Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer comparison

Microsoft and Oracle are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Oracle is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.6. Microsoft holds a 14.7% mindshare in DS, compared to Oracle’s 4.1% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Read 118 Microsoft Azure SQL Database reviews

3,353 Views
3,319 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Read 7 Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer reviews

964 Views
954 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer are leading cloud database solutions. Users report higher satisfaction with Microsoft Azure SQL Database in terms of pricing and customer support, while Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer excels in features and is considered worth its premium price.

Features: Microsoft Azure SQL Database users highlight its scalability, integration with other Microsoft services, and ease of use as valuable features. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is praised for its performance, advanced analytics, and strong security features.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Microsoft Azure SQL Database could improve its offline capabilities and database performance during high loads. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer users feel there's room for better integration with non-Oracle applications and more simplified management tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Azure SQL Database is noted for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer has a more complex deployment process but offers extensive support and documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Azure SQL Database is favored for its cost-effectiveness and quick ROI due to flexible pricing models and lower initial setup costs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer has higher upfront costs but delivers a significant ROI over time due to its superior performance and comprehensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

July 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

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Cus...

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

8th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

4.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is 14.7%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is 4.1%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Charley Hanania

Data Platform Specialist at QS2 AG - Quality Software Solutions

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.

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RODRIGOPETERSON

Senior Architect at Capgemini

Leverages cloud capabilities and offers minimal latency with operation model

Customers have less operational burden and more responsibility regarding the management of hardware. Increasing the scale of Oracle Exadata Cloud provides more capacity, higher performance, and expanded storage, CPU, and memory resources. If you need to scale Oracle's capacity up or down, the appliance can be adjusted on-premise. When you purchase Oracle Exadata Cloud, you must acquire either a half or full rack. If you need to increase capacity, you can scale up by adding more hardware. This hardware commitment lasts four to five years, meaning you must maintain this infrastructure and continue payments for that period. While you can scale up to meet increased demands, scaling down is more challenging. I recommend the solution when the customer desires to transition to a cloud-native solution but needs to retain their data in OpenEdge due to compatibility issues or the requirement to interact with on-premise systems to minimize latency. This solution offers minimal latency and modernizes Oracle capabilities through a gateway. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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 ease of provisioning and administration is most valuable."

"We like the ease of integrating it with our on-premises environment. We use a hybrid model. We have a SQL Server on-premises, and we have an integration with the cloud version. We do CPU or disk intensive processes on-premises. For accessibility, we offload onto the cloud. When you do a lot of IO and things like that in the cloud, Microsoft charges for the CPU activity."

"The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment takes about one hour."

"Our productivity is the same as that of on-prem SQL."

"Microsoft's expertise in SQL Server is a significant advantage."

"The integration with Azure Data Factory is seamless and straightforward, described as just a click away."

"Shifting our corporate programs to the cloud is more or less the same due to the ease of implementation. We've cut costs by around 70 percent."

"Our migration to Azure for most databases has increased our organization's efficiency and reduced the maintenance required to manage on-premises infrastructure."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"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."

"I am particularly fond of the intelligent capabilities that enhance the backend, utilizing technology to analyze SQL queries."

"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 operation model is the most valuable feature."

"Performance has significantly improved."

"I like that Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer is a stable, well-positioned product in the market today, and it's very scalable."

Cons

"The problem is the automated configuration."

"Integration needs to be improved for this solution."

"We have a very small database running on SQL Azure. We have not been able to load bigger systems on it. It is still not something that is feasible. All our heavy-duty systems are on SAP, and it should have more compatibility with other vendors such as SAP. Its price can definitely be lower. It is pretty pricey."

"Microsoft could improve its documentation and support."

"The only problem we have with Azure is regarding the price."

"A potential area for improvement could be integrating with third-party clouds."

"Azure SQL had a bit of a learning curve to start, but it was fairly simple once I understood how to develop it. I was using PowerShell to connect to it, and I've never connected to online databases through Azure using PowerShell. Scripting the PowerShell connections could be simpler. The coding is familiar, but figuring out how to use it initially can be easier."

"I would like to see the cloud connectivity environment improved."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"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."

"For the data migration, we used ZDM. It was not integrated with the databases, and the documentation lacks clarity."

"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."

"We had some problems in the developer's environment. We had some problems with the initial installation environment."

"The solution is expensive."

"As a customer, you can't see the boot messages of your virtualized guest machines."

"Scalability is not straightforward."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The price in general of Azure SQL could improve."

"I am not aware of the exact pricing, but our monthly bill for Azure is around 80,000. It is less expensive than using SQL Server. It has the pay-as-you-go model, and the charges are based on the usage."

"SQL Azure is an expensive solution."

"The licensing for this solution is based on subscription."

"I believe the licensing is more on a global scale."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"I recommend considering a pay-as-you-go pricing model initially."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The machine and the cloud model itself already have licensing advantages."

"The price is too much."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

33%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could improve accessibility and user numbers, making it easier for users to adopt the s...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

I have used the Microsoft Azure SQL Database for two years now, and I don't find it satisfactory. It's slow and expensive. The Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not the latest version of Microsoft SQ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer?

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 29% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 22% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Amazon RDS vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 33% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 28% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 16% of the time

Google Cloud SQL vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Compared 6% of the time

More Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

August 2025

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

August 2025

Download Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer product report

Overview

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

Oracle Cloud@Customer brings Oracle’s complete portfolio of public cloud infrastructure, fully managed cloud services, and Oracle Fusion SaaS applications into your data center. It enables you to run applications faster and lower your costs using the same high-performance capabilities, autonomous operations, and low-cost subscription pricing in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). You get all this while maintaining complete control of your data so you can address data residency, security, and connectivity concerns.

Oracle

Sample Customers

adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH

IBVI, illycaffe, Scottish Water, trueblue, AirAsia, droptank

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

July 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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