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Google Cloud Spanner vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Google is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.0, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7. Google holds a 4.4% mindshare in DS, compared to Microsoft’s 15.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
Google Cloud Spanner
Read 5 Google Cloud Spanner reviews
  • 858 Views
  • 649 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Read 117 Microsoft Azure SQL Database reviews
  • 6,648 Views
  • 2,858 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Google Cloud Spanner are two prominent cloud database services with distinct functionalities and benefits, each suited to different needs. Users find Spanner superior for its global distribution and consistency.

Features: Microsoft Azure SQL Database is praised for its integrated AI capabilities, disaster recovery options, and strong integration with Microsoft services. Google Cloud Spanner is noted for its strong global scaling, true ACID compliance, and global transactional consistency.

Room for Improvement: Users identify areas for improvement in Azure SQL Database's performance tuning, advanced data analytics features, and documentation. For Google Cloud Spanner, complex query execution, additional native support for various data types, and training resources need enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Users generally find the deployment process of Microsoft Azure SQL Database straightforward, benefitting from integrated support. Google Cloud Spanner offers robust deployment options but could enhance initial setup ease. Azure receives mixed feedback on customer service responsiveness, while Spanner users value prompt and knowledgeable support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Azure SQL Database offers competitive pricing with flexible options, appealing to those seeking cost-effective solutions. Google Cloud Spanner, meanwhile, is considered expensive but justified by its high performance and scalability. Users experience significant ROI with Azure due to cost savings, while Spanner users justify the higher upfront costs with long-term gains in performance and reliability.

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To learn more, read our detailed Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database
March 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

Google Cloud Spanner
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
9th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud Spanner is 4.4%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 15.9%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Ethan Lo - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and scalable relational database that ensures a return on investment for its users
The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically. You can change Google Cloud Spanner's resource configuration, which is done through processing units. Suppose you set up Google Cloud Spanner initially with a hundred processing units, and then you run out of resources since your database used too much CPU. In the aforementioned scenario, you can scale up or down and face no downtime in the production phase. The solution's features are important when running a company twenty-four hours, seven days a week.
Read full review
Charley Hanania - PeerSpot reviewer
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

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 feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."
"My main use case for SQL Azure is for a self-reading application related to portfolio management. In this application, users can have portfolios designed and managed based on recommendations from their brokers. These recommendations are sent to users, and if consumed, they get executed and added to their portfolios, which can be easily maintained through mobile applications. This involves using Kafka for messaging and execution."
"This solution provides more comfort to the end-user compared to a normal SQL server."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It took less than one day for deployment."
"The most valuable features of SQL Azure are its reliability and quick scalability."
"The stability is good and the performance is fantastic. Even when we try to do an inquiry into issues we can do it easily."
"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is fairly easy to use and set up for our DBA teams, who use it for various applications and tools like RabbitMQ."
"We primarily and generally use it only for DB purposes. When it comes to the Azure part, we can easily provision, scale up, and scale down the generator machine. This kind of flexibility is the USP of SQL Azure. Its interface and ease of use are also valuable. It is very easy to use and integrate with multiple databases. If I need to pull in or import some data from my on-premises database, the ease with which you can connect and pull the data, not only from SQL Server but also from other flavors of MySQL or even Oracle, is very good."
"Azure SQL is easy to integrate and simplifies things from a licensing perspective. We're comfortable with SQL versus other types of databases, so we feel better talking to Microsoft."
More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros
 

Cons

"The tool lacks to offer AI features."
"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"Google came up with something called Cloud Spanner Emulator, which fails to work like the real product if I want to develop some code and run a database locally on my machine."
"The cost can be a bit high."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"There is so much information that it becomes confusing at times. The information can be more friendly. They could also provide additional training, especially at the beginning."
"Their support is nice but their responses aren't effective."
"There could be more collaboration with other tools like Data Factory and Databricks."
"The solution is somewhat user-friendly, but it's limited by the lack of full backward compatibility."
"Pricing could be improved to make Microsoft Azure SQL Database more accessible."
"Their availability in the Middle East and Asia regions needs to improve."
"From a security perspective, although their features are decent, they can always be improved upon, updated, and refined to help protect clients better."
"I would like to the solutions scalability to be improved."
More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is expensive."
"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"We pay less than $1000 monthly in licensing fees. There are no additional costs."
"SQL Azure's licensing cost is expensive."
"I'm not sure what the exact price is, but it's a moderate amount. It's not too expensive."
"It is expensive for us. We are looking for something less expensive and thinking of migrating the whole system."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"When you go with SQL Azure Database, you can create a small database, which is around $4 to $5 per month for development purposes."
"You can use it for smaller instances and pay less. You can also go for the premium product with all the security, scalability, and business continuity features, but you have to pay a premium amount."
"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
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
14%
Retailer
9%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
73%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
2%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Spanner?
Google Cloud Spanner has all the features of a traditional relational database, including schemas, SQL queries, ACID transactions, and provides excellent integration and monitoring tools as well as...
See all answers
What do you like most about Google Cloud Spanner?
Google Cloud Spanner is stable.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Spanner?
Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side. I am not sure if this is a rumor or if it's fake news, but I believe that having BigQuery and GCP together could be a little cos...
See all answers
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 price for running the server increased more than expected in recent months, and better alignment of pricing expectations is needed. Notably, costs related to IT staff coming into the office on ...
See all answers
What needs improvement with SQL Azure?
We're trying to manage our costs better. We've noticed an unexpected increase in the cost of running the server over the past few months. Addressing pricing clarity and alignment would help us. Als...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud Spanner
Compared 33% of the time
MongoDB Atlas vs Google Cloud Spanner Logo
MongoDB Atlas vs Google Cloud Spanner
Compared 17% of the time
SingleStore vs Google Cloud Spanner Logo
SingleStore vs Google Cloud Spanner
Compared 14% of the time
Google Cloud SQL vs Google Cloud Spanner Logo
Google Cloud SQL vs Google Cloud Spanner
Compared 11% of the time
Oracle Database as a Service vs Google Cloud Spanner Logo
Oracle Database as a Service vs Google Cloud Spanner
Compared 9% of the time
More Google Cloud Spanner Competitors
Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database Logo
Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Compared 43% of the time
Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database Logo
Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Compared 27% of the time
MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database Logo
MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Compared 16% of the time
Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database Logo
Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Compared 7% of the time
vCloud Air vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database Logo
vCloud Air vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Compared 2% of the time
More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
March 2025
Google Cloud Spanner reportDownload Google Cloud Spanner product report
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
March 2025
Microsoft Azure SQL Database reportDownload Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report
 

Also Known As

Google Spanner
No data available
 

Overview

Cloud Spanner is the first and only relational database service that is both strongly consistent and horizontally scalable. With Cloud Spanner you enjoy all the traditional benefits of a relational database: ACID transactions, relational schemas (and schema changes without downtime), SQL queries, high performance, and high availability. But unlike any other relational database service, Cloud Spanner scales horizontally, to hundreds or thousands of servers, so it can handle the highest of transactional workloads. With automatic scaling, synchronous data replication, and node redundancy, Cloud Spanner delivers up to 99.999% (five 9s) of availability for your mission critical applications. In fact, Google’s internal Spanner service has been handling millions of queries per second from many Google services for years.

Google

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
 

Sample Customers

Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH
Buyer's Guide
Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database
March 2025
Free Report: Google Cloud Spanner vs. Microsoft Azure SQL Database
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