Amazon Aurora vs SQL Server comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.6, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 3.3% mindshare in SQL, compared to Microsoft’s 11.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon Aurora

Read 20 Amazon Aurora reviews

2,172 Views
2,063 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 274 SQL Server reviews

16,569 Views
14,581 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Amazon Aurora

SQL Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Amazon Aurora and SQL Server compete in the database management systems category. Amazon Aurora seems to have the upper hand due to its strong cloud integration and scalability, while SQL Server is preferred for its comprehensive toolset and flexibility.

Features: Amazon Aurora is known for superior scalability, automated backup, and high availability, with seamless AWS service integration. SQL Server offers dynamic resource allocation, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), and a rich ecosystem of supporting tools, ensuring a user-friendly experience with strong community support.

Room for Improvement: Amazon Aurora could benefit from more competitive pricing and enhanced tuning features, with users desiring better query insights and update processes. SQL Server requires improved licensing clarity and better integration with non-Microsoft environments, while users also seek enhanced scalability features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon Aurora excels in cloud environments and efficiently handles large-scale deployments. Its customer support is noted for its responsiveness. SQL Server supports both on-premises and cloud environments, although deployment can be complex, with mixed experiences reported in customer service.

Pricing and ROI: SQL Server offers a cost-effective solution for extensive features in local deployments but can be costly for enterprise options. It is beneficial for small businesses with basic needs. Aurora's scalability and pay-as-you-go model favor dynamic workloads, creating operational savings and enhancing ROI in scalable environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Aurora vs. SQL Server Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Aurora vs. SQL Server

April 2026

Download the complete report

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.6

Switching to Amazon Aurora saves costs nearly 30% over RDS while improving performance, reliability, and manpower efficiency by 50%.

Sentiment score

7.0

SQL Server offers cost-effective, feature-rich solutions with quick ROI, enhancing efficiency and practicality for various business applications.

Using Amazon Aurora has saved us significantly in terms of manpower costs, with nearly fifty percent savings compared to an on-premises solution.

Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

SQL Server is the most cost-effective with good human resource availability to manage it.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

All applications need our repository to provide services for our online business or our customers, so the return is good.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

With Standard edition, they have saved a ton of money and they are really happy about that.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.3

Amazon Aurora offers varying support quality; enterprise users get prompt help, while free trial users experience limited assistance.

Sentiment score

6.5

Microsoft's resources are valued, but reaching experts can be difficult, prompting users to seek community forums or paid support.

Technical support from Amazon is rated very highly.

Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

The initial support could improve by having engineers familiarize themselves with the issue content to provide more specialized assistance from the start.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

I give their technical support a rating of ten out of ten.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

There was a time when Microsoft support provided very crisp answers, but over time, they have diluted their support to third parties, leading to a drop in support quality.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

When we created support tickets, the experience was very positive.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.8

Amazon Aurora excels in scalability, seamlessly auto-scaling for dynamic environments, though AWS's pricing model has limitations.

Sentiment score

7.0

SQL Server offers scalable solutions for SMEs with efficient cloud options, suitable for high volumes but challenging for large databases.

This scalability is critical as it allows for runtime expansion, which is essential for businesses moving from on-premises to the cloud.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

The server where we installed it has grown from 64 gigabytes in RAM to 256 gigabytes, demonstrating significant scalability capabilities.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

Most of the time, they simply add another node in the availability group.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

I can scale both horizontally and vertically without challenges.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

Amazon Aurora is stable with occasional minor issues, offering high availability and reliability for MySQL and PostgreSQL engines.

Sentiment score

7.6

SQL Server offers robust performance and reliability, with minor stability issues occasionally due to design or configuration choices.

It offers a stable environment, ensuring consistent performance.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

There was an issue with memory-optimized tables, but it was resolved in 2025, allowing you to remove that file group, which was not possible before.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

All applications supporting SQL Server in my experience work very well across various industries including telecom, finance, banking, ad, entertainment, and workforce management.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

SQL Server is absolutely stable.

Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Room For Improvement

Amazon Aurora users seek better pricing, expanded support, smoother migrations, and improvements in performance, scalability, and developer resources.

SQL Server needs improved scalability, better integration, enhanced performance, cost reduction, and user-friendly interfaces for diverse platforms.

There are technical challenges, such as the inability to provision the database using a PostgreSQL snapshot directly.

Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL releases would enhance Aurora's functionality.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

I used the backup options in Amazon Aurora for cloning databases. It's very common.

Rubens Oliveira

Data & Solution Archtect at Enkel

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

It is fine to do a first release that works, but you cannot simply abandon it in the following years without service packs and improvements.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

I would appreciate using Microsoft Pro as it can integrate with Excel or, with a simple query, consume information from the database using Microsoft Excel.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

When we consider the price for replication in another site, the pricing becomes prohibitive.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Setup Cost

Amazon Aurora provides flexible, cost-effective pricing with notable performance benefits, though some consider it expensive compared to self-managed solutions.

SQL Server is costly, especially the Enterprise Edition, prompting some businesses to explore alternatives due to high licensing costs.

The pricing is reasonable and not overly expensive.

Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

The pricing for Amazon Aurora is different from DocumentDB because DocumentDB is cheaper.

Rubens Oliveira

Data & Solution Archtect at Enkel

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

Cost savings on human resources for Windows plus SQL Server versus other solutions.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I think the pricing is high, but I am not sure how much our organization is paying, as I am not part of the management team.

Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Valuable Features

Amazon Aurora offers automated maintenance, high scalability, and compatibility, ideal for diverse databases and efficient FinOps management.

SQL Server excels in usability, performance, and scalability, with tools and features boosting efficiency, reliability, and Microsoft compatibility.

Amazon Aurora offers a 99.9% SLA compared to PostgreSQL. This ensures a high level of availability for our applications.

Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR.

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report

Always On HADR functionality is one of the features that I use on a daily basis and one of my most used features, saving me lots of time, especially since previously I had to build a SQL cluster and Windows clusters that had many dependencies on shared infrastructure, but now with Always On, it is too stable with easy management and almost zero maintenance, which SQL Server handles itself.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I have been working with SQL Server for a long time, and it works well for me as I am using it in different applications, such as web applications, Windows applications, or the data warehouse reporting.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The best features of SQL Server are availability and stability.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

7th

Ranking in Database Management Systems (DBMS)

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SQL Server

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

1st

Ranking in Database Management Systems (DBMS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

274

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 3.3%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 11.2%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SQL Server	11.2%
Amazon Aurora	3.3%
Other	85.5%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

High availability and geographical redundancy ensure reliable performance and cost efficiency

Amazon Aurora provides up to fifteen to sixteen read replicas. It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR. As a managed service, maintenance tasks like backup and restore are handled by AWS, saving my organization significant time and money. Additionally, its fast cloning feature allows us to create a new clone from a large database swiftly, similar to a zero-copy cloning feature in Snowflake. This makes Amazon Aurora a compelling choice for my organization.

Read full review

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

Ledger and seamless integrations have strengthened trusted analytics and unified workloads

SQL Server's high availability and disaster recovery features work for supporting mission-critical applications, but there is much more to wish for. These features are not quite ready yet, although they do function. However, they could be significantly better. High availability and disaster recovery features should be improved in the next releases. I have noticed that everything could be improved or enhanced in the future, particularly temporal tables and window functions. Sometimes, I believe Microsoft releases features to stay ahead of competitors, but they do not make them feature-rich or feature-complete. They release something to be ahead of leaders and then seem to forget to maintain and upgrade them. I want Microsoft to pay more attention and be more mindful about the things they implement. It is fine to do a first release that works, but you cannot simply abandon it in the following years without service packs and improvements. You must continue to build on features rather than forgetting about them.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

University

10%

Computer Software Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

40%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	13

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	119
Midsize Enterprise	60
Large Enterprise	118

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?

The pricing for Amazon Aurora is different from DocumentDB because DocumentDB is cheaper. However, when you manage the administration more closely, you can control costs better with Amazon Aurora. ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?

I would like to see some tutorials from Amazon for Aurora because I'm too new to it. I believe Amazon can make more tutorials for the product since there's a lot of reading required, and a short tu...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon Aurora?

The migration process to Amazon Aurora is the best part; it's one of its key strengths, as we hardly had any hiccups during migration, which was very smooth and pretty straightforward given our dat...

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

YugabyteDB vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle Database vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Database Cloud Service vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 9% of the time

CockroachDB vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 8% of the time

MariaDB vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 6% of the time

More Amazon Aurora Competitors

IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server

Compared 19% of the time

Oracle Database vs SQL Server

Compared 10% of the time

SAP HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 7% of the time

MariaDB vs SQL Server

Compared 5% of the time

SAP IQ vs SQL Server

Compared 2% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Aurora

April 2026

Download Amazon Aurora product report

Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

April 2026

Download SQL Server product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL

Overview

Amazon Aurora offers a relational database service with high availability and compatibility with MySQL and PostgreSQL. It is designed for efficient scalability and seamless integration within AWS, making it optimal for applications requiring robust performance and reliability.

Amazon Aurora distinguishes itself through its managed maintenance, ensuring high operational efficiency. It provides users with the ability to auto-scale their database resources, allowing businesses to maintain cost efficiency without sacrificing performance. The service includes robust disaster recovery options and supports up to sixteen read replicas, which are critical for mission-critical applications. Users benefit from smooth, cross-region replication and integration capabilities with other AWS services, enhancing data reliability and accessibility.

What are the most important features of Amazon Aurora?

Multiple-read and single-write capabilities: Offers versatile data handling for improved performance.
Seamless SQL standardization: Ensures compatibility with existing systems.
Auto-scaling: Adjusts resources dynamically based on workload demands.
High performance: Provides efficient data processing and fast response times.
Integration with AWS services: Enhances functionality through a secure ecosystem.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Cost management: Efficient scaling reduces unnecessary expenditure.
Reliability: Fault tolerance and replication ensure data availability.
Operational efficiency: Managed maintenance lowers administrative overhead.
Scalability: Supports seamless service adaptation to changing business needs.

Amazon Aurora is extensively used across various industries such as finance, e-commerce, and healthcare, supporting internal applications with its relational database prowess. Many organizations leverage its serverless capabilities and cost-effective scalability for developing business intelligence and payment processing solutions. The seamless migration assistance from Oracle databases further underscores its appeal for enterprises looking to optimize database performance and reduce operational costs.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

SQL Server is a comprehensive database management system known for ease of use, robust performance, and seamless Microsoft integration, making it a preferred choice for data management and analysis needs.

SQL Server offers high availability with Always On availability groups and dynamic memory configuration. It integrates effortlessly with Microsoft products via tools like SSMS and Visual Studio. Supporting advanced features such as replication, clustering, and in-memory OLTP, it provides a versatile platform for managing and analyzing significant data volumes securely and efficiently. While it shines in integration with .NET applications and business intelligence, there are opportunities to improve its scalability and integration with open-source platforms. Its licensing costs can be a barrier, and enhancements to management tools for non-technical users, along with better setup processes, would increase its appeal.

What are SQL Server's most important features?

User-Friendly GUI: Simplifies interaction with a visually intuitive interface.
High Availability: Always On availability groups ensure data redundancy.
Dynamic Memory Configuration: Efficient resource allocation for optimal performance.
Strong Transaction Management: Reliable processing of concurrent transactions.
Advanced Features: Includes replication, clustering, and in-memory OLTP.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Efficiency: Streamlined processes for faster data management and analysis.
Compatibility: Smooth integration with Microsoft products enhances productivity.
Security: Robust features protect against data breaches.
Adaptability: Supports various enterprise needs, from small to large scale.

SQL Server is implemented across industries for database management, data warehousing, and business intelligence. Companies in finance, ERP, and cloud deployments leverage its capabilities for transactional processing, .NET program integration, and reporting. Enterprises particularly benefit from its scalability and cost-efficiency when integrated with Azure for small and medium-sized operations.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel

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

Amazon Aurora vs. SQL Server

April 2026

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