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Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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 Cosmos DB
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
109
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (2nd), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (1st)
Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...
Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)
10th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 4.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is 3.9%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database as a Service (DBaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB4.4%
Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer3.9%
Other91.7%
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2724105 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Director of Product Management at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides super sharp latency, excellent availability, and the ability to effectively manage costs across different tenants
For integrating Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB with other Azure products or other products, there are a couple of challenges with the current system. Right now, the vectors are stored as floating-point numbers within the NoSQL document, which makes them inefficiently large. This leads to increased storage space requirements, and searching through a vast number of documents in the vector database becomes quite costly in terms of RUs. While the integration works well, the expense associated with it is relatively high. I would really like to see a reduction in costs for their vector search, as it is currently on the expensive side. The areas for improvement in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB are vector pricing and vector indexing patterns, which are unintuitive and not well described. I would also like to see the parameters of Fleet Spaces made more powerful, as currently, it's somewhat lightweight. I believe they've made those changes intentionally to better understand the cost model. However, we would like to take a more aggressive approach in using it. One of the most frustrating aspects of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB right now is that you can only store one vector per document. Additionally, you must specify the configuration of that vector when you create an instance of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB. Once the database is set up, you can't change the vector configuration, which is incredibly limiting for experimentation. You want the ability to try different settings and see how they perform, as there are numerous use cases for storing more than one vector in a document. While interoperability within the vector database is acceptable—for example, I can search for vectors—I still desire a richer set of configuration options.
WB
Oracle DBS at Bpifrance
Positive experience with virtual cloud network creation and database migration highlights patching challenges
The best feature of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is that it can be managed without needing only DBAs. We have many features, including the observability feature that helps check performance and generates numerous reports about performance. We have also implemented APIs, enabling us to create and perform many operations. This means we need DBAs who can work with APIs. We are autonomous in the patching process and don't need Oracle for patching. If you configure the process of patching, it will be executed automatically. We are using dynamic scaling which is implemented on an external virtual machine, helping us to downscale or upscale the CPU. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer has supported our organization's compliance and data sovereignty without problems. I have observed some limitations. For example, regarding encryption, though it is mandatory for Exadata Cloud at Customer, we cannot encrypt the database with external keys. Currently, with Exadata Cloud at Customer, using external keys is not possible.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB a ten out of ten."
"The peace of mind that Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB provides regarding global distribution is invaluable."
"In Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, one valuable feature is its ability to store data in multiple regions. If one region fails, it automatically switches to a healthy region, ensuring minimal latency and disaster recovery without impacting data latency in applications."
"Latency and availability are incredible."
"The high speed of Azure Cosmos DB compared to other competitors is remarkable."
"Azure Cosmos DB offers numerous data connectors that provide a platform for seamless integration with various platforms and visualization tools such as Power BI. It allows connection via multiple data connectors to integrate data in any desired format."
"From a global distribution perspective, Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is good and easy to handle."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is its real-time analytics capabilities, which allow for turnaround times in milliseconds."
"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."
"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 best feature of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is that it can be managed without needing only DBAs, with observability features to check performance, generate reports, and implement APIs for creating and performing many operations."
"I am particularly fond of the intelligent capabilities that enhance the backend, utilizing technology to analyze SQL queries."
"Performance has significantly improved."
"The operation model is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"To show this in real time, we need a live connection that automatically updates in response to new records being inserted. This automated updating feature is lacking in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB compared to Databricks."
"The support tickets are not cheap."
"The only problem I face is more with infrastructure as code templates that don't cover everything that can be set up or configured on the portal, requiring some manual work which is additional work for us."
"Sometimes, the solution's access request takes time, which should be improved."
"Right now, the vectors are stored as floating-point numbers within the NoSQL document, which makes them inefficiently large. This leads to increased storage space requirements, and searching through a vast number of documents in the vector database becomes quite costly in terms of RUs. While the integration works well, the expense associated with it is relatively high. I would really like to see a reduction in costs for their vector search, as it is currently on the expensive side."
"It's still new, and good training resources are harder to find. Even the most recent books on Cosmos DB are several years old, which is ancient in IT terms."
"Azure Cosmos DB is generally a costly resource compared to other Azure resources. It comes with a high cost."
"Currently, it doesn't support cross-container joins, forcing developers to retrieve data from each container separately and combine it using methods like LINQ queries."
"We had some problems in the developer's environment. We had some problems with the initial installation environment."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You need to understand exactly the details of how the pricing works technically to stay within reasonable pricing."
"The customer had a high budget, but it turned out to be a little bit cheaper than what they expected. I am not sure how much they have spent so far, but they are satisfied with the pricing."
"Everything could always be cheaper. I like that Cosmos DB allows us to auto-scale instead of pre-provisioning a certain capacity. It automatically scales to the demand, so we only pay for what we consume."
"Cosmos DB gave us three accounts for $400. We pay according to the usage."
"Its pricing structure is quite flexible."
"Microsoft provides fair pricing."
"I would rate Cosmos DB's cost at seven out of ten, with ten being the highest."
"Its pricing is not bad. It is good."
"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
Legal Firm
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
33%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Computer Software Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise58
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's pricing model has aligned with my budget expectations because I can tune the RU as I need to, which helps a lot. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's dynamic auto-scale or server...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
I have not utilized Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB multi-model support for handling diverse data types. I'm not in the position to decide if clients will use Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB or any other datab...
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.
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...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer?
The use cases for Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer are based on our actual solution. We have the Exadata, but it has reached its end of life. The X5 has attained the end of life, so we discussed mi...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify
IBVI, illycaffe, Scottish Water, trueblue, AirAsia, droptank
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.