We developed some products, and most of them run in Oracle because our company is an Oracle partner. In fact, we're using Oracle and SQL Server, and I have more experience with that (SQL Server). But the main core of the company is more related to Oracle.
Senior System Administrator / CyberSecurity Analist / SQL Server DBA at Glintt
A robust multi-model database management system
Pros and Cons
- "I like that it's a robust product. It has very good features. One good feature is Oracle REX because, in SQL Server, we don't have that. SQL Server has something similar, but it's not the same stuff."
- "It's not very user-friendly, and it's a little complex. Another issue that I don't like is the licensing complexity."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
More robust product
What is most valuable?
I like that it's a robust product. It has very good features. One good feature is Oracle RAC because, in SQL Server, we don't have that. SQL Server has something similar (SQL Server AlwaysOn), but it's not the same stuff.
What needs improvement?
It's not very user-friendly, and it's a little complex. Another issue that I don't like is the licensing complexity. It's because of the SQL Server. We have several distinct editions, and I know that if I get the Enterprise Edition, I will have all the products. But with Oracle, I can get the Enterprise Edition, but if I need some kind of encryption, I need to pay more. If I need some kind of replication, I need to pay more, and so on. Every time my team needs some of this stuff, we have to ask Oracle. So, what's the point of the license?
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been dealing with Oracle Database for more than 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think it's a stable product, but we had to add some special patches in the past because of bugs in the product, especially on Oracle REX.
How are customer service and support?
We always have support from Oracle.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is more complex than SQL Server. SQL Server is very easy to set up and log in. Oracle is a little more complicated.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Oracle Database is expensive. We also need to buy additional products.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Oracle Database to potential users. But I would tell them that it depends on their main goal. It depends on how they want to use the database. They also have to consider the costs because Oracle is more expensive.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Oracle Database an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Consultant at Rpc Data
Flexible and easy to use with good performance
Pros and Cons
- "It's extremely easy to use and the performance is great."
- "The integration could be improved. If you are integrating with other Oracle products, it is fine, however, if your goal is to integrate with third-party products, Oracle isn't as good."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for the storing of data.
It can also be used for other purposes. For example, at the bank, and other financial institutions, they are using the database for transacting their information.
What is most valuable?
It's quite a big database. I have seen it in companies sized from medium to large enterprise-level. It also works for government organizations that are quite sizeable.
The solution is quite stable. When you work on planning for salaries, you can notice that Oracle is extremely stable.
It's a very flexible product. You are able to accomplish a lot of things.
It's extremely easy to use and the performance is great.
Oracle support is great. They are quite helpful when you run into problems. They help you overcome any issues. If you run into a bug, you contact support, and they solve it.
If you have a stored database with the five standards that Oracle recommends, you will never experience something like, your database being down.
What needs improvement?
The integration could be improved. If you are integrating with other Oracle products, it is fine, however, if your goal is to integrate with third-party products, Oracle isn't as good. There was a time when I was working on the other project and we were trying to integrate the database with Microsoft Active Directory. It was quite difficult to find a connection. We were eventually able to connect, however, it was quite difficult.
There's a new version right now. May have managed to rectify the issues with third-party integrations in that version. However, I haven't tested it yet.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for a couple of years now. It's been since 2010.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very, very good. There aren't really bugs and glitches, however, if there are, Oracle will help resolve them quickly. It doesn't crash or freeze. You never really have to worry about your database going down.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a big database. There is lots of room to scale. The solution can work well for large-scale organizations.
Depending on the number of the requirements, in terms of information, if you want to change the memory or you want to expand the storage, it has the capability to do that. So It's quite a flexible database.
Oracle has done a tremendous job of really allowing companies to scale in and out as needed.
I've worked with many clients and they've been of varying sizes. the company I am working with right now has 200 users on the solution.
We do plan to continue to use the solution and to upgrade to the new version, 19C.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've used technical support in the past and they have always been very good. If you provide the information the way it's supposed to be presented - and that means being explicit in your issue - they can help you very fast.
How was the initial setup?
On-prem deployments take quite a long time. However, depending on what you want to achieve, it could go faster. Either you are doing the direct installation, which takes time, or you are doing a cloud deployment, and on the cloud, it takes less than five minutes to deploy. It's very, very fast.
We have about five people on our technical team that can handle deployment and maintenance tasks.
What about the implementation team?
I can handle the installation myself. I've done both on-premises and cloud deployments at this point and both I am able to handle quite easily. I do not need the assistance of a consultant or integrator.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I work with clients and they are the ones that have to pay for the license. If they are using it for production purposes, they need to pay. I can't speak to the exact costs.
What other advice do I have?
While we mostly work with on-premises deployments, I've recently also tried the cloud deployment.
We work with a variety of versions, including 11G, 12C, and 18C.
I recommend Oracle. I always do. They are an excellent company with a very good product.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Everyone should keep in mind that the way of the future is to move to the cloud. Oracle is working to support this. They're encouraging everyone to move to the cloud.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Oracle Database
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
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Head of Department at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Good in-memory and Data Redaction features, scales well, and the support is fast
Pros and Cons
- "The Data Redaction feature is easy to use and we are quite happy with it."
- "Sometimes, the patches supplied by Oracle to update the software do not work."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and Oracle Database is one of the products that we implement for our customers. We also use it ourselves. It is used to store large amounts of data including things such as customer data and shipment data.
We have our own private cloud so it is possible to host Oracle in that way, but we more commonly use an on-premises deployment because the size of the data is huge. In some ways, we have no choice but to host it on-premises.
What is most valuable?
The Data Redaction feature is easy to use and we are quite happy with it.
With Oracle, we are happy with the performance the majority of the time. It is only when we have a very large amount of data that it begins to slow down.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, the patches supplied by Oracle to update the software do not work. Ultimately, we have a lot of issues because of this because we have to use trial and error to solve our performance issues.
We have a lot of performance issues, especially with a huge amount of data being using during a peak time.
In the future, we expect that Oracle will incorporate some NoSQL functionality. Right now, there is a lot of demand for storing JSON data. We would like to perform actions similar to that of Elasticsearch. One of the reasons that we choose Oracle is because they are quite aggressive when it comes to improving their product, and they are always providing new features.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Oracle Database for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, Informix is better than Oracle. Oracle gives us patches to improve the product, but sometimes the patches do not work and we subsequently have issues. By comparison, Informix does not provide many patches. Instead, remains stable for a few years without needing many changes.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Oracle is quite good in terms of scalability. 90% of our applications run on Oracle, so we have a lot of users.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have bought quite a large number of licenses, so the support that we get is very good. They are fast, normally responding to us within one hour. This is according to an agreement that we purchased from them.
How was the initial setup?
When we purchase a server, it is another team that installs Oracle. After this, we create the database schema inside of Oracle.
What about the implementation team?
We have two types of people in the company who help us with Oracle. One handles the normal, day-to-day operations, whereas the other is used for deployment, setup, and maintenance.
When we buy a new server, the deployment team completes the installation and initial setup. After installation, they help us to fine-tune the database. When the application is deployed in production, they help us to troubleshoot day-to-day issues that we encounter.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a global license and it is renewed every two years. Seeing as a lot of our applications use Oracle, our team has been able to negotiate a better deal.
What other advice do I have?
In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it. For people who have a huge volume of data and they need good response time, Oracle is a good choice for them.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Data Solution Architect at Econet Wireless Zimbabwe
Great performance, very scalable, very stable, and easy backups
Pros and Cons
- "I found the ease of backup, partitioning, and robust indexing most valuable. The main feature of Oracle is the structure of the database. The way your backups are taken on the online backup system and the way it restores and handles partitioning of your data are also valuable. Its performance is great, and it is also very flexible."
- "It should have flexible licensing across different platforms. It has got different licensing models for Intel Power and SPARC servers."
What is our primary use case?
We are using it for different applications. We are using it for our data warehousing, ERP, and EBS systems.
What is most valuable?
I found the ease of backup, partitioning, and robust indexing most valuable. The main feature of Oracle is the structure of the database. The way your backups are taken on the online backup system and the way it restores and handles partitioning of your data are also valuable. Its performance is great, and it is also very flexible.
What needs improvement?
It should have flexible licensing across different platforms. It has got different licensing models for Intel Power and SPARC servers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for more than 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. You can start with a small server, and you can scale it up by just increasing your licenses.
In terms of the number of users, for our data warehouse, there is only one application user. Other users interact with the database through the application. After you log onto the application, the application logs in to the database with a single user ID.
How are customer service and technical support?
Oracle technical support is a bit tricky. They want you to first use all the available resources, such as the online knowledge base and so on. After you have exhausted those, you can approach your technical person by logging in to the system.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used other database systems, such as MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server.
How was the initial setup?
Its installation requires someone who actually knows the database setup, such as an Oracle DBA. For a production system, you would need an experienced person.
You first need to set up the environment such as servers, storage, etc. It might take you two days to set up the environment. The installation of the database might take you a day or two depending on the features that you want to add. If it is just a straightforward database, it would normally take a day. If you want to do partitioning and replication, it would take another two or three days.
What about the implementation team?
I handle the installations. Its deployment and maintenance are minimal. You need three people: one specialist in hardware, one specialist in operating systems, and one specialist in database software.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution. We plan to keep using this solution.
I would rate Oracle Database a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Stable and scalable, recommended for formatted and structured data, and works well for a huge amount of data
Pros and Cons
- "As compared to SQL Server, Oracle Database performs better when you have a huge amount of data. We didn't face any problems when we had a huge amount of data. There were also no issues with importing/exporting and migrating the data."
- "We faced some difficulties in the network configuration area. All these things can be fixed with the support of Oracle's networking team. We didn't face any other major problems. Its deployment can be easier. It should be easier to configure for a developer. If a developer is planning a database and trying to configure it, it should be easy for him because many times, we cannot directly get help from DBAs."
What is our primary use case?
Over the past seven years, we have done many projects, and in many of those projects, we have used Oracle as a source. We are using an ETL tool from Informatica, and we have used Oracle as a source for our projects. For our configuration and repository databases, we normally use SQL Server. We are not using Oracle Database for that.
What is most valuable?
As compared to SQL Server, Oracle Database performs better when you have a huge amount of data. We didn't face any problems when we had a huge amount of data. There were also no issues with importing/exporting and migrating the data.
What needs improvement?
We faced some difficulties in the network configuration area. All these things can be fixed with the support of Oracle's networking team. We didn't face any other major problems.
Its deployment can be easier. It should be easier to configure for a developer. If a developer is planning a database and trying to configure it, it should be easy for him because many times, we cannot directly get help from DBAs.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. Around 40 to 50 customers are using Oracle Database.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is fine.
How was the initial setup?
Until version 11g, I didn't face any problem. You can completely set it up in about two hours. I tried version 12c installation once, and it was slightly different than earlier versions. Oracle Database has worked well from version 8 to version 11. These versions have the same type of things, but I faced some difficulty with version 12c, but that could be because we are not used to it. I need to go through it properly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others if they are very particular about formatted and structured data.
I would rate Oracle Database a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
IT Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Exceptional features with good availability, and reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
- "All of the features offered by Oracle, more than meet the expectations."
- "As of now, Oracle is branded to Oracle only, the option of migrating to other databases is not available."
What is our primary use case?
We have 5 Oracle servers having 3 RAC and 2 Stand Alone servers.All using Oracle 12c R2 SE.
1 DR standalone server is also there .
How has it helped my organization?
Oracle was the first choice at the time of creating our application because of our very low load.
Now when our application has become mission-critical, Even with the SE version we are able to deal with a complete load very efficiently and effectively.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of this solution are the performance and its inbuilt services.
In Oracle we can find out most services are inbuilt. scalability, high availability, split brain handling , Null handling ,it working of execution plan . All these features have helped us many times .
What needs improvement?
As of Now Oracle has gained an image of Customer binding database.
Once some one opted for Oracle database , it becomes very difficult in many ways to move on other database.
As of now oracle can be considered as Top of the list and many of the database are not enough close to oracle concepts and it's standards so it's kind of responsibility to Oracle to bring a fair competition in market.
In return ,it will help Oracle itself. Take an Example of Football. Consider Oracle a high level Club who have it's own Practice and playing Area but only his own rules are implemented. Any player who is a beginner and cannot afford such a high clubs will start practice in small arenas which have some what similar rules .Once Player's practice gave him confidence to go for a big club ,he will feel comfortable in choosing a club whose rules are known to him , Not someone for whom he has to change his playing technique.
So Oracle should consider working in this direction so that he can keep the control over the wind of Market.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
We are currently using Oracle 12c SE Release 2.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, we know that Oracles releases quarterly batches but we have still been faced with many bugs over the last year.
I cannot say that it is stable.
This is an area that needs improvement.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
As known to everyone, One of the best.
How are customer service and technical support?
This is one of the portion where Oracle have to be little bit loose .I have raised only around 7-8 tickets including 2 P1 , but it always looks like I am talking to a bot with pre recorded statements when the person is not able to answer. Most of the times information is attached , but they still insist very hardly to send it in there format so that there machine can read it .
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Nope , Oracle was used from Starting.
How was the initial setup?
All is easy, given that you must know what are you using it for.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Depending on the services included, it seems little bit expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
In starting we didn't evaluate much, but giving the condition of ending support , we do not have any choice so we are looking for other options including upgradation as well.
What other advice do I have?
Oracle is good for large scale environments.
New startups MUST always think of other options before going to Oracle.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Chief Engineer at ministry of electricity
Reliable and stable with excellent features
Pros and Cons
- "It is reliable. It's very stable."
- "The solution can be quite expensive."
What is our primary use case?
I use Oracle in two systems. The first one is called the Complaint Management System, and the second one was for Human Resources for the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq.
The Complaint Management System is related to a call center. There is a call center responsible for writing down the complaints from the customers about their network electricity. If there is an error they reach out to us. There is an operator there writing down this complaint using his terminal. There are many different call centers in the country and all of them write up these complaints using the Oracle Database.
What is most valuable?
Oracle has always been a wonderful database.
It is reliable. It's very stable.
The solution has everything you are looking for in terms of features on offer. It's very complete.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be quite expensive. It would be ideal if they could work on the pricing model in order to figure out how to lower the licensing.
It takes time to learn Oracle. There's a bit of a learning curve. It's not easy to use at first, however, slowly, day by day, you can get and develop your skills.
There are a lot of YouTube videos and tons of material on Google that you can access. You can also easily find so many training institutes all over the world if you really want to understand aspects of the product. It would be ideal if Oracle could initiate some sort of learning center in Iraq. Even if it's just on Youtube, if it can be catered towards Iraqis to showcase the technology in the form of online Youtube videos or webinars, it would be extremely useful for expanding the solution within the Iraqi market. Right now, competitors like Microsoft can easily come in and just say "here's what we do, and at less cost than Oracle".
The initial setup is a little complex.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about ten years at this point. It's been around a decade, and therefore I've used it for quite a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable most of the time. Unfortunately, I faced a few different issues. I was luckily able to solve them.
It's very important, if you choose Oracle as a solution, to also get the support as well. You can technically live without it, however, if you run into issues, Oracle can help you when you have the support that they offer.
In my case, I didn't have support so I had to kind-of feel around for a solution. I made the mistake, after the first year, of not renewing my support and I really should have.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it outward, it can do so.
How are customer service and technical support?
While it's my understanding that technical support is good, frankly, for the first year, I didn't ask them for any help. Therefore, I don't have any experience with Oracle support.
That said, I have full faith that they will respond very well to any issues.
In my case, I had support for the first year of service and then did not renew it. You really should renew though.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not really so straightforward. It's actually rather complex.
There are two ways to start with Oracle. You can go in by yourself and try to learn as you go or you can study a bit at an institute or school so that you can get pretty comfortable with the product. If you have some knowledge, there's less of a learning curve during installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The support does cost extra, however, it is worth the extra money. It really comes in handy if you run into problems.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers and end-users. We don't have a partnership or special business relationship with Oracle.
I really enjoy using the solution. It is stable and reliable.
It's more expensive than Microsoft's options, however, I personally prefer working with it. It's worth the extra money.
Aside from stability issues and a certain level of complexity, it's quite a good solution. I would rate it eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Delivery Head IT & IS at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
It provides scalability, stability, reliability, performance, and security
Pros and Cons
- "Scalability, reliability, and performance are what we are getting with this solution. It is highly scalable and has very good performance. It also has in-built monitoring and optimized optimizer. It is quite stable and secure. When it comes to integration, you can integrate it with other tools as well. However, we have been using Oracle Database within our own premises. So, it is kind of difficult for us to basically do a kind of integration with the outside software. We prefer to do things within our own premises."
- "Scalability, reliability, and performance are what we are getting with this solution; it is highly scalable and has very good performance, with in-built monitoring and an optimized optimizer."
- "There are SQL plan flips that are happening with version 12c. We would basically like to have the next version wherein we don't see such plan flips because they create performance issues. There are quite a lot of features that I would like to see, but this is the main one for now."
- "There are SQL plan flips that are happening with version 12c. We would basically like to have the next version wherein we don't see such plan flips because they create performance issues."
What is our primary use case?
We are primarily using it for software. We have a lot of software applications that are connected to this database.
What is most valuable?
Scalability, reliability, and performance are what we are getting with this solution. It is highly scalable and has very good performance. It also has in-built monitoring and optimized optimizer.
It is quite stable and secure. When it comes to integration, you can integrate it with other tools as well. However, we have been using Oracle Database within our own premises. So, it is kind of difficult for us to basically do a kind of integration with the outside software. We prefer to do things within our own premises.
What needs improvement?
There are SQL plan flips that are happening with version 12c. We would basically like to have the next version wherein we don't see such plan flips because they create performance issues. There are quite a lot of features that I would like to see, but this is the main one for now.
For how long have I used the solution?
It has been over 20 years since we have been using Oracle Database.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is absolutely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is highly scalable. It is scalable to the best of our needs. We have around 10,000 to 12,000 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have three levels of technical support. The L1 level support is in-house. For L2 level support, we have an infrastructure team. For L3 level support, we have a contract with Oracle, and whenever we need it, we get their input.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been using Oracle since the time I have been working in this organization. I am not sure what was used previously. I am aware of 20 years, which is quite a long time.
How was the initial setup?
It was very easy to install. It takes around two hours. This is a production database, so there have been a lot of validations. We do a lot of pre validations and post validations.
What about the implementation team?
For these kinds of installations, we have an infrastructure team. We have people here who do the installation. We have four trained Oracle Database administrators.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this solution. Oracle is already an established product. It doesn't depend on my recommendation.
We will keep using this solution because we need to keep our data within our premises for our business model. As of now, we have no plans to go to the cloud and use any of the cloud services.
I would rate Oracle Database a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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