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Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Milvus comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
Ranking in Vector Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (4th), NoSQL Databases (1st), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st)
Milvus
Ranking in Vector Databases
14th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Vector Databases category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 5.3%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Milvus is 7.2%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vector Databases Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB5.3%
Milvus7.2%
Other87.5%
Vector Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Aman-Narang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Infosys
Real-time messaging has transformed customer updates and now powers responsive AI experiences
The primary benefits of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB include horizontal scalability. The main advantage is that it handles data growth without requiring database redesign when traffic increases. Low latency access is another key benefit, as read and write operations are very fast, which is extremely helpful for real-time applications. Flexibility is also valuable because Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB uses JSON schema format, which contrasts with traditional table schemas that require time-consuming changes. In modernization scenarios where client requirements change rapidly, Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers more flexible schema design. High availability is another important feature, as it is well-suited for business-critical systems. My overall experience using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB with other Azure services shows that it is more flexible compared to SQL Database and more readable because of its JSON format, making it easy to understand. It is more interactive because viewing the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB schema clearly shows what is happening in the application and what will be achieved. In contrast, SQL requires writing many queries to obtain details, making Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB more suitable and flexible. My team's experience developing with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB SDKs and APIs has been very comfortable and easy to implement. We are currently migrating .NET applications to Python-based AI solutions using Copilot, where we performed reverse engineering and are moving to forward engineering. We use APIs to connect with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and manage database containers and items, performing CRUD operations such as create, delete, and read operations, and querying JSON. We are using REST APIs with Python-based solutions, with a service layer and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB integration.
Sameer Bhangale - PeerSpot reviewer
Leader, Data Science Practice at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Provides quick and easy containerization, but documentation is not very user-friendly
Milvus' documentation is not very user-friendly and doesn't help me get started quickly. Chroma DB provides super user-friendly documentation, enabling new users to get started quickly. Chroma DB's setup doesn't have many dependencies, whereas Milvus usually comes with some dependencies because of the way it needs to be deployed. Unlike Milvus, it's very easy to do POCs with Chroma DB.

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 aspect of Cosmos DB is its performance."
"The benefits of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB were immediate for us."
"Their new feature, dynamic data masking, is very cool and useful for us."
"Reading and inserting data into Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a very smooth process."
"We achieved a strong return on investment."
"I definitely recommend Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."
"The searching capability is exceptional. It is very simple and incomparable to competitors."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is scalable with multiple master files."
"The best feature of Milvus was finding the closest chunk from a huge amount of data."
"The solution is well containerized, and since containerization is quick and easy for me, I can scale it up quickly."
"Milvus has good accuracy and performance."
"I like the accuracy and usability."
"Milvus offers multiple methods for calculating similarities or distances between vectors, such as L2 norm and cosine similarity. These methods help in comparing different vectors based on specific use cases. For instance, in our use case, we find that the L2 distance works best, but you can experiment with different methods to find the most suitable one for your needs."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's performance could be better. In large volumes of documents, the querying process becomes slow and complicated."
"Cosmos DB should continue evolving in AI features. We expect Cosmos DB to lead on that. There is potential for improved security features, which is important for data storage, especially for Dell Technologies. We must ensure data security remains the top priority."
"Currently, I have no suggestions for enhancement or new implementations in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB. However, the cost can sometimes be high, especially during cross-partition queries with large data amounts."
"There are no specific areas I believe need improvement as I am happy with what I am getting currently. However, I am open to new features in future versions, like possibly integrating AI features natively into Cosmos DB. Any improvement would be beneficial."
"The biggest problem is the learning curve and other database services like RDS."
"There aren't any specific areas that need improvement, but if there were a way to achieve the right cosine similarity score without extensive testing, that would be very beneficial."
"There were instances where the DB was not responding, and we lost some part of our business due to that."
"I think Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB can be improved by providing continuous backup for multi-region rights. I believe it's available for non-multi-region rights, but there are many features that are locked behind continuous backup that I can't use because it's not enabled yet."
"Milvus' documentation is not very user-friendly and doesn't help me get started quickly."
"I've heard that when we store too much data in Milvus, it becomes slow and does not work properly."
"Milvus could make it simpler. Simplifying the requirements and making it more accessible. It could be more user-friendly."
"Milvus has higher resource consumption, which introduces complexity in implementation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is mid- to high-end."
"The Cosmos DB pricing model, initially quite complicated, became clear after consulting with Azure Advisor, allowing us to proceed with confidence."
"Cosmos should be cheaper. We actually intend to stop using it in the near future because the price is too high."
"The RU's use case determines our license fees."
"The cost is the biggest limitation of this solution."
"It is expensive. The moment you have high availability options and they are mixed with the type of multitenant architecture you use, the pricing is on the higher end."
"Cosmos DB is a managed offering, so its cost is understandably higher."
"It's expensive. I would rate it a seven out of ten for pricing."
"Milvus is an open-source solution."
"Milvus is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Legal Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise60
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
I have knowledge about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing aspect of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB could improve cost and performance management to be more straightforward, particularly for teams managing workloads with variable traffic. More detailed and proactive reco...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
My main use case for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is to support application workloads that require a highly scalable, low latency NoSQL database. I primarily use it to store and manage semi-structured...
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Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify
1. Alibaba Group 2. Tencent 3. Baidu 4. JD.com 5. Meituan 6. Xiaomi 7. Didi Chuxing 8. ByteDance 9. Huawei 10. ZTE 11. Lenovo 12. Haier 13. China Mobile 14. China Telecom 15. China Unicom 16. Ping An Insurance 17. China Life Insurance 18. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 19. Bank of China 20. Agricultural Bank of China 21. China Construction Bank 22. PetroChina 23. Sinopec 24. China National Offshore Oil Corporation 25. China Southern Airlines 26. Air China 27. China Eastern Airlines 28. China Railway Group 29. China Railway Construction Corporation 30. China Communications Construction Company 31. China Merchants Group 32. China Evergrande Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Milvus and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.