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Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs ScyllaDB comparison

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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 NoSQL Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (4th), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (1st)
ScyllaDB
Ranking in NoSQL Databases
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 5.4%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ScyllaDB is 5.6%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NoSQL Databases Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB5.4%
ScyllaDB5.6%
Other89.0%
NoSQL Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Aman-Narang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Infosys
Real-time messaging has transformed customer updates and now powers responsive AI experiences
The primary benefits of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB include horizontal scalability. The main advantage is that it handles data growth without requiring database redesign when traffic increases. Low latency access is another key benefit, as read and write operations are very fast, which is extremely helpful for real-time applications. Flexibility is also valuable because Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB uses JSON schema format, which contrasts with traditional table schemas that require time-consuming changes. In modernization scenarios where client requirements change rapidly, Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers more flexible schema design. High availability is another important feature, as it is well-suited for business-critical systems. My overall experience using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB with other Azure services shows that it is more flexible compared to SQL Database and more readable because of its JSON format, making it easy to understand. It is more interactive because viewing the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB schema clearly shows what is happening in the application and what will be achieved. In contrast, SQL requires writing many queries to obtain details, making Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB more suitable and flexible. My team's experience developing with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB SDKs and APIs has been very comfortable and easy to implement. We are currently migrating .NET applications to Python-based AI solutions using Copilot, where we performed reverse engineering and are moving to forward engineering. We use APIs to connect with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and manage database containers and items, performing CRUD operations such as create, delete, and read operations, and querying JSON. We are using REST APIs with Python-based solutions, with a service layer and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB integration.
Manikandan Gunasekaran - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Engineering at Ola
Reliable data management with great reliability and performance
From a sales pitch standpoint, it needs to deliver on promises of better ROI and compaction. Additionally, ticketing and support systems could be improved due to the time it takes to get answers. There's also an issue with compatibility when attempting to switch back from the enterprise to the community version.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I appreciate Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's robust document management and consistent availability."
"The dynamic autoscale or serverless model of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB has indeed helped reduce our costs and operational effort by allowing us to scale horizontally in a straightforward manner according to our needs."
"The best feature about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is its interface, which is awesome for accessing data."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB helped improve our organization's search result quality significantly when we started using it about eight years ago."
"Cosmos is preferred because of its speed, robustness, and utilization. We have all the merchandising information in Cosmos DB, which provides concrete and optimized data when searching for new products on the site. It is faster than other relational databases."
"We have both our SaaS app and the analytical side running without throttling issues."
"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."
"Having a NoSQL solution that can do that in a 100 percent Azure shop is the best fit we could want."
"The database is easy to use, fast, and accessible for applications because the API is straightforward."
"I like how fast it is to query data from the ScyllaDB node!"
"ScyllaDB allows fine-tuning of the table structure. Speed is probably the most critical factor because we perform a lot of heavy data ingestion. One of its core features is its ability to handle high volumes and maintain speed when accessing data. Additionally, high availability and partitioning are built-in features of ScyllaDB."
"Firstly, if I update something, it's most likely to finish within milliseconds."
"The documentation is good. It integrates easily with our existing data infrastructure."
"ScyllaDB is very fast, and I can use it for so many things."
"Scalability in performance is good."
"It is lightweight, and it requires less infrastructure."
 

Cons

"It should offer a simple user interface for querying Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."
"Performance issues do not occur frequently, but I occasionally face performance issues with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."
"There are some disadvantages as it is costly compared to other NoSQL databases. It has a complex pricing model and has a strict partitioning strategy."
"Performance optimization is another consideration, as it can be difficult to understand request units and query costs."
"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."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB can be improved by providing more fine-grained control over certain aspects, such as connections and threads. There could be more control over how many connections are made."
"Our use case was a failure with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, and we do not have any other opportunity to use Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."
"At this stage, we would like more enterprise support. We use MongoDB a lot, and we're trying to get rid of MongoDB. So, I would like to see more features in the Cosmos DB API for MongoDB space."
"It seems we have better options available. So probably don't go for ScyllaDB. The reason is, first, it's very high. It's not as straightforward as, like, Postgres or ClickHouse to set up. It requires a complex setup."
"Support and the availability of support need improvement. I would give them a six out of ten."
"Data export, along with how we can purchase the data periodically, needs to be improved so that the storage is within control. Then, we could optimize it even better."
"We faced several challenges while integrating ScyllaDB into our AWS environment. One common issue was that a security port wasn’t opened on one node, preventingdata synchronization across clusters. We noticed the data wasn’t syncing correctly when we saw different record counts in other regions. After investigating, we found that the port was closed in one AWS region. Once we opened the port, the data synchronization across all nodes resumed as expected."
"ScyllaDB needs to improve its handling of transactions."
"The documentation of Scylla is an area with shortcomings and needs to be improved."
"The product needs to add more features and improve the response time of the support team."
"The documentation is not well established for new developers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It seems to have helped significantly. We were using a different database system previously, and one of the reasons for acquiring Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB was cost."
"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's licensing costs are monthly."
"The pricing and licensing model was initially difficult to understand, but as soon as I learned what was going on and how it was priced, it was pretty easy."
"Azure Cosmos DB is generally a costly resource compared to other Azure resources. It comes with a high cost. We have reserved one thousand RUs. Free usage is also limited."
"The price of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB could be a bit lower."
"There is a licensing fee."
"With heavy use, like a large-scale IoT implementation, you could easily hit a quarter of a million dollars a month in Azure charges if Cosmos DB is a big part of it."
"Microsoft provides fair pricing."
"It's a bit expensive."
"The paid version of ScyllaDB is not that expensive. The main advantage of the paid version is direct support from the ScyllaDB team, which can resolve issues faster—typically within a day, compared to two to three days with the free version. The paid version also offers better guidance and support, while the free version has good documentation and is more high-level. I’d rate their support team nine out of ten because of the quick responses from their community."
"It is an expensive tool compared to its competitor."
"I believe that there is a yearly licensing cost and that it's expensive."
"It's free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Legal Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Transportation Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise60
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
I have knowledge about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing aspect of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB could improve cost and performance management to be more straightforward, particularly for teams managing workloads with variable traffic. More detailed and proactive reco...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?
My main use case for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is to support application workloads that require a highly scalable, low latency NoSQL database. I primarily use it to store and manage semi-structured...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Scylla?
From what I’ve seen (and experienced), ScyllaDB pricing is very dependent on how you deploy it, and that’s where most of the confusion comes from.
What needs improvement with Scylla?
From a sales pitch standpoint, it needs to deliver on promises of better ROI and compaction. Additionally, ticketing and support systems could be improved due to the time it takes to get answers. T...
What is your primary use case for Scylla?
We dump a lot of our data, such as every entry created with respect to when a user rides a scooter, every record gets updated to ScyllaDB. It is used as a single source of truth and it manages mass...
 

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
IBM, Investing.com, mParticle, Comcast, GE, Fanatics, Ola, CERN, adgear, Samsung
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. ScyllaDB and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.