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 #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Oracle is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft holds a 15.7% mindshare in DS, compared to Oracle’s 4.0% 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 117 Microsoft Azure SQL Database reviews

5,093 Views
2,433 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Read 6 Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer reviews

964 Views
492 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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

June 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)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

117

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

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 SQL Database is 15.7%, down from 18.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is 4.0%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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.

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Wilfredo Silva Huaman

Senior Project Manager at Santander Bank, N.A.

Reduction in database creation time, provides good performance but challenges when interacting with the OCI console

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. However, there are a few things to note. It's not just about being alert with Exadata, but also understanding the OCI console. For instance, companies need to create user group policies to protect against unauthorized access. If you are referencing a compromised system, there's no issue there, because the operating system is Linux. There's no problem when it comes to the basic operations of the database, such as creating, querying, and updating tables. However, we've adopted a new configuration where we're using Docker containers to deploy our applications. This is a new setup for us.

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 integration with Azure Data Factory is seamless and straightforward, described as just a click away."

"The interface is awesome."

"What is really helpful about the Azure SQL is that when we have a problem with our sound queries, we can trade information about what indexes we should create on tables. It's really helpful for me and also for developers."

"Very easy to use on any platform and works well."

"Our migration to Azure for most databases has increased our organization's efficiency and reduced the maintenance required to manage on-premises infrastructure."

"The backup solution in Azure is great, the firewall settings in SQL are very easy to use and work very well. Additionally, the turning process is very good and has improved the SQL services and queries."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database supplies reliability and efficiency with its infrastructure, which is very beneficial to our organization."

"It's easy to use in terms of their portal, which is very nicely organized."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"The operation model is the most valuable feature."

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

"Performance has significantly improved."

"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."

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

"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."

Cons

"The only problem we have with Azure is regarding the price."

"SQL Azure could improve the feature set. They are catching up to Microsoft SQL Server."

"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."

"I need something which is in one place so I can automate the Azure data factory, but it's a different tool. It's not easy and in one place, so I can't switch to the other tool and do something there, automate everything there in the on-prem infrastructure, and then have everything in the agent. I can just pick one packet and use it. However, I want to be able to click it and run it."

"Adding users to Azure SQL could be easier. You need to script it out, but it would be nice if it had a UI where you can click and add them. It's not a major thing because we script things all the time, but it would be a minor thing that helps us."

"We haven't had any major issues that have prevented us from doing stuff fundamentally. For its implementation, sometimes, it is complicated to understand what your needs are. It would be good to have a few use cases that provide different cloud variations that match on-premise installations and show how they can be moved to the cloud a bit better."

"Improvement could be made in the performance tools, offering a better overview of core issues like process activity and latency, as we currently rely on third-party tools and SQL jobs for monitoring and alerts."

"If the product could support applications requiring an SQL server for installation, by using SQL Azure as a backend, that would be useful."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"The solution is expensive."

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

"Scalability is not straightforward."

"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."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It requires a license. As compared to its competitors, such as Oracle, it is affordable and reasonable."

"I believe the licensing is more on a global scale."

"The licensing for this solution is based on subscription."

"The pricing is actually complicated, and that is probably one downside of it. In some respects, although we can plan for the costs on a month-by-month basis, we are finding it hard to project our costings for it. Fundamentally, Microsoft is offering two pricing models, and it is challenging to understand the differences between the two. We're basically on the DTU model at the moment. That may change in the future as the size grows, but it is one of those things that we'll end up monitoring as we progress. At the moment, to get a reasonable response, generally, the price is a little high for us, but it is one of those things for which we know that we can do improvements on our code. So, it is not just the service that's the problem; it is some of the things that we need to do as well."

"It's reasonably priced and when you compare it with other products in the cloud environment, it's cheaper."

"It is quite expensive. I would definitely recommend not using the pay-as-you-go model because this will just mean all your money will go to Microsoft. So, really make sure to control resource usage as much as possible."

"Its price can definitely be lower. It is pretty pricey."

"Microsoft services are costly, which is the only problem we face. So, pricing is an area of improvement."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The price is too much."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

63%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

35%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

Pricing could be improved to make Microsoft Azure SQL Database ( /products/microsoft-azure-sql-database-reviews ) more accessible. A reduction in price might encourage more users and bring more pro...

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?

Scalability is not straightforward, as you can scale up and not down. Improvements could be made to make scalability more flexible.

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 35% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 24% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Db2 on Cloud vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Oracle Database as a Service vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 36% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 34% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 9% of the time

MongoDB Atlas 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

May 2025

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

May 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

June 2025

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

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