Amazon DynamoDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Managed NoSQL Databases category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 20.4% mindshare in MND, compared to Microsoft’s 17.6% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon DynamoDB

Read 41 Amazon DynamoDB reviews

2,062 Views
1,772 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Read 78 Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews

3,384 Views
1,298 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Amazon DynamoDB

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Amazon DynamoDB and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB are prominent contenders in the NoSQL database space. Cosmos DB holds a slight advantage with its multi-model and global distribution capabilities.

Features: Amazon DynamoDB offers scalability, speed, and the ability to handle unstructured or semi-structured data. It integrates seamlessly with AWS services like EC2 and Lambda, allowing schema flexibility without upfront design, making it suitable for on-demand use cases. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is known for its multi-model support and global distribution, optimizing latency and integrating smoothly with Azure services. It provides robust document storage and data querying across various APIs, offering versatility in handling diverse data types.

Room for Improvement: Amazon DynamoDB could benefit from improved documentation and user interface. The absence of server-side encryption and complex query handling are notable concerns. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB faces challenges with API compatibility and cross-container querying, and its pricing structure is often considered high and complex. While both databases can enhance their offerings, Cosmos DB receives more criticism due to its extensive feature set and management complexities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon DynamoDB is widely used in both public and private clouds, with technical support generally rated positively, though specific problem resolution can be slow. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is mainly deployed in public cloud environments, offering robust technical support with rapid response times but needs improvement in resolving prolonged bugs. Both provide good customer service, although DynamoDB occasionally lacks understanding of specific use cases.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon DynamoDB offers a lower starting cost with a pay-as-you-go model, but expenses can rise with increased volume and usage. Its pricing simplicity makes it economical for smaller datasets. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, also pay-as-you-go, presents a more complicated and often perceived expensive pricing model, especially due to RU/capacity units. While comprehensive features can justify its costs for enterprise-level applications, its pricing is seen as less transparent. Both solutions deliver strong ROI, especially when well-integrated, though Microsoft's offering can be financially demanding if not properly managed.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

December 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 830,596 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

Amazon DynamoDB

Ranking in Managed NoSQL Databases

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Ranking in Managed NoSQL Databases

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), NoSQL Databases (3rd), Vector Databases (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Managed NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Amazon DynamoDB is 20.4%, down from 27.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 17.6%, down from 19.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

Rajni Kumar Jha

Senior Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Manages our contact center dynamically and allows us to store multiple data attributes in tables

There are a few areas of improvement. In future releases, I would like a feature that lets us store information about public holidays or weekends. When customers call during those closed periods, we could use DynamoDB to trigger an automatic message. It could say something like, "We're currently closed due to a holiday. Please call back during our regular working hours." So this would eliminate the need for agents to manually inform customers. With a holiday calendar stored in a DynamoDB table, we could write a Lambda function to check the date. If it's a UK holiday, for example, the system could automatically play the message.

Read full review

Bhaskar Bhatt

Genai, Data Digital Products Strategy & Transactions Transformation Leader at Ernst & Young

The interface is user-friendly and seamlessly connects with other cloud offerings, making integration with other services easy

Our team has found the vCore index to be one of the most valuable features. We have tokenized and vectorized our entire database and stored this data in MongoDB collections with a vCore index, which works like magic for keyword selection. Additionally, the interface is user-friendly and seamlessly connects with other Azure offerings, making integration with other services easy. The learning curve was short. Our experts understand data well, but they had to build knowledge of the AI stack. It took a little bit of learning. However, it was easy to understand. In a couple of weeks, they could do everything. The vector database is the core feature we use. Our data was not accurate, and we wanted to create a ChatGPT-type functionality where the user could ask a question in plain English like, "Show me the top 10 vegan companies in the US." But the vegan is not tagged as "vegan." It could be "plant-based," so you add that keyword. Then, it's not the end of it. Things are tagged as soya milk," "oat milk," etc. There was no other way to solve our problem with hallucination and deal with a huge volume of structured and unstructured data. The only option is to vectorize. And we looked at several vector databases, but none came close. The vector database integrates seamlessly. When we use the cosine similarity search and retrieve the keywords. These keywords then eventually feed into our SQL query formation. After that, we use OpenAI to summarize everything. It seamlessly integrates with everything.

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

"DynamoDB is a key-value database, and it's valuable if you have simple scan queries and don't need to do point searches."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the non-relational database."

"It is a NoSQL product."

"We switched to DynamoDB from a relational database that would've had scale problems and would've cost a lot of money to run at scale. DynamoDB allows us to match expense to usage. When not many people are using and it's a quiet day, there is a low cost. On a busy day, there is a higher cost. We get good performance along the way and less maintenance on the database."

"The technical support team is always available to help us."

"Amazon DynamoDB is powerful and fast. Its performance is good."

"I appreciate the visibility of DynamoDB, as I can observe everything on the Console."

"Speed is the most valuable feature. The speed to store and retrieve data from it."

More Amazon DynamoDB pros

"The solution is easy to use, and it is also easy to integrate with several things for database use cases."

"Cosmos DB has helped us by providing faster response times for everything, which significantly improved our search results quality."

"Switching to the cloud significantly improved scalability, flexibility, and uptime."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is scalable with multiple master files."

"It is a NoSQL database."

"Cosmos DB is stable and easy to use."

"It works reasonably fast. You can retain the original format of the document as received by the third-party system."

"We have both our SaaS app and the analytical side running without throttling issues."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pros

Cons

"There are some issues like if we missed something or somehow were not able to store the data, then it was quite difficult for us to get back that data."

"As more data comes in, it becomes more expensive."

"The response time for data queries should be less than a second"

"Amazon DynamoDB has a very complex configuration if you go very advanced."

"The solution's initial setup is a bit complex if you want it for something more specific."

"The process of making a query could be optimized."

"Having an import option, whether through browsing or local file uploads, would significantly improve the efficiency of data migration, enabling users to swiftly transfer large volumes of data into DynamoDB."

"I'd like to see better integration with Cognito. It has the integration, but I'd like to see a little more ease of setup. If you have multiple customers and you want the database to enforce who can see what, you can treat DynamoDB so that each row has permissions. You can set this up, but it's a little more of a science project to make Cognito and DynamoDB work well to do protection of individual rows. So I'd like that to be more wizard or easy to set up."

More Amazon DynamoDB cons

"The pricing of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings."

"The tool's pricing is expensive."

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's pricing model is complicated, which people don't understand."

"The current data analytics of Cosmos DB is inefficient for large-scale queries due to its transactional design."

"A further simple application is required for Brazil."

"Currently, it doesn't support cross-container joins, forcing developers to retrieve data from each container separately and combine it using methods like LINQ queries."

"We expect Cosmos DB to lead on that. There is potential for improved security features, which is important for data storage, especially for Dell Technologies."

"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."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its subscription cost is lower than similar databases offered by other vendors."

"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."

"Amazon DynamoDB is a cheap solution."

"The solution is cheaper than Cosmos DB."

"The product is expensive"

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a four out of five."

"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"

"Compared to a high-end relational database, it's cheap."

More Amazon DynamoDB pricing and cost advice

"The price of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB could be a bit lower."

"Its pricing is higher compared to solutions like Aerospike. However, it is justified because of the out-of-the-box features that are provided. The availability and resiliency that we have make it worth the price."

"The pricing and licensing model was initially difficult to understand, but as soon as I learned what was going on and how it was priced, it was pretty easy."

"Cosmos should be cheaper. We actually intend to stop using it in the near future because the price is too high."

"With heavy use, like a large-scale IoT implementation, you could easily hit a quarter of a million dollars a month in Azure charges if Cosmos DB is a big part of it."

"The customer had a high budget, but it turned out to be a little bit cheaper than what they expected. I am not sure how much they have spent so far, but they are satisfied with the pricing."

"Azure Cosmos DB's pricing is competitive, though there is a need for more personalized pricing models to accommodate small applications without incurring high charges. A suggestion is to implement dynamically adjustable pricing that accounts for various user needs."

"The cost is the biggest limitation of this solution."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed NoSQL Databases solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

830,596 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon DynamoDB?

We don't have to administer the tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon DynamoDB?

There is nothing that I can think of for improvements.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon DynamoDB?

My company has a fleet management system, and we primarily use DynamoDB to store location data.

See all answers

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 availability zones around the world.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Azure Cosmos DB's pricing is competitive, though there is a need for more personalized pricing models to accommodate small applications without incurring high charges. A suggestion is to implement ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

For streaming platforms, Azure Cosmos DB could improve efficiency in data storage. Indexing can also be better. Enhanced capabilities are necessary to manage increased data amounts more effectively...

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon Keyspaces vs Amazon DynamoDB

Compared 33% of the time

Amazon Neptune vs Amazon DynamoDB

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon DocumentDB vs Amazon DynamoDB

Compared 14% of the time

Google Cloud Bigtable vs Amazon DynamoDB

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon Timestream vs Amazon DynamoDB

Compared 8% of the time

More Amazon DynamoDB Competitors

Amazon Neptune vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 14% of the time

Chroma vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 13% of the time

Pinecone vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 8% of the time

Neo4j AuraDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon DocumentDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 6% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon DynamoDB

January 2025

Download Amazon DynamoDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

December 2024

Download Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft

Overview

Amazon DynamoDB is a scalable NoSQL database valued for its speed and cost efficiency, adept in handling unstructured data and delivering fast data retrieval without predefined schemas.

Amazon DynamoDB is recognized for seamless integration with AWS services and its ability to accommodate large datasets. It provides powerful performance with automatic scaling, JSON document storage, and requires no external configurations. Users appreciate the predictable performance and ease of use, although the documentation lacks clarity, and local access necessitates third-party tools. Complex queries can be challenging due to limited API options. Desired improvements include better integration with other services and an enhanced interface. The cost structure and data storage limitations present challenges with improvements needed in backup, restore, caching, and query performance.

What are the standout features of Amazon DynamoDB?

Scalability: Automatically adjusts capacity to accommodate workloads.
Integration: Seamless with various AWS services for comprehensive solutions.
NoSQL Flexibility: Adapts to diverse unstructured data needs.
JSON Storage: Stores and manages data in JSON format efficiently.
Automatic Scaling: Ensures efficient resource usage and cost management.

Which benefits should users consider in reviews?

Performance: Provides fast and efficient data retrieval.
Cost Efficiency: Manages data storage costs effectively.
Ease of Use: Offers a straightforward setup and management experience.
Flexibility: Adaptable to different data requirements and workloads.

Amazon DynamoDB is implemented in industries for IoT data management, weather data storage, localization automation, and large stream indexing. It's utilized for user data management in web services and e-commerce, providing high-performance, scalable storage solutions. Companies benefit from serverless architecture, JSON storage, and integration with Lambda for optimized data handling.

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service providing scalability, user-friendliness, and seamless integration, suitable for managing large volumes of structured and unstructured data across diverse applications.

Azure Cosmos DB is renowned for its scalability, stability, and ease of integration, offering robust support for multiple data models and APIs. Its capacity for handling unstructured data efficiently and providing real-time analytics makes it ideal for applications requiring high performance and global distribution. With features like automatic failover and integration with Microsoft products, users benefit from cost optimization and secure data handling. Enhancement opportunities include simplifying queries, improving documentation, and expanding backup and analytics functionalities.

What are the most important features of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Scalability and Autoscaling: Efficiently handles growing data and user demands.
Multi-Model Support: Adapts to different data models seamlessly.
Global Distribution: Provides low-latency access across multiple regions.
Automatic Failover: Ensures high availability and reliability.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Offers seamless connectivity with Azure services.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews?

Performance and Speed: Exceptionally fast processing for real-time data analytics.
Cost Optimization: Tools for managing expenses effectively.
Secure Data Handling: Implements strong data security measures.
Flexible Data Ingestion: Supports diverse data ingestion methods.

Azure Cosmos DB is frequently used in sectors like web, mobile, IoT, and analytics. It supports applications as a key-value store, processes real-time data, and enables global scalability with low-latency access. Its big data management capabilities and integration with Azure services enhance its utility across industries.

Sample Customers

Samsung, Snapchat, Capital One, Expedia, Tinder, Airbnb, Comcast, Lyft, Redfin, Netflix, Adobe

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify

Buyer's Guide

Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

December 2024

Free Report: Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

830,596 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Amazon DynamoDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB report.

See our list of best Managed NoSQL Databases vendors.

We monitor all Managed NoSQL Databases reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.