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Microsoft Azure HorizonDB vs SQL Server 2014 Express comparison

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Executive Summary

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 HorizonDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
30th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (20th)
SQL Server 2014 Express
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Alex Park - PeerSpot reviewer
AVP - Business Analysis - FX Options at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Data platform has transformed analytics and now provides seamless storage and insight on user behavior
Microsoft Azure HorizonDB scales perfectly. It automatically scales whenever there is a load on the application. I have configured the deployment files on my projects, and the database is able to handle automatic scaling by itself, so I do not have to put much attention on that aspect. It scales down automatically as well. I monitored the scaling and scaling out one or two times during the initial stage when I was first including this database in my project. After the first and second times, I checked only the logs for automatic scaling and scaling out. I have not encountered any issue on the scaling side, and it provides consistent performance for both scaling and scaling out.
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.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Using Microsoft Azure HorizonDB provides better scalability and performance in terms of database administration."
"Microsoft Azure HorizonDB has positively impacted my organization by reducing latency issues, improving performance, and providing a good recovery time."
"I appreciate the features that Microsoft Azure HorizonDB provides, particularly the seamless transformation of the database, data collection, and database access along with the analytics features."
"Since we are in the proof of concept phase, we have noticed some early improvements and potential benefits that stand out so far in terms of speed, reliability, and ease of management."
"SQL Server 2014 Express helped me gain a real-world application and practical database skills."
"Using SQL Server 2014 Express is very simple, and the queries run very fast."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has positively impacted my organization because it is good for small clients, allowing us to save on licensing costs, and clients could later migrate to Standard or Enterprise solutions if needed as they scale."
"SQL Server 2014 Express had a positive impact because it provided a cost-effective and reliable database solution for our work."
"The transition from Excel to SQL Server 2014 Express has greatly improved our team's efficiency and data accuracy."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has impacted my organization positively because it is time-saving."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has positively impacted my organization by improving my knowledge in SQL coding and making my work faster."
"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."
 

Cons

"I want to say that the costing of Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is too high and should be less."
"So far, I have not seen any return on investment from Microsoft Azure HorizonDB in terms of cost."
"Regarding needed improvements, I feel that we need more documentation on Microsoft Azure HorizonDB."
"One area I can identify for improvement is query performance during peak traffic situations."
"SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved by increasing the maximum 10 gigabytes for a database, as it would be better if this limit were increased."
"The biggest operational limitations of SQL Server 2014 Express are the 10 GB database limit, memory restrictions, and the absence of SQL Server Agent."
"There are a few features in SQL Server 2014 Express that could be improved."
"SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved as there are some resource limits. There are limitations on database size, memory, and CPU usage which restrict scalability."
"SQL Server 2014 Express's scalability has limitations for growth in data and users."
"SQL Server 2014 Express could be improved by offering multiple authentication methods."
"However, I also realized its limitation when I tried working on a large database. It is not perfect because it provides 10 GB per database."
"Whenever we put more data, the query time is more because it is not an Enterprise version and the data storage is limited to 10 GB, which is the only drawback I can identify."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
26%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is that the pricing is good.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
Improvements for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB mean that we still have not gotten actual usage of real issues. We just started the proof of concept phase, so we might discover what the exact real issue...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
My main use case for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is that we were experiencing performance issues in Azure PostgreSQL flexible server, so we wanted to eliminate those issues and started using Microsof...
What needs improvement with SQL Server 2014 Express?
SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved in terms of scalability, as it has CPU and memory restrictions and a 10 GB limit for the free version, which can lead to performance issues as the organizati...
What is your primary use case for SQL Server 2014 Express?
The main use case for SQL Server 2014 Express is to create the database architecture for my work and during SQL Server 2014 Express interactions, which adds to my code level. I use Entity Framework...
What advice do you have for others considering SQL Server 2014 Express?
My advice to others considering SQL Server 2014 Express is that for small businesses, it is suitable for inventory tracking, simple reporting, product development, and test environments because it ...
 

Comparisons

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Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure HorizonDB vs. SQL Server 2014 Express and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.