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Imply Enterprise vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

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

Imply Enterprise
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Imply Enterprise is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 14.7%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

DB
Provides cost efficiency and flexible control over clusters
The managed offering has two models: Polaris and Hybrid. We explored both during the PoC phase. The Hybrid model gives you the flexibility to keep your data safe on your own site but still have a managed service to control your infrastructure. The Polaris model, on the other hand, does not give you an insight into what kind of AWS box you are using. Based on your capacity planning, you can just choose the correct size of the box. It also gives you a dashboard. I would like Imply to include more flexible billing models with added options for superior infrastructure control, flexibility in scaling, and cost-effectiveness, such as choosing the number of CPUs required. We should have more flexibility and control over the infrastructure in terms of upscaling and downscaling. Currently, there are only certain tightly bound options. With more flexible options, more customers will adopt the solution.
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

"One of the best parts of the solution is the Hybrid model that allows flexibility to keep control over the clusters."
"We have not faced any downtime."
"The automated scalability feature of SQL Azure has proven to be highly beneficial, particularly when deployed in the cloud."
"Since SQL Azure is a stable solution, you do not need to spend time to maintain it."
"SQL is easy to use and easily integrates with many systems. There aren't many code changes needed when you're using SQL databases. Integrating Azure SQL with other Microsoft applications is instant because they're all Microsoft solutions."
"The most valuable aspect of SQL Azure is the SQL language itself. It's open and everybody can use it at my company. Also, we thought in the beginning that the response time would be inadequate, but it's actually decent. It's much better than expected. Then again, I'm not a programmer, but that's what I hear from our development team."
"The solution is quire more stable than other tools."
"It is good for scalability and high availability. It is also secure because of Microsoft's cloud investment. It is easy to use because it is on the cloud. Creation or making it available through web services is super easy. Azure SQL can be quickly published as web services for APIs to connect with other applications. Because it is in Microsoft Cloud, you can easily integrate with Microsoft stack."
"Great auto-scaling and security features."
"It's user-friendly. Compared to other solutions, it's based more on clicks, not on scripts. It's easy to manage."
 

Cons

"I would like Imply to include more flexible billing models with added options for superior infrastructure control, flexibility in scaling, and cost-effectiveness, such as choosing the number of CPUs required. We should have more flexibility and control over the infrastructure in terms of upscaling and downscaling. Currently, there are only certain tightly bound options."
"I would like Imply to include more flexible billing models with added options for superior infrastructure control, flexibility in scaling, and cost-effectiveness, such as choosing the number of CPUs required."
"The solution requires familiarity with its language so can be tricky."
"There are compatibility issues that prevent Azure SQL Database from being a direct replacement for SQL Server running on a virtual machine. For instance, handling application-initiated DBCC commands is a challenge."
"Azure SQL had a bit of a learning curve to start, but it was fairly simple once I understood how to develop it. I was using PowerShell to connect to it, and I've never connected to online databases through Azure using PowerShell. Scripting the PowerShell connections could be simpler. The coding is familiar, but figuring out how to use it initially can be easier."
"The pricing is very high."
"We've noticed an unexpected increase in the cost of running the server over the past few months."
"I would like to the solutions scalability to be improved."
"Microsoft could improve its documentation and support."
"Service Broker should be added in Azure Cloud. Service Broker is currently available only in the on-premises version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Imply pricing is in the middle range. Understanding the data model can help reduce overall system costs."
"It requires a license. As compared to its competitors, such as Oracle, it is affordable and reasonable."
"Compared to other providers, the pricing is definitely on the affordable side."
"I have an annual spend number, and it is in the hundred thousand dollar range. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees. Even though you have to look at the cost numbers of what you're going to be charged on a monthly basis, what you have to also remember is that your application may need a lot of rewriting and things like that. You get charged not just for the monthly costs but also for the transactions that occur. If your access to the data layer is not so efficient, your costs will go up because you're pulling far more data than you potentially need. These are hidden costs that nobody ever considers. If your application is not written very efficiently, you may actually increase your costs over on-prem versus cloud."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is more cost-effective than Google BigQuery. Compared to Google BigQuery, downloading data can be more expensive."
"It is quite expensive. I would definitely recommend not using the pay-as-you-go model because this will just mean all your money will go to Microsoft. So, really make sure to control resource usage as much as possible."
"I recommend considering a pay-as-you-go pricing model initially."
"It is expensive. Snowflake and PostgreSQL are cheaper than this. Google is also cheaper than Azure. Its licensing is on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is based on usage and storage."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Imply?
Imply pricing is in the middle range. Understanding the data model can help reduce overall system costs. If you understand the data model clearly and go in-depth while doing your capacity planning,...
What needs improvement with Imply?
The managed offering has two models: Polaris and Hybrid. We explored both during the PoC phase. The Hybrid model gives you the flexibility to keep your data safe on your own site but still have a m...
What is your primary use case for Imply?
We are serving the Ads business for one of the biggest startups in India. Our use case involves capturing events or impressions generated on our app and performing aggregations of the users. If som...
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 of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could improve accessibility and user numbers, making it easier for users to adopt the s...
What needs improvement with SQL Azure?
I have used the Microsoft Azure SQL Database for two years now, and I don't find it satisfactory. It's slow and expensive. The Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not the latest version of Microsoft SQ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, MongoDB and others in Database as a Service (DBaaS). Updated: August 2025.
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