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MariaDB vs SQL Server 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
MariaDB offers high ROI with cost savings, robust features, and community support enhancing functionality and flexibility.
Sentiment score
7.3
SQL Server offers high ROI through cost-effectiveness, automation, and ease of deployment, with returns often within a year.
All applications need our repository to provide services for our online business or our customers, so the return is good.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
MariaDB customer service is praised for support but some rely on community resources or find response times slow.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft support offers valuable online resources, but experiences vary with concerns about wait times and language issues.
Compared to MongoDB, there are some platform deficiencies, but the support team shouldn't bear that burden.
When we created support tickets, the experience was very positive.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
MariaDB is generally scalable, though challenges in larger environments require manual configuration and specific setups for optimal performance.
Sentiment score
7.0
SQL Server is generally scalable and effective, but large datasets and costs pose challenges requiring maintenance and infrastructure adjustments.
The server where we installed it has grown from 64 gigabytes in RAM to 256 gigabytes, demonstrating significant scalability capabilities.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
MariaDB is stable with minimal maintenance needed but clustering can be challenging; separation from other systems is advisable.
Sentiment score
7.6
SQL Server is highly stable and reliable, with most issues resolved by updates, receiving high satisfaction ratings.
We haven't found issues with the stability of MariaDB.
 

Room For Improvement

MariaDB needs enhancements in integration, scalability, performance, security, and features like clustering and materialized views for enterprise use.
SQL Server needs better pricing, integration, security, performance, and support, with improvements in Management Studio, encryption, and cloud services.
MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
When we consider the price for replication in another site, the pricing becomes prohibitive.
I would appreciate using Microsoft Pro as it can integrate with Excel or, with a simple query, consume information from the database using Microsoft Excel.
 

Setup Cost

MariaDB's open-source nature minimizes costs, offering free and paid versions, making it budget-friendly compared to Oracle.
SQL Server pricing is costly but cheaper than Oracle, with various licensing options and a free Developer Edition available.
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data.
 

Valuable Features

MariaDB is favored for its open-source, speed, scalability, advanced features, compatibility, tech integration, and strong community support.
SQL Server offers dynamic resource allocation, high availability, performance, security, integration, ease of use, scalability, and extensive support.
Configuration, setup, and schema design are good features in MariaDB.
The best features of SQL Server are availability and stability.
I have been working with SQL Server for a long time, and it works well for me as I am using it in different applications, such as web applications, Windows applications, or the data warehouse reporting.
 

Categories and Ranking

MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (5th)
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
270
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 5.7%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 15.5%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SQL Server15.5%
MariaDB5.7%
Other78.8%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

KumarManish - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products
We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Gus Mtz - PeerSpot reviewer
Availability and financial reporting thrive with robust integration tools
The best features of SQL Server are availability and stability. We never have concerns about the database. The ability of SQL Server to integrate with other Microsoft services, such as Azure for supporting business intelligence or data analytics, is primarily through Power BI for analytics tools. We use Power BI, but not in the cloud. We have interfaces with other databases. We extensively use the ETL tools of SQL Server for integrating with other databases or text files. The ETL tools are excellent for making jobs that run daily or hourly. For disaster recovery features supporting mission-critical applications in our organization, we have implemented the high availability feature of SQL Server. The always-on feature provides high availability in SQL Server. We use this tool daily for our risk management application.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business121
Midsize Enterprise58
Large Enterprise112
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.
Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?
SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...
Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?
SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...
Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?
My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
Find out what your peers are saying about MariaDB vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,513 professionals have used our research since 2012.