Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database

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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

7.6

Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers significant cost savings and efficiency improvements, reducing ownership costs by eliminating expensive licenses.

Sentiment score

6.2

Microsoft Azure SQL Database reduces costs and improves scalability, offering 30-50% savings and flexible, cost-effective cloud services.

It offers at least 25 percent cost savings compared to maintaining on-premises databases.

Principle azure architect at Intercept

Now, we use embedded PostgreSQL vectors, which will undoubtedly reduce the TCO by using a much more cost-effective solution.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

We've reduced our total ownership cost because we are not spending on expensive SQL server licenses.

reviewer2596230

Admin (hands on user) at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

It is ensuring we receive what we pay for through the blend of price, performance, and features.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Senior Manager, Information Technology of Data Strategies at a hospitality company with 5,001-10,000 employees

If you're managing your own data center, you always have to overprovision your systems and pay for storage space you're not using.

Maanda Ambani

Senior AI Specialist at Nedbank

We've reduced costs by about 20 percent after two or three years.

reviewer2595777

Azure Cloud Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.4

Users praise Microsoft Learn's documentation, benefit from fast support response, and find engineering engagement insightful for urgent issues.

Sentiment score

7.0

Microsoft Azure SQL Database offers good support, with responsive technical assistance but variable quality and costs based on service tier.

Once we open a support case, we have people engaged within about 20 minutes, especially for a Sev 1 issue.

Nick Rapoport

Financial Advisor at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The documentation and training we've received through Microsoft Learn on how to migrate, deploy, and manage the solution is exceptional.

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

We handle most implementations in-house, without extensive reliance on Microsoft's technical support.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Product manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Microsoft played a significant role, even from a training perspective, and provided resources that directed us toward the right deployment path.

Maanda Ambani

Senior AI Specialist at Nedbank

Once I reach the right people, the support is incredibly knowledgeable and thorough.

Tom Geairn

CTO at 2W Technologies, INC

Microsoft provides excellent service and is always available to support us.

reviewer2595303

Sr. Principal Database at Northrop Grumman

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

Azure Database for PostgreSQL efficiently scales workloads with FlexServer, offering easy resizing for large enterprises and government projects.

Sentiment score

7.2

Microsoft Azure SQL Database offers scalable cloud solutions, efficiently handling large datasets and high user loads, though complex scaling may increase costs.

However, we can see how well it scales after we deploy it for some large enterprise customers or big government organizations.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

The scaling options with FlexServer provide us with the flexibility we need based on application complexity.

Manikyam Thukkapuram

Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We can scale up compute and scale it down, but once storage is allocated, there is no way to scale it back down.

Nick Rapoport

Financial Advisor at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Scaling the solution is incredibly simple and involves just clicking a button or dragging a slider.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Senior Manager, Information Technology of Data Strategies at a hospitality company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Azure's scalability features like Elasticity are essential.

Kiran Chintala

Solutions Architect at ITCON SERVICES, LLC

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is cloud-based, so it's great for scaling workloads.

reviewer2595312

System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.0

Azure Database for PostgreSQL is stable with no latency issues, though it may crash during peak usage without auto-healing.

Sentiment score

7.2

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is preferred for its impressive stability, performance, and reliability, despite some connection latency issues.

There is a stability issue where, if the database usage peaks quickly, it may crash and require intervention to restore functionality.

Principle azure architect at Intercept

We have generative AI applications, and we have not noticed any latency.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Product manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Overall, I have not encountered any real latency issues or stability concerns.

Jan Pinheiro

Technical Lead at SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH

We can't tell the difference between running on-prem or Azure because we no longer have those latency issues.

Maanda Ambani

Senior AI Specialist at Nedbank

SQL never crashes or suddenly becomes unavailable.

Fredrick Weinshenk

Cloud Engineer at Med Tech Solutions

Therefore, it is preferable to provision an instance local to the connection point to optimize performance and minimize latency.

Jason McCullagh

Senior Director at Upland Software

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Room For Improvement

Azure Database for PostgreSQL needs faster scaling, better reliability, extensions, user management, cost efficiency, support, and error detection.

Users seek enhanced cost-effectiveness, performance, security, scalability, open-source support, data management, pricing, regional availability, and intuitive tools.

It does not presently support knowledge graph functionalities as Neo4j does.

Product manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Azure Database for PostgreSQL can be improved by allowing quicker scaling without blips.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Principle azure architect at Intercept

I believe there could be improvements in the mirroring part and Change Data Capture (CDC).

Manikyam Thukkapuram

Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

It would be helpful if CPU performance were not pinned to the amount of storage you're using, and we could scale different properties of the Azure SQL database independently.

reviewer2595777

Azure Cloud Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

I could not get an accurate quote on what my monthly costs would be based on my needs.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Senior Manager, Information Technology of Data Strategies at a hospitality company with 5,001-10,000 employees

To overcome this, we collaborated with the network team to develop alternative solutions.

reviewer2595303

Sr. Principal Database at Northrop Grumman

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers appreciate Azure's cost-efficient, pay-as-you-go pricing for PostgreSQL, reducing on-premises database costs significantly.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing is flexible but often unpredictable, perceived as expensive for large-scale deployments with high usage.

We've reduced costs by 60 percent compared to maintaining on-premises solutions.

Manikyam Thukkapuram

Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The pay-as-you-go pricing model positively affects database-related costs by allowing us to start small and scale as needed.

Principle azure architect at Intercept

The pay-as-you-go model works well for us.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Product manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Azure Hybrid Benefit reduced costs by facilitating an easy transition of on-premises databases to the cloud.

Charley Hanania

Data Platform Specialist at QS2 AG - Quality Software Solutions

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap.

Fabricio Noriega

Software Architect at Dynaxti

It greatly reduces the total cost of ownership through efficient licensing depending on the client, the cost savings, and hybrid benefits.

Fredrick Weinshenk

Cloud Engineer at Med Tech Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Valuable Features

Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers seamless integration, robust networking, efficient AI tools, and strong security with a positive cost-benefit ratio.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database provides scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions with seamless Microsoft integration and user-friendly features.

My takeaway as a CTO is that they're comfortable with the security posture, the features, the observability, alerts, and now it integrates into the rest of the Azure landscape.

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

The query analyzers help me find out what's happening in each of the queries.

Gautam Gupta

IT Director at Infosys

The most valuable features of Azure Database for PostgreSQL are its networking capabilities, which allow for integration with other Azure services.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Database for PostgreSQL report

Principle azure architect at Intercept

The simplicity in usability, along with improved organizational productivity where we no longer need to maintain on-premises SQL servers, is invaluable.

reviewer2596431

Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

The Software as a Service model is more effective and easier to access in terms of security, as Azure provides security at the security layer, reducing the risk of breach.

Fatai Akinwande

Specialist Datacenter and Server at IHS Towers

Some of the best features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database are its scalability, pricing, and ease of setup.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure SQL Database report

Senior Manager, Information Technology of Data Strategies at a hospitality company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Categories and Ranking

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (10th)

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Azure Database for PostgreSQL is 3.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 12.5%, down from 17.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure SQL Database	12.5%
Azure Database for PostgreSQL	3.3%
Other	84.2%

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

An incredibly powerful industry leader that enabled us to build critical pieces of national infrastructure

Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS

Azure Database is simple and easy to use. We followed the prescribed training and upskilled 10 engineers. They think it's straightforward. They've already got PostgreSQL skills to optimize the solution, so they know what to do. It was easy to get started quickly and become effective. My team speaks highly of the platform's observability and monitoring features. It's as efficient as an enterprise needs it to be and. has all of the tooling and telemetry necessary to run an enterprise database. We take security seriously. The team has looked at the security features, and nothing has been flagged to us. My takeaway as a CTO is that they're comfortable with the security posture, the features, the observability, alerts, and now it integrates into the rest of the Azure landscape. The OpenAI integration and extensions have massively simplified integrating AI into a database. PostgreSQL's native vector capabilities are also incredibly powerful.

Read full review

Charley Hanania

Data Platform Specialist at QS2 AG - Quality Software Solutions

It is very easy to implement, manage, and offers great insights into what is happening inside the engine

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is integrated into other Azure capabilities and has a great foundation being on SQL Server with a long history of security, performance, and usability from a DBA perspective. Once you've set up a server, adding databases is easy. There's a minor challenge with having data in separate databases that you want to connect like we do on premises. I'm looking forward to using some of these new AI-driven functions that have come out around vectorization. Having the data closer to my transactional databases or data makes it easy to augment and enhance the Database and applications I currently use. It's great that Azure SQL now seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Fabric. It's a first-tier service in the cloud that connects to web applications and other databases. The data transformation orchestration capabilities within Database Factory and similar capabilities make it effortless to move that stuff forward.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Marketing Services Firm

15%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	51

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

Pricing is affordable for us. PostgreSQL is good and affordable for our needs.

What needs improvement with Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

While the flexibility of the server for financial reasons is understandable, better switching between primary and backup would make transitions smoother. I noticed an issue where the primary refuse...

What is your primary use case for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

We started using Azure Database for PostgreSQL ( /products/azure-database-for-postgresql-reviews ) about five to six years ago. Initially, we were doing an on-premises Kubernetes ( /products/kubern...

What do you like most about SQL Azure?

The automated scalability feature of SQL Azure has proven to be highly beneficial, particularly when deployed in the cloud.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?

The pricing for Microsoft Azure SQL Database is a bit high.

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

Regarding the transitioning option with SQL Server, using Microsoft Azure SQL Database is more costly than if we are using any other service because retrieving data and putting the throughput is a ...

Amazon RDS vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Comparisons

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Oracle Database as a Service vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Compared 16% of the time

MySQL vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Compared 10% of the time

PostgreSQL vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Compared 8% of the time

More Azure Database for PostgreSQL Competitors

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 22% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 19% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 6% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Product Reports

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Download Azure Database for PostgreSQL product report

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Overview

Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers efficient management, robust networking, and seamless Microsoft integration. Known for its strong performance and high satisfaction in enterprise settings, it provides operational efficiency, security, and monitoring.

With features that facilitate Azure integration, easy configuration, and AI integration, Azure Database for PostgreSQL serves as a valuable choice for businesses requiring operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Users benefit from powerful vector capabilities, seamless Microsoft service integration, straightforward management, and user authentication ensuring high satisfaction. Easy optimization, query analysis, and backup operations make it suitable for varied enterprise applications. However, improvements in flexible scaling, cost-effectiveness of monitoring tools, and enhanced integration with Azure OpenAI would enhance its capabilities further.

What Are the Key Features of Azure Database for PostgreSQL?

Robust Networking: Offers seamless Azure integration to optimize cloud resources.
AI Integration: Simplifies incorporating artificial intelligence into databases.
Monitoring Tools: Provides comprehensive tools for efficient database management.
Security: Ensures user data is protected with high-standard security protocols.
Cost-Effectiveness: Delivers efficient operations with budget-friendly solutions.

What Benefits Should Users Consider?

Operational Efficiency: Streamlines database management tasks, reducing workload.
High Satisfaction: Receives positive feedback for its reliable performance in enterprises.
Enterprise Compatibility: Integrates across various Microsoft services for enhanced productivity.
User-Friendly Management: Facilitates straightforward database administration.
Scalability: Supports businesses with potential growth through flexible solutions.

Industries such as healthcare, retail, and finance leverage Azure Database for PostgreSQL for backend solutions, incident reporting, and public information sharing. Managed service providers utilize its strong performance for client needs, while administrators use it for applications like ControlM. Its flexibility supports containerized applications and disaster recovery, ensuring compatibility with diverse environments.

Microsoft

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is a relational database-as-a-service that delivers predictable performance, scalability, business continuity, data protection, and near-zero administration to cloud developers and solution architects. This is the deep technical library for Azure SQL Database.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database