LocalDB vs Oracle Database comparison

Microsoft and Oracle are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Microsoft is ranked #17 with an average rating of 10.0, while Oracle is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 1.5% mindshare in SQL, compared to Oracle’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

LocalDB

Read 6 LocalDB reviews

1,135 Views
1,135 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Oracle Database

Read 292 Oracle Database reviews

7,648 Views
7,113 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

LocalDB

Oracle Database

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Oracle Database and LocalDB compete in the database management systems category, with Oracle Database holding the upper hand due to its extensive features that cater to large-scale enterprise needs.

Features: Oracle Database provides remarkable features such as high availability with solutions like Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Data Guard, which ensure minimal downtime. It excels in scalability and performance handling significant data volumes efficiently. Extensive security measures bolster system integrity, crucial for enterprises handling sensitive data. LocalDB, on the other hand, supports application developers with easy integration into applications. It is lightweight and doesn't require extensive configuration, catering well to small to medium projects. It offers features like fast setup, seamless integration with SQL Server, and is free, which is beneficial for budget-conscious projects.

Room for Improvement: Oracle Database faces challenges related to its high cost and complex licensing structure, which can be prohibitive for smaller organizations. Additionally, its initial setup and configuration can be cumbersome for new users. LocalDB needs enhancements in integration capabilities and enterprise scalability to broaden its application beyond local development, as it currently lacks the robust features needed for larger deployments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle Database offers robust deployment options including on-premises and hybrid models, accompanied by extensive support systems, albeit at a high cost and with a steep learning curve. Its support framework is appreciated, though improvements in response time are desired by users. LocalDB is straightforward to deploy and community support is adequate for basic queries, but it lacks extensive customer service, reflecting its focus on smaller scale, local development environments.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle Database is positioned at the higher end of the pricing spectrum, necessitating careful consideration of ROI for its comprehensive capabilities, suitable for large enterprises with significant budgets. LocalDB is free as part of SQL Server Express, offering a cost-effective solution for smaller operations, though it doesn't provide the same complex development potential that Oracle Database offers to large enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed LocalDB vs. Oracle Database Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LocalDB vs. Oracle Database

December 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

LocalDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

17th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

292

Ranking in other categories

Database Management Systems (DBMS) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of LocalDB is 1.5%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database is 11.5%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Oracle Database	11.5%
LocalDB	1.5%
Other	87.0%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Srini-Dhanaraj

Founder & CEO at imfine.club

The database always has structured data, like rows, columns, and bases

LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good. Any startup can use a local database to start. Once they grow beyond its limits, they can migrate to a MS SQL server that's also available on-premises. I rate it ten out of ten.

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Muhammad Usman Muzaffar

Senior Vice President IT Operations at ZTBL

Running secure internal banking applications has been reliable and supports fast deployments

I am still working with Oracle products. I am still using Enterprise Manager 14c. I am using Oracle Database, Oracle ExaCC, Oracle EBS, Oracle WebLogic, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and Oracle Linux. I can answer questions about my experience with WebLogic Suite. I use it in my company. I have not used WebLogic's diagnostic tools. I do not utilize its lifecycle management features. I do not have much experience with WebLogic Java EE support, as I just deploy the application and the other team utilizes this server. I am not directly involved in WebLogic. I have been using Oracle Linux myself. The deployment is local, on-premises. I have been working with Enterprise Manager as well. All the components of Oracle I am using are on-premises. I use Oracle 19c database, Oracle ExaCC, Exadata on Cloud at Customer. I have been using Oracle Linux, Enterprise Manager, and databases as well. I have been working with Oracle Database for about 20 years. My experience has been 100% positive with Oracle Database. I have utilized its Real Application Clusters along with Data Guard. I do not use Oracle's Advanced Analytics and machine learning features right now. I have given this review an overall rating of 9 out of 10.

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 initial setup was simple."

"LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good."

"The most valuable feature of LocalDBis the connection between the application and DB."

"The initial setup is very straightforward. The guidelines are very easy to follow. Maintenance is very easy and requires very little manpower."

"The solution is fast."

"The interface is user-friendly."

"The most important features of Oracle Database are ease of use and high reliability. I also love the dynamic PL/SQL feature, which I use to generate custom and ad hoc reports."

"The product provides high availability."

"I use Oracle Database just for storage of the corporate database data and the finance data."

"Oracle Database is a stable solution."

"A scalable solution with straightforward initial setup."

"Significant assistance in tuning both the migration process and the production database was provided by Oracle Consulting Services, which provided excellent and very professional advice."

"As a database, the solution has been number one from the beginning."

More Oracle Database pros

Cons

"The internal connection features of LocalDB could improve."

"The solution needs to create a management tool. Right now, the solution has tools for creating a local installation, but it's too simplistic. We need something that's a bit more complex so that we can extend the tools with our scripts."

"The initial setup is complex and requires a skilled person."

"It is only for a small amount of data. Local DB is made for the purpose of small-volume optics."

"The ALM features can be improved, but the database by itself is reliable."

"It takes a significant amount of time after submitting an initial SR with Oracle Tech Support before your case reaches a technical expert with whom you can actually work on the issue resolution. Before that, you have to deal with people who are not experts."

"The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult."

"The main thing we find could use improvement is the licensing costs. It is quite expensive relative to other database vendors. Cost always comes up as an issue for us as we consider upgrade paths. It's not as easy as we would like it to be."

"The main issue with Oracle is the maintenance required."

"I would like to see more integration with other databases and the cloud as well as Microsoft's Office 365."

"Sometimes they tell us we can't upgrade the database for now as there's a vulnerability Oracle couldn't find a solution for."

"The client-side of Oracle Database could improve. The client graphic user interface works on Java and sometimes it freezes, these should be fixed."

"The pricing could be improved."

More Oracle Database cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The fees are fair."

"The licensing cost is too high for LocalDB."

"The price is relative. Licensing costs differ based on how often you'll use the product. They also provide discounts based on the bandwidth or the use cases you want to run on it."

"We have been paying for an annual enterprise license Oracle Database."

"Oracle Database is expensive. We also need to buy additional products."

"The Oracle license is quite expensive, and we pay on a yearly basis."

"Its cost is astronomical. They charge by the size of the server rather than what you're actually using. It is just a terrible business model. It has got a ton of features that are great, but you have to pay for them, and we don't want to spend a lot of money. If you use any of their additional products, you have to pay for those. Almost everything extra is at an additional charge. We also use RAC, and there is an additional charge for that."

"When you consider the services, Oracle is reasonably priced."

"You buy it when you need it, and then you pay the maintenance. We bought the licenses over 10 years ago. We haven't changed our licenses. We are not buying new licenses, and we are not looking at other devices. So, it is difficult to say whether it is cheap or expensive. There is nothing to compare to."

"It was purchased by our client. It might have been a one-time payment. It doesn't seem to be very expensive."

More Oracle Database pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	87
Midsize Enterprise	64
Large Enterprise	180

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LocalDB?

It's free of cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with LocalDB?

Technically speaking, you don't need to get any updates because it's not online. It's on-premise. So once it is installed, then you get a desktop-grade version. But the purpose of LocalDB is not th...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for LocalDB?

There were multiple systems, some planned, like the mainframe, the gold database, a website, and a manual Excel spreadsheet. These were the various data sources, and we wanted to bring everything i...

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How do you run Oracle Database at your organization and why?

My company has been using Oracle Exadata Database Service for some years now, and we are happy with it. I will allow myself to answer your questions about why and what benefits it provides us with ...

See all answers

Do you know of any disadvantages of Oracle Database?

Undoubtedly, Oracle Database is a top product in its category. But it does have its disadvantages, and for me and my organization, that has been the limitations of the product. When it comes to Ora...

See all answers

What is the best use for Oracle Database?

Oracle Database is flexible and can be used for many things. My company's main use case for this product is for storing data. We benefit from its high level of security as well as from the fact tha...

See all answers

Comparisons

SQL Server vs LocalDB

Compared 54% of the time

MySQL vs LocalDB

Compared 14% of the time

MariaDB vs LocalDB

Compared 8% of the time

Infobright DB vs LocalDB

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle Database In-Memory vs LocalDB

Compared 6% of the time

More LocalDB Competitors

SAP HANA vs Oracle Database

Compared 20% of the time

SQL Server vs Oracle Database

Compared 13% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs Oracle Database

Compared 9% of the time

Tibero vs Oracle Database

Compared 8% of the time

Teradata vs Oracle Database

Compared 6% of the time

More Oracle Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Relational Databases Tools

January 2026

Download LocalDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database

January 2026

Download Oracle Database product report

Also Known As

No data available

Oracle 12c, RDBMS

Overview

LocalDB is a lightweight version of the SQL Server Express Database Engine that is targeted for program development. LocalDB starts on demand and runs in user mode, so there is no complex configuration.

Microsoft

Oracle Database is a top-ranking multi-model database management system by Oracle Corporation. Through Oracle database services and products, clients receive cost-optimized and high-performing versions of Oracle Database, as well as in-memory, NoSQL, and MySQL databases. The solution is available by several service providers on premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid installation. It can be run on vendor servers as well as on Oracle hardware, including Exadata on-premise, Oracle Cloud, or Cloud at Customer.

Users can select from various types of Oracle Database solutions, depending on what they aim to do with this product. Based on their specific needs, they can choose among options that include:

Autonomously managed Oracle databases: This type of database eliminates the complexity of operating and securing Oracle Database, while simultaneously ensuring high levels of performance, scalability, and availability for users.
Oracle Database on Exadata: Users who seek particularly fast platforms can select this type of running solution. Exadata is a computing platform that is optimized for running Oracle Databases and it serves as the fastest platform for Oracle Database.
Oracle Database on-premises deployment: The product allows for deployment on-premises for clients who have data residency and network latency concerns. This option also offers customers the benefit of updated Oracle Cloud technology, including Exadata and Autonomous Database.
Oracle Database in the cloud: Organizations can use a specific version of this tool in the cloud, benefiting from complete control over the versions they run and when these versions change.

Part of this product is a fully automated database service called Oracle Autonomous Database, which facilitates the development and deployment of application workloads for organizations. It is built on Oracle Database as well as on Oracle Exadata. This service supports various data types and simplifies application development and deployment from modeling and coding to extract, transform, load process (ETL), data analysis, and database optimization. The service achieves high results in:

Performance
Availability
Security for online transaction processing (OLTP)
Analytics
Batch
Internet of Things (IoT) workloads

Oracle Database Features

Oracle Database has various features which users can utilize in their work with the solution. Among these features are the following:

Backup and recovery: Oracle Database ensures the integrity of users' data in system failure situations. This feature utilizes a tool named Recovery Manager (RMAN), which allows administrators to perform cold, hot, and incremental database backups, as well as point-in-time recoveries.
Clustering: This feature enables high availability of systems in order to run without interruption of services on occasions when one or more servers in a cluster fail. Included is a tool called Oracle Real Application Clusters.
Data dictionary: Through this set of internal tables and views, Oracle Database can be administered more efficiently.
Logical data structure: Through its feature for logical data structure, Oracle Database stores data in a way that allows users to interact with the database without knowing where the physical storage of the data is located.
Memory catching: Through the memory caching architecture feature, users can scale up very large databases and still perform at a considerably high speed.
Partitioning: This feature allows users to divide large tables into different pieces and store the pieces across storage devices.

Oracle Database Benefits

Oracle Database offers its users various benefits. Some of these include:

The solution decreases costs for organizations and provides a high return on investment (ROI) through the multiple services and features it offers.
Oracle Database has high-security protection which includes encryption, key management, data masking, and activity monitoring, that secures organizations' data within the tool.
The tool offers users the ability to use a single database for all data types, simplifying the process for them.
Oracle Database can be deployed in multiple places, including data centers and public and private clouds, which allows great flexibility for users.
The product allows applications from different platforms to communicate with the database through its networking stack.
Oracle Database is ACID-compliant, which helps maintain data reliability and integrity.

Reviews from Real Users

Paul S., president at Advance Consulting Enterprise, likes Oracle Database because it gets the job done, doesn't fail, and suitable for massively scalable applications.

An Oracle DBA at a computer software company describes Oracle Database as reliable with good performance and very good stability.

Oracle

Sample Customers

AstraZeneca, Kienzle Automotive GmbH, Kodak Alaris, Unilever, Floatel International and Kongsberg Maritime, MyHero

Agncia Nacional de guas, Anbima, Aria Systems, Asiana Airlines, Astelit LLC, Australian Finance Group, Banco Occidental de Descuento, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, BT, Caja de Seguros S.A., Casas GEO S.A.B. de C.V., Comic Relief UK, Corsair Components Inc., CSAM Health AS, CSOB Group, Datacraft Solutions, DenizBank A.S., Department of Treasury and Finance WA, Office of State Revenue, Deutsche B_rse AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Messe AG, Digicel Haiti, DPR COSEA, Essar Group, Essatto Software Pty Ltd, Farmšcia e Drogaria Nissei Ltda., Fomento Econ‹mico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA), FundaÊo Petrobras de Seguridade Social, Future Group, GFKL Financial Services AG, Grupo Posadas S.A.B. de C.V., Grupo Sinosserra, Guerra S.A. Implementos Rodovišrios, Hanatour International Service, Hays plc, Henan Mobile Co. Ltd, Hochschule Hof, Hong Kong and China Technology (Wuhan) Co. Ltd (Towngas Technology), Industries Corpa_al C.A., Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica, Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, Kcell, LinkShare Corporation, MercadoLibre Inc., MetLife Inc., Nextgen Distribution, €BB-IKT GmbH, Octagon Research Solutions, Pacific Lutheran University, Paragon Data GmbH, Ping ltd., PJSC Trustbank, Prodaub _ Processamento de Dados de Uberl_ndia, Purdue University, Redknee Inc., Robi Axiata Limited, Shanghai Infoservice Technology Co. Ltd, Shanghai Sihua Technologies Co. Ltd, Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de M_xico, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Suddenlink Communications, Suprajit Engineering Limited, Tallink Grupp, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., Therap Services LLC, Think Passenger Inc., Trafigura, Transmed S.A.L Lebanon, ValeShop, VelQuest Corporation, Vodafone Group plc, West Virginia Network, WIND Hellas Telecommunications S.A

Buyer's Guide

LocalDB vs. Oracle Database

December 2025

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