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MariaDB vs SQL Server 2014 Express 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
MariaDB offers cost savings, secure AI data handling, SQL integration, and community-driven features, benefiting up to 90% of users.
Sentiment score
7.2
SQL Server 2014 Express boosted ROI with cost savings and efficiency by enhancing performance, reducing costs, and improving data handling.
Since it handles vector storage and similarity searches natively alongside your relational data, I can seamlessly combine precise SQL filters with vector queries, which guarantees that the data retrieved for my AI application is always up-to-date and consistent.
Student at Raisoni Group
After migrating to SQL Server 2014 Express, the use of Power BI reports has drastically improved performance; for instance, a report that took 20 minutes to refresh in Excel now takes only a few seconds with the direct connection to SQL Server 2014 Express.
Manager - Projects at Cognizant
Since SQL Server 2014 Express is free, it helped save software licensing costs while still providing reliable database functionality.
Operations Analyst at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
I have definitely seen a return on investment with SQL Server 2014 Express, particularly in terms of time savings.
Specialist software engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
MariaDB offers enterprise support but most users rely on clear documentation and community assistance to resolve issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
SQL Server 2014 Express users leverage community resources and forums with praised support when direct assistance is needed.
They came and tuned our queries with one-to-one assistance.
Architect at LTIMindtree
Compared to MongoDB, there are some platform deficiencies, but the support team shouldn't bear that burden.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Enterprise-level support is available only with the paid edition.
Senior Rpa Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Microsoft responds effectively when I face issues.
Senior Consultant at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Since SQL Server 2014 Express is widely used, there are many helpful community resources available online, including Microsoft documentation, forums, and developer communities.
Operations Analyst at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
MariaDB is scalable, excelling in small to medium setups but needing extra tools and configuration for larger environments.
Sentiment score
6.5
SQL Server 2014 Express excels in cost-effective lightweight applications but faces scalability limitations with larger data environments.
A specific challenge I have faced is troubleshooting performance degradation during heavy write transaction tables.
Student at Raisoni Group
SQL Server 2014 Express is fast, but it is not perfectly scalable because it provides only 10 GB per database size.
Database developer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
It operates quickly when managing less than 50 GB of data.
Senior Consultant at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The Express edition has limits on the database size, memory, and CPU usage.
Operations Analyst at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
MariaDB is stable and reliable, though specific configurations like clustering may pose occasional stability issues.
Sentiment score
8.6
SQL Server 2014 Express is stable and reliable for small to medium workloads, excelling in read/write operations with minimal downtime.
We haven't found issues with the stability of MariaDB.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
In my experience, it runs reliably with minimal downtime when properly configured.
Senior Rpa Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It is completely free and has a rich feature set.
Database developer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
SQL Server 2014 Express was quite stable and reliable for day-to-day operations.
Operations Analyst at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

MariaDB enhances integration and UI but needs improved stability, replication, views, BI tool integration, and complex query performance.
SQL Server 2014 Express needs scalability, modern features, improved interface, and updated tools for better performance and user experience.
MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Oracle is very advanced compared to MariaDB, and those advanced features are not available in MariaDB.
Architect at LTIMindtree
The key area where MariaDB could be improved is its native GUI tooling; while the command-line interface works perfectly fine, the built-in visual tools for administration, management, and query design feel outdated compared to some competitors.
Student at Raisoni Group
My suggestion is that we could have a way where multiple windows can be open at a time so that we can switch between and access them and help us create the stored procedures in a much better way while comparing.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
For enterprise-level and modern high-performance applications, newer SQL Server versions are more suitable.
Quality Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It is not suitable for enterprise scale due to the restrictions on high volume or mission-critical enterprise workloads.
Senior Rpa Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

MariaDB is a cost-effective, open-source database solution offering a free Community Edition and affordable enterprise alternatives to Oracle.
SQL Server 2014 Express offers a free solution for small projects but may involve costs for setup, storage, and support.
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
My experience with pricing and licensing was positive because SQL Server 2014 Express is free to use, which made it very cost-effective for small projects and internal applications.
Operations Analyst at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
From a pricing perspective, SQL Server 2014 Express has minimal or zero software costs when used for small businesses.
Senior Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for SQL Server 2014 Express was that licensing was set up by one of my IT team members, but it was very smooth.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

MariaDB is reliable and scalable, offering open-source benefits, SQL compliance, excellent performance, and broad community support for various needs.
SQL Server 2014 Express is free, lightweight, and enhances performance, ideal for budget-conscious organizations needing efficient database management.
Encryption is available in MariaDB, so we are secure for transmitting data without concern about moving over networks.
Architect at LTIMindtree
Being able to store unstructured JSON directly into a column while still using standard SQL functions such as JSON_EXTRACT to query specific keys has saved me from having to constantly alter our database schemas.
Student at Raisoni Group
Configuration, setup, and schema design are good features in MariaDB.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
The best features of SQL Server 2014 Express are that it can be downloaded, it is open source, can be downloaded on any desktop, and it is a free version with no charge for downloads, making it highly useful for students and developers building applications for standalone or enterprise applications.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The best features SQL Server 2014 Express offers are that it is free and perfect for students.
Database developer at a university with 501-1,000 employees
We can store all our data inside a particular database and group it, ensuring that each project has its own SQL database without overlapping with others.
Senior Consultant at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (8th)
SQL Server 2014 Express
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 3.5%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server 2014 Express is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MariaDB3.5%
SQL Server 2014 Express0.4%
Other96.1%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AB
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Has supported web application data needs but requires design adjustments to manage complex queries efficiently
Complex queries in MariaDB where the query needs to parse thousands of lines or data values face some performance issues. For small and medium-size volume, it is pretty good. If it goes beyond certain data and complex queries, we see performance issues. We tried the advanced replication feature between different regions, replicating data specifically residing on MariaDB to two different regions of MariaDB data, and there were some technical snags in terms of slowness and longer processing time. Point-in-time recovery in MariaDB is good for small databases. When data volume increases beyond 5 GB or 10 GB per day or runs into double-digit GBs, we found some performance issues. For data below 10 GB, it works fine. Performance is the primary focus area for MariaDB, particularly during transactions or complex query jobs where slow performance is observed. MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
Shubham-Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - Projects at Cognizant
Migration to structured data has improved security and performance and enables faster insights
SQL Server 2014 Express could be improved by addressing its data limitations, especially for users with larger datasets that may not be suitable for production environments. Compared to the Enterprise or Standard versions, SQL Server 2014 Express does not provide the same functionalities or performance, so organizations with rapidly growing data should seek those options instead. Regarding needed improvements, I can say that integration with various ETL tools is essential, as we often need to use SSIS or other ETL tools to pull and transform data. It would be greatly beneficial if SQL Server 2014 Express could include functionality to integrate directly with APIs or other databases rather than relying on external ETL tools.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
Construction Company
31%
Healthcare Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data. The cost depends on the volume of data and different features enabled during configuration, such as backup ...
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
Sometimes, complex queries that were supported in Oracle are not available in MariaDB. Advanced indexing is not available. Oracle is very advanced compared to MariaDB, and those advanced features a...
What is your primary use case for MariaDB?
My client has been using MariaDB for the last four years. We are using MariaDB in the cloud.
What needs improvement with SQL Server 2014 Express?
Regarding improvements for SQL Server 2014 Express, I believe it is quite helpful, but I suggest enhancing security since it involves customer data and we do not want to lose data or have it misuse...
What is your primary use case for SQL Server 2014 Express?
As a campaign analyst, my role involves getting targeted list members to send offers to them via mail, so I obtain data of people from the database where I use SQL Server 2014 Express. A specific e...
What advice do you have for others considering SQL Server 2014 Express?
My advice for others looking into using SQL Server 2014 Express is that it has excellent performance, it is free, offers better reliability, and scalability, so I recommend using it to save time fo...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about MariaDB vs. SQL Server 2014 Express and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.