MariaDB vs SQL Server comparison

MariaDB and Microsoft are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. MariaDB is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0. MariaDB holds a 6.3% mindshare in SQL, compared to Microsoft’s 16.9% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of MariaDB users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

MariaDB

Read 59 MariaDB reviews

7,230 Views
4,627 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 269 SQL Server reviews

14,688 Views
13,072 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

MariaDB

SQL Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

SQL Server and MariaDB compete in the database management systems category. Based on the data, SQL Server seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive features and reliability, despite its higher costs compared to the open-source model of MariaDB.

Features: SQL Server offers high availability, scalability, and user-friendliness. It integrates seamlessly with cloud services and supports easy setup and deployment. MariaDB is valued for being open-source, stable, and cost-effective, offering strong performance in complex relationships, columnar queries, and flexibility.

Room for Improvement: SQL Server could enhance integration with other platforms and improve its indexing and performance tools. The cost can be a barrier for small businesses. MariaDB should enhance its error handling, clustering, and replication capabilities. Better support for large-scale transactions and broader integration tools would be an improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SQL Server is versatile across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments with generally satisfactory Microsoft support, varying by issue complexity. MariaDB excels in on-premises and hybrid setups, relying on community-based troubleshooting due to limited corporate support, which poses challenges in complex deployments.

Pricing and ROI: SQL Server has high enterprise licensing fees but provides good ROI through its features and performance, with manageable costs in smaller setups. Conversely, MariaDB leverages a free open-source model, offering cost savings and quicker ROI, especially appealing to budget-conscious users who do not need extensive service support.

To learn more, read our detailed MariaDB vs. SQL Server Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. SQL Server

July 2025

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Helped 861,524 peers since 2012

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

MariaDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (4th)

SQL Server

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

269

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 6.3%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 16.9%, down from 22.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

KumarManish

Senior Technical Manager at Johnson Controls, Inc.

Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products

We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Kapil Dev Khatri

Database administrator at K electric

Helps monitor queries and identify which indexes need to be created in the databases

SQL Server is very simple due to its GUI, which is available for users. It allows for modifications and has execution plans available, along with options such as activity monitoring. This helps monitor queries and identify which indexes need to be created in the databases, tables, or columns to improve performance.

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

"MariaDB has a straightforward initial setup with easy-to-understand documentation."

"It's a very easy product to set up."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is a relational database, which is fairly reliable...It is a stable solution."

"We use MariaDB for identity provider services. Most of the things that we are doing are deployed in the container mode. All such solutions require a database, and MariaDB is easier to use for these kinds of deployments."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is a cloud-based tool, so it is pretty fast."

"The most valuable feature is that it uses multiple cores, which is better than some of the other databases."

"What I like best about MariaDB is that it is open-source and reliable."

"This solution is user-friendly."

More MariaDB pros

"The most valuable feature of SQL Server is that it is easy to set up."

"The feature that I have found most valuable is that it is easy to code."

"SQL Server has good performance. It is one of the best features."

"The availability is the most valuable feature. It has high availability. It also has good performance."

"It is integrated with Microsoft tools."

"The solution is easy to set up."

"The latest version supports for big data analytics. SQL Server's vector processing-based batch execution mode is now available to the entire execution of R or Python code. Since much of the work that tends to be done in R and Python involves aggregation, batch mode - which processes rows of data several at a time, can be very helpful."

"Comparing with other database management systems that I tried in other companies, SQL Server is quite easy to install, configure, and maintain."

More SQL Server pros

Cons

"Master-master replication is something that needs to be simplified."

"The maintenance and performance could be a bit better."

"There could be a command-line prompt for repairing the database and fixing indexes, similar to what was available in the old MyISAM storage engine."

"In the next release, I would like to see improvements in the scalability and redundancy features."

"The price could be less expensive."

"The product needs more features and more functionality. It's imperative that it supports more platforms, and supports more operating systems."

"We'd like more data intelligence."

"The solution should do some fine-tuning on maybe the transaction per second so that users can get more than they can on the Microsoft SQL Server."

More MariaDB cons

"Additional interfaces would be an improvement."

"The only item which I can list is application failure during Integration Services debugging, when restarting a process flow. In a number of instances the solutions fails. I have not given this much thought and simply stop and start the debugging service rather than restarting."

"The treatment of database storage could be improved."

"They could improve by adding the SQL format."

"I would like to see the performance improved. Migrating should be easier and the scalability needs improvement."

"Security is an area that can be improved."

"In my experience, I've found that scalability can be improved."

"SQL could be improved by making all features available on the on-premise version of the product as well as the cloud version. When you buy the on-premise version, it's sort of an inferior product compared to the cloud version, which seems to get most of the latest and greatest features."

More SQL Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be less expensive."

"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."

"It is free of charge."

"The licensing cost is approximately $4000.00 per year and the licensing is based on the software and the number of posts that you make."

"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."

"This is an open source solution with no licensing fees."

"MariaDB is available for free."

"The tool is open-source."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

"The price of SQL Server could be better in the African market. The licensing model needs to be improved, it is confusing."

"It has the easiest licensing."

"Some of the licensing are very expensive, such as the Enterprise license."

"We're looking at alternative solutions because we think Microsoft's licensing costs have been expensive."

"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."

"Although it comes with a cost, using the most recent version is highly advisable, since it would ensure a certain measure of bug fixes and stability. The sole issue would involve the cost, as this is expensive."

"For medium-sized customers who don't need some enterprise features, the tool would be available for 200 USD per month. For the enterprise segment, the tool's cost can go up to 6,000 USD."

"There is a subscription that needs to be purchased to use the solution."

More SQL Server pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

24%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MariaDB?

The integration with other products is seamless.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?

I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.

See all answers

What needs improvement with MariaDB?

The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.

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

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 24% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MariaDB

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Database vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

Percona Server vs MariaDB

Compared 5% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

SAP HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 13% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Database vs SQL Server

Compared 10% of the time

Teradata vs SQL Server

Compared 6% of the time

LocalDB vs SQL Server

Compared 6% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB

June 2025

Download MariaDB product report

Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

March 2025

Download SQL Server product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL

Overview

MariaDB is an open source relational database created by the original founders of MySQL. It is considered one of the most popular and trusted database servers throughout the world. MariaDB is a valued component found in most cloud offerings and is the default in many Linux tools. It is also widely used by Wikipedia, WordPress, and Google, among other well-known sites. Maria DB easily melds data into concise information from a vast array of applications, such as banking, online shopping, websites, and more.

MariaDB was originally created to improve MySQL performance. It is the most widely chosen database server due to the solution being super fast, robust, user-friendly, and easily scalable. MariaDB also offers a substantial ecosystem of plugins, storage engines, and numerous other valuable tools that make it very attractive for a significant offering of use cases.

The solution’s newest functionalities include compatibility with Oracle Database and Temporal Data Tables, and advanced clustering with Galera Cluster 4, which make it easier for users to research data history from any point in the past. Additionally, the most recent versions include JSON and GIS features. MariaDB is committed to staying an open source solution.

MariaDB Features

More storage: MariaDB works with more storage engines than MySQL and most other database servers available. Some storage options include, but are not limited to ARCHIVE, MERGE, CSV, MEMORY, BLACKHOLE, MyISAM, ColumnStore, MyRocks, and Cassandra.
Super fast: MariaDB offers faster authentication checks. The FlushSSL permits SSL certificates to be reloaded without a server restart, resulting in huge time savings.
Improved testing: MariaDB offers an extending testing suite that runs faster and can test more than ever before. Bugs can be easily fixed and invalid tests removed.
Genuinely open source: Every code in MariaDB is GPL, LGPL, or BSD. Client libraries [for Windows (ODBC), Java (JDBC), or C] allow linking to closed source software. All fixed bug cases and development plans are completely public. MariaDB is a community-developed solution representing the true spirit of open source products.

Reviews from Real Users

Faustine C., Engineering Supervisor- Corporate Data Solutions and Services at TZ Telecoms Corporation, shares, “The software provides a lot of information on what is happening inside the database. For most performance parameters it is easy to know if something is not right in the configuration or optimization which helps engineers take remedial fine-tuning measures. For example, if the database is underperforming it is easy to know which performance parameter can be adjusted to handle the workload. It is difficult to troubleshoot database issues if many performance parameters can not be monitored or debugged which is the case with some database management systems. It provides great monitoring of data storage, processing, and performance stability which is really important for real-time data storage and processing. It's a user-friendly product.”

A PeerSpot user who is a Senior Engineer at a tech services company relates, “ The solution's high availability is its most valuable aspect. We have found the product to be stable and the initial setup is pretty simple. I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. I'm very happy with it overall. I would recommend the solution to others. It's easy to find details about the product online and to learn about it.”

MariaDB

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

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities

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

MariaDB vs. SQL Server

July 2025

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