Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service comparison

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

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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)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

134

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Exadata Express Clou...

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

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 SQL Database is 10.5%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service is 1.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure SQL Database	10.5%
Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service	1.5%
Other	88.0%

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Thomas Sawyer

Executive Director, Platform Architecture at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – SMBC Group

Automatic tuning and multi-region availability have reduced manual workloads and improved performance management

The features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database that I like the most are easy scaling and high availability. I appreciate those features because it's easy to make Microsoft Azure SQL Database readily available in a multi-region infrastructure. Using Microsoft Azure SQL Database is very easy; it's much easier than SQL on-premise because I don't have to worry about deploying infrastructure, and I can rapidly deploy via infrastructure as code. I am using the automatic tuning feature in Microsoft Azure SQL Database. We are using the new feature of data encryption in Microsoft Azure SQL Database with customer-managed keys only. The reliability and stability of Microsoft Azure SQL Database platform are rock-solid; it's as good, if not better, than what our on-premise stability has been from an uptime perspective.

Read full review

Shrikant Navelkar

Director at Clover Infotech

Have achieved excellent performance and seamless integration with effective cost control in cloud solutions

When customers are migrating from Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service and need to remove some of their test and development environment, what happens in normal virtualization is that they can just switch it off, but in ExaCS, they need to terminate the entire thing. Most of the customers are not aware of this, so they keep spending money even if they want to shut down their UAT environment or development environment, so Oracle needs to make it simpler in terms of reducing the bill on ExaCS when customers want to shut down certain environments. Today, you have to terminate the entire VM, and only then your billing will stop. The only functionality I would expect from Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service is that if Oracle is able to support Oracle MySQL Enterprise also on Exadata, that will solve a lot of problems.

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

"We've saved time setting up the databases. While I'm not involved in the maintenance, I'm sure that's also a big factor. It's hosted in the cloud, so we don't have to maintain the servers."

"We don't have to manage it much. It is managed by Microsoft, which makes it easy for us because there is no admin overhead for managing the servers. It is also easily scalable. During peak hours, it can scale higher."

"Some of the best features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database are its scalability, pricing, and ease of setup."

"The stability is excellent because it is easier for us to connect to the cloud rather than connecting to MSSP."

"Hosting these types of databases on-premises can be challenging, but if you have the ability to do it on Azure, that is beneficial, and it also removes security obstacles as well."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database has significantly improved our operations by allowing us to extract data and generate comprehensive reports in Power BI."

"It is easy to scale in Azure in a way that I cannot scale on-prem."

"The feature I appreciate most about Microsoft Azure SQL Database is the ease of use; whenever we navigate to the portal, we realize that it is user-friendly and intuitive, and if there is a problem such as an application being down, we know exactly where to look and what to do to troubleshoot it quickly."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pros

"In the cloud, Exadata is more scalable. The on-prem version was limited. It wasn't that scalable because it only came in a quarter rack, half rack, and full rack. In the cloud, it scales to what you need."

"The performance of the tool is valuable."

"The solution is very stable and offers great performance."

"I highly recommend Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service as a very good solution if you can afford it."

"It is a scalable product."

"I would rate Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service ten out of ten for its overall solution."

"Having the prediction happen in the modular format allows you to start with a lower version of Exadata and then you can keep on upgrading it as per your requirement."

"One of the most valuable parts of the solution is the high availability within the system and the performance enhancement without making any changes or fine-tuning the databases."

More Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service pros

Cons

"The initial setup is complex."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database could be improved by offering an easier way to view all existing roles in the database without needing complex queries found online."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is one of those solutions that helps consolidate our infrastructure, though unfortunately it is not the only solution we use."

"Scalability is an issue because we can't upgrade to new versions due to hardware limitations."

"The document storage is primarily relational, which is not ideally suited for SQL. If there were better integration with SharePoint for document handling in SQL, it would greatly benefit the organization."

"Support isn't that great. They need to work on this aspect of their service. It can be challenging to reach them."

"Some more documentation and suggestions for network policies could be helpful."

"We've had many concurrency issues with it, particularly with applications that do a lot of parallel processing."

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database cons

"The product's installation process needs improvement. It could be more accessible."

"The only downside is the difficulty in monitoring, and that's why I would like to implement MySQL database."

"Oracle's support could be better."

"We use artificial intelligence for deep learning, and it would be a huge benefit to implement this in Oracle Exadata."

"The solution's pricing could be improved."

"I feel there is a need for better integration with Google Maps and Google Earth. This is crucial for me in the geographical facilities of the environment."

"The support must be faster."

"The customer's default choice is the on-premise version of this solution. Only when Oracle or the partners like us, can explain to customers the cloud value proposition, and if the compliance authorities allow, they can look into this cloud solution. It will take some time for Oracle to change its perception of customers' de-facto standards. Exadata used to be treated as a black box, which is not the case now. The customer is aware of what is happening inside, how the configurations have been made, and what patching has been applied. Oracle needs to market the cloud version better."

More Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be slightly cheaper."

"Its price can definitely be lower. It is pretty pricey."

"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."

"The license is based on the number of users."

"Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap."

"From a licensing benefit standpoint, we have clients who are coming with their own SQL licensing with Software Assurance, and they are able to use those licenses for their Azure SQL and reduce costs."

"When looking at the long-term expenses associated with running software on an on-premises server, the costs are almost equivalent but when we include insurance for devices, onsite fees for servers, and other related costs, we may find that this is a cost-effective solution."

"We have a three-year contract. The cost was somewhere around $70-80,000 for the original deployment, which was about two years ago"

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database pricing and cost advice

"The tool is not cheap, but it is not really expensive."

"The price of this solution is very comparative to others on the market. There is no direct comparison between this solution and with something else because I do not see any other similar product."

"I think Oracle pricing is usually above average market price."

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884,797 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Marketing Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Recruiting/Hr Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	60
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	61

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

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.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SQL Azure?

I would say I am at a basic experience level with the pricing, setup costs and licensing because while I am the administrator for the service, I do not provision the services and worry about the co...

What needs improvement with SQL Azure?

I have no comments at the moment on how Microsoft Azure SQL Database can be improved. I have no comments on additional features that I would like to see released in the next release. I do not have ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service?

Oracle is quite expensive here in Brazil. Pricing is the primary challenge we face with Oracle.

What needs improvement with Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service?

What is your primary use case for Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service?

We have been implementing Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service for our customers for more than 10 to 12 years for our various customers through the on-premise Exadata offerings Oracle has.

Google Cloud SQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

Amazon RDS vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 14% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 12% of the time

Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Compared 11% of the time

More Microsoft Azure SQL Database Competitors

Google Cloud SQL vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Compared 22% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle Database Appliance vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Compared 15% of the time

Teradata vs Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Compared 9% of the time

More Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Download Microsoft Azure SQL Database product report

Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service

Download Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service product report

Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service 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 Database Exadata Express Cloud Service delivers a managed Oracle Database 12c Release 2 Enterprise Edition with options, running on Oracle Exadata engineered systems – all at a highly affordable entry-level price. It is a full Oracle Database experience, compatible with what you get on-premises or in other Oracle Database Cloud Services, provisioned within minutes, and suitable for small to medium sized data.

Oracle

Sample Customers

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

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Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs. Oracle Exadata Express Cloud Service