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Amazon DynamoDB vs Google Cloud Bigtable vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Managed NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Amazon DynamoDB is 17.3%, down from 25.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Bigtable is 5.2%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 15.4%, down from 18.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed NoSQL Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Prabin Silwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers exceptional performance to users
Previously, when in my company, we used to store 64 KB of data, we used to get problems and errors, and due to such reason, at such a point in time, we had to find a different storage system or modify the system so that the size of the value is not more than 64 KB. The main aforementioned issue in the tool can be considered for improvement for Amazon DynamoDB. In our company, we have some data which can be stored as we want. Previously, only 64 KB could be used, and later, I think, it was about 400 KB. If the tool could have an additional 10 MB to offer, then the tool could be easier to use. The tool is a key value storage, where the key will be long. In terms of value, we couldn't store more than 64 kb previously in the tool, but later on, it was increased to 400 KB, which is a limitation that I don't like in the tool.
Aakash Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Great for streaming data and being a managed service is an advantage
Our primary use case is for analytics, analyzing the data sets and curing Bigtable is very user-friendly where streaming data is required. I think it's relatively easier to use than Ascentra. The fact that it's a managed service is an advantage.   The cost of this product is too expensive.…
MichaelJohn - PeerSpot reviewer
Very efficient for application-facing scenarios
There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Capable of auto-scaling and integrates easily with other tools"
"AWS technical support is very friendly."
"It has helped us build our product from zero point to the end."
"Amazon DynamoDB allows you to configure your read-write capacity and create a single global table that can be accessed with any other region."
"DynamoDB is easy to configure, easy to use, and allows for writing data in JSON format."
"Speed is the most valuable feature. The speed to store and retrieve data from it."
"Amazon DynamoDB is a NoSQL database that stores unstructured data and provides high performance."
"The most valuable features are the flexibility and the compatibility options without needing to use any additional services or software. It is an independent solution that doesn't need other solutions to operate."
"Bigtable is faster than other competitors in the market. It helps us collate all the data, and the security features are great. The latency is low, and the computation speed is fantastic. Bigtable is also a managed service, so you don't have to worry about anything aside from analyzing the data ingested."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"It's very user-friendly where streaming data is required."
"The most valuable feature is the backup and replication service."
"Stability-wise, it is a simple solution. I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten."
"The solution is very convenient."
"Cosmos is a PaaS, so you don't need to worry about infrastructure and hosting. It has various APIs that allow it to integrate with other solutions. For example, we are using a MongoDB-compatible API for customers, which makes it easier for developers on the team who previously used MongoDB or are accustomed to the old document storage paradigm."
"It is non-SQL and helps to manage and manipulate data from the coding, rather than direct data and complex queries."
"Cosmos DB has helped our organization handle large amounts of data."
"Azure Cosmos DB offers efficient indexing and low search latency, making searching fast and efficient and ensuring peace of mind in database operations."
"The most valuable features include the global write capability, which allows customers to read and write across different regions simultaneously, enhancing performance and availability."
"We achieved a strong return on investment."
"I would rate Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Cosmos DB is its scalability. That is the biggest reason I use Azure Cosmos DB."
 

Cons

"The solution's backup and restore could be improved to be able to utilize batch operations."
"Currently, there is no option for a scheduled refresh in this solution. We want the data to be populated into DynamoDB on a timely basis. Currently, you have to go to the DynamoDB table and hit the refresh button to populate it with the new data. If you have connected DynamoDB to a BI application for creating visualizations with charts, graphs, or other things, you would want it to get updated as per the schedule so that you have updated visualizations in your BI application."
"The pricing model should be improved"
"The process of making a query could be optimized."
"If you have no prior experience with this type of non-relational database, the syntaxes, implementation, or understanding may be difficult."
"Amazon DynamoDB could improve by being more robust, having a better user interface and data management. Additionally, there is some limited functionality compared to other solutions, such as MongoDB."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"The solution has size limitations. It also needs to be more user-friendly."
"When it comes to complex queries, a user can't get any help from a drop-down box and pick columns. It would be great if some improvements could be made in the aforementioned area concerning the solution."
"The lagging problem of the product I face is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"This product needs better security and transparency, and the price should be reduced."
"The cost of this product is too expensive."
"Improvement should be made as per customer recommended and requirements."
"I've used Bigtable for about three or four years."
"I had a challenging experience implementing the emulator with a Mac. I had to install the emulator in a Docker container because it is not natively compatible. A significant amount of time was spent researching how to enable HTTPS communication when connecting the container and the emulator."
"Cosmos DB is expensive, and the RU-based pricing model is confusing."
"The main area of improvement is the cost, as the expense is high. Also, when writing processes into Cosmos, sometimes the threshold is met, which can be a problem if developers have not written the code properly, limiting calls to five thousand."
"In Microsoft manufacturing, managers really need to know about the product."
"It's still new, and good training resources are harder to find. Even the most recent books on Cosmos DB are several years old, which is ancient in IT terms."
"I would like the speed of transferring data to be improved."
"The customer service is lacking. We have a premier support agreement, but support is hit and miss."
"There should be a simpler way for data migration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon DynamoDB is not an expensive solution."
"Amazon DynamoDB is cheap."
"The solution is cheaper than Cosmos DB."
"I can say that it is not the cheapest one because if we had our own kind of storage solution, our own hosting, and instead of using the cloud, we opted for some other method, it would have been a tool of a lower cost."
"The solution's pricing is good, and it's not expensive."
"It is costly. To reduce the costs, users need to read the node in front of it. For read-heavy groups, cache optimization can help manage costs.I can't disclose specific pricing, but it's competitive compared to others in the market, and this information is easily accessible online"
"You can get committed capacity or transaction-based pricing. If you're doing it on demand, they charge based on whether you're reading or writing. They charge $1.25 for every million rights to the database and 25 cents for every million reads from the database. The first 25 gigabytes of storage are free, and they charge 25 cents a gigabyte a month. So, it's a very different world. It's a quarter a gigabyte a month. You can store a lot of data. They have a separate fee for automated backup, and if you want it globally distributed, where it's distributed around the world, there's a slightly different price."
"It's an expensive solution"
Information not available
"Everything could always be cheaper. I like that Cosmos DB allows us to auto-scale instead of pre-provisioning a certain capacity. It automatically scales to the demand, so we only pay for what we consume."
"Cosmos DB gave us three accounts for $400. We pay according to the usage."
"Cosmos DB is expensive, and the RU-based pricing model is confusing. Although they have a serverless layer, there are deficiencies in what I can define and assign to a database. Estimating infrastructure needs is not straightforward, making it challenging to manage costs."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is moderately priced, where it is neither expensive nor cheap."
"From a startup point of view, it appears to be expensive. If I were to create my startup, it would not have the pricing appeal compared to the competition, such as Supabase. All those other databases are well-advertised by communities. I know there is a free tier with Azure Cosmos DB. It is just not well advertised."
"Cosmos DB is a highly cost-optimized solution when used correctly."
"You need to understand exactly the details of how the pricing works technically to stay within reasonable pricing."
"Cosmos DB's pricing structure has significantly improved in recent months, both in terms of its pricing model and how charges are calculated."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
University
14%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Legal Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon DynamoDB?
The user interface could be improved to make it more intuitive. From a design and solution perspective, it's really g...
What is your primary use case for Amazon DynamoDB?
We use Amazon DynamoDB for data lookups with the consultancy.
What do you like most about Google Cloud Bigtable?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Bigtable?
The lagging problem of the product I face is an area of concern where improvements are required. In general, the perf...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Bigtable?
When a client gives our organization a project where they need a dashboard for their company, they provide us with so...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like av...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Its cost is transparent. Pricing depends on the transaction and data size, but overall, it is cheaper compared to hos...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
I had a challenging experience implementing the emulator with a Mac. I had to install the emulator in a Docker contai...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Samsung, Snapchat, Capital One, Expedia, Tinder, Airbnb, Comcast, Lyft, Redfin, Netflix, Adobe
Cognite, Dow Jones, Loblaw Digital
TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Neo4j and others in Managed NoSQL Databases. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.