are associated with the data security area I like the most.
What needs improvement?
Oracle itself does not provide an excellent migration tool to users, which is a shortcoming where the product needs to improve a lot.
The tool needs to do something on the columnar storage side, as we are storing it in a row right now. The tool has to offer some columnar storage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle Database for twenty-two years.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In India, the market is switching over to the cloud service provider because storage tools and everyone else are moving to the cloud side and are very less on-premises. It is very feasible for people moving to the cloud side.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool's price is high. The price is very high in the Asia-Pacific region. The European and US regions don't find the tool's prices high. In the Asia Pacific region, specifically Southeast Asia and the Pacific, like India, Singapore, and Malaysia, people find the price a bit difficult to manage.
What other advice do I have?
Oracle's performance optimization has had an excellent impact on our database. It has a step-by-step approach, like excellent indexing. It also has an explained plan. I can use the explain plan, hints, AWR report, and tuning the query level and server level, which are all excellent features compared to other RDBMS tools.
The migration process to Oracle Database was pretty good, but Oracle itself does not provide any migration tools. Other vendors, like Microsoft Azure, AWS, or GCP, offer excellent tools for migrations.
I recommend the tool to others.
I rate the tool a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Sep 5, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSenior consaltant at System Limited
High availability, scalability, load balancing, but expensive
Pros and Cons
- "It has good features for performance tuning."
- "The price could be lower."
What is our primary use case?
We use the Oracle Database for applications such as sensor data management, banking tools, e-commerce forms, and similar functionalities. It is a data warehouse.
What is most valuable?
We have used the database in different production and environments. It has good features for performance tuning. I am using multiple environments for the Oracle web. The main functions are high availability, scalability, load balancing, and data integration.
What needs improvement?
The price could be lower.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle Database for 7 to 8 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution’s scalability is good.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is better.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is neither easy nor complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
Most customers use the stable version of the Oracle database. They should update it. Oracle V19 is the stable version.
Overall, I rate the solution a 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Chief Information Officer at Cjp
A capable and stable solution with good security and support
Pros and Cons
- "The database capability and the security side of the database are the real valuable features. The cloud SaaS model is also valuable."
- "They can simplify and make the deployment more user-friendly. Deploying Oracle solutions requires a lot of technical input. If that can be improved, it would really add value to the business."
What is our primary use case?
We are mainly using it for our business applications. Our main business application is the ERP application, and the other one is the payroll application. Both applications are developed on the Oracle platform. The ERP application covers our sales and marketing side, as well as manufacturing and finance.
What is most valuable?
The database capability and the security side of the database are the real valuable features. The cloud SaaS model is also valuable.
In terms of support, they are very supportive and always available.
What needs improvement?
They can simplify and make the deployment more user-friendly. Deploying Oracle solutions requires a lot of technical input. If that can be improved, it would really add value to the business.
There should be features related to business intelligence and business analytics. These features are not built into the database. They are separate. They can at least add basic analytics features to the database.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its performance depends on the data center you are connected to. At the moment, we are subscribed to one of the US data vendors. Other than that, it is very stable and highly available.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. Because we are using the cloud platform, it is very easy to scale it up. We have approximately 1,000 users.
How are customer service and support?
They're really good in terms of providing support and attending to the issues. I am satisfied with their support.
How was the initial setup?
Its deployment is quite complex, and it should be made simpler.
Its maintenance is minimal. You only need to take care of database patches, and you need to always follow up and update it on time. Other than that, when you configure it with the backup and all those things and automate, you don't need to worry much about the maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We were doing it internally.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its price is a little bit high in terms of competitiveness. It is a little bit expensive. For any additional features, there are additional costs.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend starting with the SaaS model cloud platform. You can start at a small scale, and then you can expand based on your requirements. You can start with a small investment and grow as your business is growing.
We are going to explore the autonomous part. It has already been improved. We'll start using that area, but because we are already using this one, and it is stable, we didn't try to use the autonomous side. That would be the area that would be most useful for us in terms of the SaaS solution.
I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
ERP Database Administrator at PSKENYA
Useful Enterprise Manager, beneficial automatic resource assigning, and high performance
Pros and Cons
- "Oracle Database is running on the same old hardware that I had the 11g version on and it is operating faster. It seems to be really good. It's fast even when the workload is heavy, easy to do backups and other administrative tasks with the Enterprise Manager."
- "Oracle Database has improved how we do our administrative backups. The solution has a smaller footprint than 11g, it's more efficient on the resources for the users. It has a smoother user experience with the ERP and fewer field transactions."
What is our primary use case?
I use Oracle Database to support the customized Java ERP setup that I currently have.
How has it helped my organization?
Oracle Database has improved how we do our administrative backups. The solution has a smaller footprint than 11g, it's more efficient on the resources for the users. It has a smoother user experience with the ERP and fewer field transactions.
What is most valuable?
Oracle Database is running on the same old hardware that I had the 11g version on and it is operating faster. It seems to be really good. It's fast even when the workload is heavy, easy to do backups and other administrative tasks with the Enterprise Manager.
Oracle Database can automatically assign resources to threads that are heavy. We hardly notice when they are running a heavy query and it is better at managing memory than the older 11g version. When we use the same amount of indexes when migrating to 19c, I didn't have to do any other modification and we have increased usage on the ERP. The Oracle Database is handling everything very well.
What needs improvement?
Oracle Database could improve by having a better-integrated view of the containerized databases. The Enterprise Manager is great at that, but if there was a centralized view of all the containers it would be a large benefit.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle Database for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The reliability of the Oracle Database is excellent and the performance is very good. I have used MySQL for large transactions which have given me some problems, but in Oracle Database version 19c I have not had these issues. In the Oracle Database version 11g, sometimes I would have some lagging, but in the newer version, it has been fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the solution is good.
We have approximately 70 users that are using the solution through the ERP.
How are customer service and support?
The support I have received from Oracle Database has been very great. The response times have been good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used MySQL.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Oracle Database is straightforward, it was easy. The migration from an older version was not a problem at all, and it took under one hour.
What about the implementation team?
I did the implementation mostly myself, but because of the ERP setup, I had to have support from the vendor. It was a partnership setup.
I do the maintenance of the solution, we only require one person. I use the solution on a daily basis.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Oracle Database could make the documentation better around licensing. The way you have to access software from Oracle is difficult. You have to go through the licensing lawyer to understand what your reach is when you subscribe to one unit. I wish the documents were easier to understand for everyone. This is a problem I have always grappled with and it's not changed. Having clarity is even more important now that I'm thinking of having a hybrid setup for the database in the cloud for high availability.
The cost of the solution is reasonable. It costs approximately $4,000 with some extra features we have.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. However, it does depend on different organizations and their needs. If the resources are a little heavy, which makes for disaster recovery planning, a little bit tricky.
I would advise people to explore how their workloads would be and if they can be containerized in the cloud. That would make it way easier for them to manage them. The scalability of Oracle Database is very easy to grow or shrink as the need.
I rate Oracle Database a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Lead Performance Engineer & Automation at Allstate
Scalable, reliable, but installation could be easier
Pros and Cons
- "I have been satisfied with the technical support from Oracle."
- "I have been looking for a virtualization database engine from Oracle. They have third-party vendors that can do it but if Oracle comes with its own virtual engine, it would be helpful. Additionally, the solution could be more user-friendly and improve the Transparent Data Encryption."
What is our primary use case?
I work for an insurance organization and we have been using Oracle Database for our application architecture. We store all the user-level information in the Oracle Database that our company deals in, such as policy information. Before I joined this organization, they were only using the Oracle Database but now we are migrating from Oracle to the SQL Server Database. For any new applications that are getting built or designed, we are trying to use SQL Server instead of Oracle.
What needs improvement?
I have been looking for a virtualization database engine from Oracle. They have third-party vendors that can do it but if Oracle comes with its own virtual engine, it would be helpful. Additionally, the solution could be more user-friendly and improve the Transparent Data Encryption.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle Database for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Oracle Database is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
We have approximately 2,000 users using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have been satisfied with the technical support from Oracle.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use SQL Server.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was not a good experience it took a lot of time.
What about the implementation team?
We have a 10 person technical team which consists of administrators and managers that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have been paying for an annual enterprise license Oracle Database.
What other advice do I have?
If I had the choice to pick between Orcale Database or SQL Server, I would choose SQL Server.
I rate Oracle Database a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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