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Google Cloud SQL vs Google Cloud Spanner vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database 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 June 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 4.5%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud SQL is 15.4%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 15.7%, down from 18.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Ethan Lo - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and scalable relational database that ensures a return on investment for its users
The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically. You can change Google Cloud Spanner's resource configuration, which is done through processing units. Suppose you set up Google Cloud Spanner initially with a hundred processing units, and then you run out of resources since your database used too much CPU. In the aforementioned scenario, you can scale up or down and face no downtime in the production phase. The solution's features are important when running a company twenty-four hours, seven days a week.
Prathap Sankar - PeerSpot reviewer
Gain control and flexibility with customizable tools but has slower performance
I am majorly working in Google Cloud SQL for building my applications Google Cloud SQL provides complete customization options, along with a dashboarding tool and a comprehensive suite of tools that can be used to customize and build any application needed. The deployment model allows for…
Charley Hanania - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically."
"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"Google Cloud SQL is highly scalable."
"It directly provides robust data safety. It also offers various other storage options, such as Google Cloud Storage. These services ensure data security and redundancy. Furthermore, it includes different storage classes, allowing flexible data management tailored to specific needs."
"The valuable feature of Google Cloud SQL is its high availability option. The product is stable."
"This is a stable solution and offers good performance."
"Its most valuable feature is that it's scalable. I can start off with a base of a lot of data and move as much as I want and it's the same as if asked to do a lot of infrastructure changes."
"It's SQL. SQL is so easy if you know something about databases. It's easy to learn."
"Google Cloud SQL is easy to start with and allows me to scale as needed, which is advantageous from a developer perspective."
"The most valuable features are that it's easy to use, simple, and user-friendly."
"The data availability and speed are impressive, especially compared to legacy systems. The loading speeds are much faster on Azure SQL."
"It is easy to scale in Azure in a way that I cannot scale on-prem."
"The stability is excellent because it is easier for us to connect to the cloud rather than connecting to MSSP."
"We like the ease of integrating it with our on-premises environment. We use a hybrid model. We have a SQL Server on-premises, and we have an integration with the cloud version. We do CPU or disk intensive processes on-premises. For accessibility, we offload onto the cloud. When you do a lot of IO and things like that in the cloud, Microsoft charges for the CPU activity."
"The scalability and simple management of the infrastructure are the most valuable features."
"The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment takes about one hour."
"I rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database 10 out of 10."
"Emergency mode is quite useful."
 

Cons

"The tool lacks to offer AI features."
"The cost can be a bit high."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"Google came up with something called Cloud Spanner Emulator, which fails to work like the real product if I want to develop some code and run a database locally on my machine."
"The customer support should be improved."
"The only thing that could be better is the pricing."
"The monitoring part could be better."
"To create a seamless data integration, the title integration of these databases with the data integration platforms is essential. This is what we would like to have in a future release."
"Google's technical support is good, but they tend to never reopen a case and to send us snippets from the publicly available documentation. It's not as helpful as you would expect, not just for Google Cloud SQL but for all of Google Cloud products."
"It is hard to do logging with the solution."
"I would like to see better integration with all the different tools on the platform."
"The purging of the data could be better."
"The product's pricing needs improvement."
"I think that the cost management in SQL is not clear because we may use some tax to identify products, but in some cases identifying the transactions in SQL is not easy for some financial cost centers."
"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap."
"Their support is nice but their responses aren't effective."
"Azure SQL can improve by adding more machine learning features like other databases, such as Cassandra or Cosmos DB."
"A potential area for improvement could be integrating with third-party clouds."
"It is a little bit expensive for us. They can improve the price. It would also be very helpful if they can offer some free trial."
"If we need to deploy data management or services with SQL Azure we need InterSecure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."
"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive."
"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"You need to pay extra costs for backup and replication."
"The pricing is very much an important factor as to why we use this solution."
"The solution is affordable."
"It's really cheap. It wouldn't be more than, I believe it's around 50 euro per month for running a cloud SQL."
"It is not expensive, especially considering the significant reduction in database management time."
"While the platform’s pricing may be higher, it aligns with industry standards, considering the quality of service and features provided."
"From a financial perspective, Google Cloud SQL is on the cheaper side."
"There is a license required to use the solution and it cost $30 to do the installation."
"I would like it to be cheaper, but comparatively, it is reasonably priced."
"The license is based on the number of users."
"I'm not sure what the exact price is, but it's a moderate amount. It's not too expensive."
"The price in general of Azure SQL could improve."
"I am not aware of the exact pricing, but our monthly bill for Azure is around 80,000. It is less expensive than using SQL Server. It has the pay-as-you-go model, and the charges are based on the usage."
"If we use a smaller or free-sized Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it is extremely cost-effective and much cheaper than on-premise enterprise licenses, which are expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Educational Organization
58%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Spanner?
Google Cloud Spanner has all the features of a traditional relational database, including schemas, SQL queries, ACID ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Spanner?
Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side. I am not sure if this is a rumor or if it's fake...
What do you like most about Google Cloud SQL?
The implementation part of the product was easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud SQL?
The cost is expensive, especially for services like BigQuery, which charge based on query operations. We pay as we us...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud SQL?
Google Cloud SQL needs to improve its support for high-end I/O operations. On-prem systems with high I/O capabilities...
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?
The pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could i...
What needs improvement with SQL Azure?
Pricing could be improved to make Microsoft Azure SQL Database ( /products/microsoft-azure-sql-database-reviews ) mor...
 

Also Known As

Google Spanner
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel
BeDataDriven, CodeFutures, Daffodil, GenieConnect, KiSSFLOW, LiveHive, SulAm_rica, Zync
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MongoDB and others in Database as a Service (DBaaS). Updated: June 2025.
858,435 professionals have used our research since 2012.