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Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Oracle Database as a Service comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (5th), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (1st)
Oracle Database as a Service
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 2.0%. The mindshare of Oracle Database as a Service is 9.0%, up from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

MichaelJohn - PeerSpot reviewer
Very efficient for application-facing scenarios
There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.
Duy AnhMai - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers security and good performance
Price-wise, the tool is expensive, and I feel it is an area where improvements are needed. Oracle Database as a Service is not as popular as other tools because we use AWS and GCP. Oracle is okay in terms of performance for banking businesses and some big companies. As I use the tool in Heineken, I know Oracle is an okay security solution. We use and deploy some applications and features from Oracle that are better than what others offer. The data in the tool is actually stored in the production part, so it is always kept a secret. I don't think that AI has been integrated into the tool. The AI used by Oracle is not as strong as that used by AWS. I recommend the tool to others, especially banking, finance, and insurance companies where the security needs to be better. There is maintenance for the tool required, but I don't know which company does it for our organization. I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

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 features for our organization with Azure Cosmos DB are multi-master capability for applications, automatic failover ensuring high availability, scalability, support for multiple data models, and low-latency access."
"We have both our SaaS app and the analytical side running without throttling issues."
"The graphical representation of data is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"Our team has found the vCore index to be one of the most valuable features. We have tokenized and vectorized our entire database and stored this data in MongoDB collections with a vCore index, which works like magic for keyword selection."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate."
"Cosmos DB is a pretty stable solution. I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a good solution for distributed application requirements. We can perform multi-modeling."
"I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability."
"I like the solution’s performance and real application concepts."
"It is very easy to use."
"In terms of structured databases, I support SQL-based databases. SQL has its place, but not for plannable structure and transactional databases. At the same time, Oracle is very much optimized."
"We have found all of the features of this solution to be valuable to our organization."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the general database system resilience and security."
"What I found most valuable about Oracle Database as a Service is its fast transactions and materialized views."
"The functionality is good."
"The most valuable Oracle Database as a Service is security."
 

Cons

"Overall, it works very well and fits the purpose regardless of the target application. However, by default, there is a threshold to accommodate bulk or large requests."
"One area of improvement for Cosmos database is the auto-scaling of RUs during high loads. It would be beneficial if the database could automatically scale resources rather than requiring manual adjustments."
"It's still new, and good training resources are harder to find. Even the most recent books on Cosmos DB are several years old, which is ancient in IT terms."
"Our use case was a failure with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, and we do not have any other opportunity to use Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."
"A couple features that would help me in architectural solutions would be customizable architecture or customizable documentation, which both Microsoft Azure or Microsoft Teams can provide."
"Currently, it doesn't support cross-container joins, forcing developers to retrieve data from each container separately and combine it using methods like LINQ queries."
"The cost can sometimes be high, especially during cross-partition queries with large data amounts."
"What is missing in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is definitely cold storage. We know it's coming, but that's currently what is missing—the possibility to park older data in a cold tier."
"Oracle DBaaS could be compatible with more platforms."
"Oracle Database as a Service is very convenient to use. However, we need to know to which schema we want it to connect specifically, and what are the username and password. The solution requires some basic knowledge of SQL RP and SQL Oracle to use it."
"When migrating to a different instance, the internal machine learning is lost."
"The solution’s price could be reduced."
"Oracle Database as a Service is a good product but costly. Scaling it is challenging."
"It would be better if we could have a little bit of automation or a chance for autoscaling with Oracle Database as a Service."
"The tool needs to improve its pricing and stability."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cost-efficient as long as you understand the right setup to optimize usage. Knowing the data needs of the organization and adjusting the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB usage accordingly helps save costs, but if you don't know, you could end up spending more than necessary."
"This cost model is beneficial because it allows for cost control by limiting resource units (RUs), which is ideal. However, for our needs, we can't engage with their minimum pricing, which ranges from 100 to 1,000 RUs. At the bare minimum, we need to use 4,000 RUs for a customer. I would like to find a way to gain some advantages from the lowest tier, particularly the ability to scale down if necessary. It would be helpful to have more flexibility in cost management at the lower end."
"The tool is not expensive."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's licensing costs are monthly."
"Right now, I have opted for the student subscription plan, for which Microsoft charges me around 100 USD. The pricing of the solution depends on the solution's usage."
"Its cost is transparent. Pricing depends on the transaction and data size, but overall, it is cheaper compared to hosting it on your corporate network due to other factors like power consumption."
"The pricing and licensing model was initially difficult to understand, but as soon as I learned what was going on and how it was priced, it was pretty easy."
"If you are a small organization or startup building from scratch without the Microsoft Startup Founder Club support, it could be expensive."
"The price of Oracle Database as a Service is expensive compared to other similar solutions."
"The solution's price is reasonable but depends upon the negotiation."
"I do not know firsthand about the price of Oracle Database as a Service, but it is known that Oracle solutions tend to be priced higher than competitors."
"The price of the solution depends on the scale of how you will use it."
"For on-premises, a perpetual license is a standard $17,500 plus 22% for one year of support."
"It is notably expensive when compared to the features offered by other alternatives."
"The tool's licensing is on an yearly basis."
"The pricing may seem expensive, but the value corresponds to the quality of the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Legal Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
We are not consuming so much yet since we are at the beginning of using this solution. I would rate the pricing of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
We are at the beginning of production, and everything is working very well. The price can always be lower, but currently, it's not a problem.
What do you like most about Oracle Database as a Service?
It has significantly enhanced our application development process by introducing substantial time savings and streamlining routine tasks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database as a Service?
Prices are high. Technical support from Oracle tends to be high in quality.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database as a Service?
It would be beneficial if Oracle could offer features similar to those provided by open-source platforms like Postgres, such as a multi-core-based platform and a shared node database. While Oracle ...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB
Oracle DBaaS, Oracle Database Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify
Solution-Soft, DX Marketing, Suredell and Partners, Frontiers, SettleOurEstate.com, Demand Analysis Ltd, endlich IT & Projekt Service OHG
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Oracle Database as a Service and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.