Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer comparison

Microsoft and Oracle are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Oracle is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft holds a 13.0% mindshare in DS, compared to Oracle’s 4.3% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Read 119 Microsoft Azure SQL Database reviews

3,076 Views
3,045 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Read 7 Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer reviews

959 Views
959 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer are leading cloud database solutions. Users report higher satisfaction with Microsoft Azure SQL Database in terms of pricing and customer support, while Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer excels in features and is considered worth its premium price.

Features: Microsoft Azure SQL Database users highlight its scalability, integration with other Microsoft services, and ease of use as valuable features. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is praised for its performance, advanced analytics, and strong security features.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Microsoft Azure SQL Database could improve its offline capabilities and database performance during high loads. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer users feel there's room for better integration with non-Oracle applications and more simplified management tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Azure SQL Database is noted for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer has a more complex deployment process but offers extensive support and documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Azure SQL Database is favored for its cost-effectiveness and quick ROI due to flexible pricing models and lower initial setup costs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer has higher upfront costs but delivers a significant ROI over time due to its superior performance and comprehensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

September 2025

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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 SQL Database

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

10th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

4.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 13.0%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is 4.3%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure SQL Database	13.0%
Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer	4.3%
Other	82.7%

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Charley Hanania

Data Platform Specialist at QS2 AG - Quality Software Solutions

It is very easy to implement, manage, and offers great insights into what is happening inside the engine

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is integrated into other Azure capabilities and has a great foundation being on SQL Server with a long history of security, performance, and usability from a DBA perspective. Once you've set up a server, adding databases is easy. There's a minor challenge with having data in separate databases that you want to connect like we do on premises. I'm looking forward to using some of these new AI-driven functions that have come out around vectorization. Having the data closer to my transactional databases or data makes it easy to augment and enhance the Database and applications I currently use. It's great that Azure SQL now seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Fabric. It's a first-tier service in the cloud that connects to web applications and other databases. The data transformation orchestration capabilities within Database Factory and similar capabilities make it effortless to move that stuff forward.

Read full review

RODRIGOPETERSON

Senior Architect at Capgemini

Leverages cloud capabilities and offers minimal latency with operation model

Customers have less operational burden and more responsibility regarding the management of hardware. Increasing the scale of Oracle Exadata Cloud provides more capacity, higher performance, and expanded storage, CPU, and memory resources. If you need to scale Oracle's capacity up or down, the appliance can be adjusted on-premise. When you purchase Oracle Exadata Cloud, you must acquire either a half or full rack. If you need to increase capacity, you can scale up by adding more hardware. This hardware commitment lasts four to five years, meaning you must maintain this infrastructure and continue payments for that period. While you can scale up to meet increased demands, scaling down is more challenging. I recommend the solution when the customer desires to transition to a cloud-native solution but needs to retain their data in OpenEdge due to compatibility issues or the requirement to interact with on-premise systems to minimize latency. This solution offers minimal latency and modernizes Oracle capabilities through a gateway. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is quire more stable than other tools."

"Microsoft's expertise in SQL Server is a significant advantage."

"I rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database nine out of 10."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database has significantly reduced our total cost of ownership by eliminating the need for a dedicated environment to host SQL."

"The most valuable feature is PolyBase."

"We have come from hosting on-premise for customers, or they've done it themselves with SQL. We've now taken a cloud offering for the equivalent services of standard database management and the inbuilt backup and restore offerings. The scalability is probably the biggest feature that we are benefiting from by being in the cloud."

"The stability is excellent because it is easier for us to connect to the cloud rather than connecting to MSSP."

"It is easy to scale in Azure in a way that I cannot scale on-prem."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"Performance has significantly improved."

"I am particularly fond of the intelligent capabilities that enhance the backend, utilizing technology to analyze SQL queries."

"I like that Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is a stable, well-positioned product in the market today, and it's very scalable."

"Exporting and importing is easy because of its cleanliness, making the process easier. However, setting up the Data Guard was more difficult. Despite this, the client experienced lower downtime."

"The most valuable feature is that it is based on Exadata infrastructure, which is Oracle 's leading engineered system that is trusted, fault-tolerant, and has unique performance features."

"The operation model is the most valuable feature."

Cons

"Integration needs to be improved for this solution."

"One area for improvement is data virtualization. Companies use different data sources, creating a separate data virtualization layer, and there are more data sources behind that layer. For example, we have different data layers for Excel, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc. Creating a data virtualization layer would help because you retain the metadata of your source data."

"The product could be more competitive in terms of features, security, and scalability."

"If we need to deploy data management or services with SQL Azure we need InterSecure."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap."

"If there are areas for improvement, one aspect could be the user interface. It could be made more user-friendly and similar to Google BigQuery's interface."

"The document storage is primarily relational, which is not ideally suited for SQL. If there were better integration with SharePoint for document handling in SQL, it would greatly benefit the organization. Moreover, the current on-premise limitations prevent direct file pulling, limiting certain capabilities."

"The solution can be improved by reducing the constraints available."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is stable, but the only problem occurs during OS patching. If you encounter issues, the VMC (virtual machine cluster) becomes unusable."

"The solution is expensive."

"A room for improvement in Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is that they need to train more partners to gain more knowledge because currently, they are keeping a lot to themselves. For example, they are still keeping a lot of information on their campus, so information sharing is limited."

"Scalability is not straightforward."

"We had some problems in the developer's environment. We had some problems with the initial installation environment."

"As a customer, you can't see the boot messages of your virtualized guest machines."

"For the data migration, we used ZDM. It was not integrated with the databases, and the documentation lacks clarity."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you go with SQL Azure Database, you can create a small database, which is around $4 to $5 per month for development purposes."

"From a licensing benefit standpoint, we have clients who are coming with their own SQL licensing with Software Assurance, and they are able to use those licenses for their Azure SQL and reduce costs."

"I am not aware of the exact pricing, but our monthly bill for Azure is around 80,000. It is less expensive than using SQL Server. It has the pay-as-you-go model, and the charges are based on the usage."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"When looking at the long-term expenses associated with running software on an on-premises server, the costs are almost equivalent but when we include insurance for devices, onsite fees for servers, and other related costs, we may find that this is a cost-effective solution."

"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The solution is moderately expensive."

"It is expensive. Snowflake and PostgreSQL are cheaper than this. Google is also cheaper than Azure. Its licensing is on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is based on usage and storage."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The machine and the cloud model itself already have licensing advantages."

"The price is too much."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

32%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	51

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SQL Azure?

The automated scalability feature of SQL Azure has proven to be highly beneficial, particularly when deployed in the cloud.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?

The pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could improve accessibility and user numbers, making it easier for users to adopt the s...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

I have used the Microsoft Azure SQL Database for two years now, and I don't find it satisfactory. It's slow and expensive. The Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not the latest version of Microsoft SQ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer?

Exporting and importing is easy because of its cleanliness, making the process easier. However, setting up the Data Guard was more difficult. Despite this, the client experienced lower downtime.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer?

The pricing is reasonable due to a universal agreement, which often positions Oracle solutions better against others. I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer?

In future updates for Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer, I would like to see another feature for the different costs for the non-CDB models, because if you are not using the non-CDB models, you have...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 23% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 19% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 16% of the time

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 7% of the time

vCloud Air vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Amazon RDS vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 29% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 17% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 8% of the time

Google Cloud Spanner vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 8% of the time

More Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

October 2025

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

October 2025

Download Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer product report

Overview

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is a relational database-as-a-service that delivers predictable performance, scalability, business continuity, data protection, and near-zero administration to cloud developers and solution architects. This is the deep technical library for Azure SQL Database.

Microsoft

Oracle Cloud@Customer brings Oracle’s complete portfolio of public cloud infrastructure, fully managed cloud services, and Oracle Fusion SaaS applications into your data center. It enables you to run applications faster and lower your costs using the same high-performance capabilities, autonomous operations, and low-cost subscription pricing in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). You get all this while maintaining complete control of your data so you can address data residency, security, and connectivity concerns.

Oracle

Sample Customers

adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH

IBVI, illycaffe, Scottish Water, trueblue, AirAsia, droptank

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

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