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 8.5, while Oracle is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 2.8% mindshare in SQL, compared to Oracle’s 12.8% 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

2,094 Views
1,752 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Oracle Database

Read 289 Oracle Database reviews

11,609 Views
9,638 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: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LocalDB vs. Oracle 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

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

7.4

Number of Reviews

289

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of LocalDB is 2.8%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database is 12.8%, down from 15.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Duy AnhMai

Product Owner at Heineken

Good storage and reliable but needs a better dashboard

I use Oracle Database just for storage of the corporate database data and the finance data I use Oracle Database just for storage of the corporate database data and the finance data. However, I find the dashboard to be complicated and not user-friendly. The dashboard is not user-friendly, and I…

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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."

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

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

"The solution is fast."

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

"It's one of the leading databases on the market."

"I like the performance power and the interface of the solution."

"There's a good online community that can help users troubleshoot issues."

"Oracle Database is easy to use."

"It has good features for performance tuning."

"Oracle Database is very flexible."

"The ease of use has been great."

"The solution is stable."

More Oracle Database pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

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

"The internal connection features of LocalDB could improve."

"The initial setup was very complex - best case, it takes between four and six hours to set up."

"The price of the solution should be lower."

"Auditing could be improved, especially granular auditing. The unified audit trail in 12c is great, however its extraction in a highly busy environment is quite a challenge."

"I have contacted the support from Oracle and they are sometimes slow."

"There are a lot of bugs in the Oracle Database, and it would be better if the bugs would be solved more quickly than they are today."

"They should be putting more emphasis on the Windows platform. Usually, they run very well on the Linux platform, however, their performance on Windows is a little bit lower quality."

"Its administration side is very difficult. To install Oracle Database, you need to have some prior knowledge. You must learn their commands. I was new to this, so I found some difficulty in it. Its installation should be easier. It is expensive, and it should be cheaper."

"There is a new version of Oracle and Database Firewall, version 20, for which I would be interested in receiving training."

More Oracle Database cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost is too high for LocalDB."

"The fees are fair."

"The main issue where I feel that Oracle still has a problem is with the licensing. Licensing is still expensive and the reason why today most startups use other, cheaper databases. Those other databases are much less sophisticated than Oracle."

"It is expensive."

"I rate Oracle Database's pricing a four out of ten."

"You buy it initially, and then you pay for yearly support if you need support. If you don't need support, you can also use it without the support."

"We pay for a yearly licensing subscription. Funds permitting, we have plans to increase usage for Oracle Database in the new year."

"It is very expensive. Oracle licenses are expensive."

"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."

"My company has opted for perpetual licensing. We only need to make payments toward the licensing of the product."

More Oracle Database pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about LocalDB?

The solution is fast.

See all answers

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

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 83% of the time

MySQL vs LocalDB

Compared 9% of the time

MariaDB vs LocalDB

Compared 4% of the time

Oracle Database In-Memory vs LocalDB

Compared 3% of the time

More LocalDB Competitors

SAP HANA vs Oracle Database

Compared 22% of the time

SQL Server vs Oracle Database

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs Oracle Database

Compared 10% of the time

MariaDB vs Oracle Database

Compared 9% of the time

Tibero vs Oracle Database

Compared 7% of the time

More Oracle Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Relational Databases Tools

March 2025

Download LocalDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database

March 2025

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

March 2025

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