No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
reviewer1488372 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Apr 11, 2021
Provides great CDC mechanism for adding data incrementally; simple installation
Pros and Cons
  • "A big advantage is the ability to store any type of data in SQL Server."
  • "The best feature in SQL Server is the CDC mechanism for adding data incrementally."
  • "Performance could be improved."
  • "You need to be careful if you have a very large amount of data, because the platform can be degraded if you're not on top of it."

What is our primary use case?

We use SQL Server to import data from different source systems. Depending on requirements, you act as the resource and can schedule jobs in the Azure environment. The server can be stopped when not required so there's no cost when it's not being used. We make use of the pipeline to put the data into the SQL Azure environment and extract it to the server. I'm the associate manager.

What is most valuable?

The best feature in SQL Server is the CDC mechanism for adding data incrementally. Another good feature is the ability to store any type of data in SQL Server, it's a big advantage.

What needs improvement?

You need to be careful if you have a very large amount of data, because the platform can be degraded if you're not on top of it. Oracle handles that issue better and it's the main problem I have with SQL Server. The performance should be better.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product. 

Buyer's Guide
SQL Server
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about SQL Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This product is scalable, we have between 20 and 30 users in our company. We'll continue to use this product. 

How are customer service and support?

We haven't needed to contact technical support. If there is an issue we use the different SQL forums and we can easily fix issues. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, you can install with basic knowledge. Installation doesn't take long at all, I did it myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are no annual licensing fees, you pay when you use the product. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a nine out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Infrastructure and Networks at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Apr 11, 2021
Reasonably priced, stable, scalable, and the support is good
Pros and Cons
  • "We like business integration, database, and analysis."
  • "We use all of the features that SQL offers and we like business integration, database, and analysis."
  • "I would like to see more integration with other platforms."
  • "I would like to see more integration with other platforms."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for data warehousing and products to the platforms developed by the company. 

What is most valuable?

We like everything. We use all of the features that SQL offers. 

We like business integration, database, and analysis.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see more integration with other platforms.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for more than ten years

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable solution and we have 1,000 users in our organization.

We are stabilizing, so we are not going to increase our usage with SQL.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is okay. We don't have any issues with them.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

It took a couple of hours to install, no more than that.

What about the implementation team?

We completed the implementation ourselves.

We have a team of 34 admins and engineers to deploy and maintain this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We purchased our license and the pricing is fine for us. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I would rate SQL Server 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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SQL Server
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about SQL Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user1464441 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at OMFYS Technologies India Pvt.Ltd
Real User
Apr 11, 2021
Installation is straightforward, flexible-to-use and it has secure functions
Pros and Cons
  • "SQL Server and their offers are very good. You can switch over, export, and do other things."
  • "SQL Server and their offers are very good, you can switch over, export, and do other things, I got access from users and it is very flexible to use."
  • "The free version of SQL Server is time-limited before updating to the paid version."
  • "The free version of SQL Server is time-limited before updating to the paid version."

What is our primary use case?

I use SQL Server for .NET. We have ERP software in the background and we use the SQL Server for its creation.

What is most valuable?

SQL Server and their offers are very good. You can switch over, export, and do other things. I got access from users and it is very flexible to use.

What needs improvement?

SQL Server is technically good. For questions or other queries, we go through the internet and they explain it there. I think the structure of their product is good.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SQL Server for one year and a month.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. It was very easy for me to handle it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The free version of SQL Server is time-limited before updating to the paid version. So, sort of more access and more work in your database to help process most of the time. It's better to purchase it for more secure functions.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have a technical support engineer who handles maintenance and security for SQL Server. I think Microsoft's technical support is also very good.

How was the initial setup?

It's a straightforward installation. I installed SQL Server 2012, 2013 and 2016.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The usability of the free version is limited. They also have some guidelines on how to use the paid ones. You still have to check your IT requirements after purchasing it. We are using a licensed one right now, which has more functionality than the free version.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
KopanoRamaphoi - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Rpc Data
Real User
Apr 11, 2021
Easy to set up and configure, integrates well with other components, and the support is good
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that it is easy to use and you don't have to do a lot of configuration."
  • "In summary, this is a good product, I plan to continue using it, and I definitely recommend it."
  • "More things in SQL Server need to be automated."
  • "More things in SQL Server need to be automated."

What is our primary use case?

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our clients.

It can be used for different things such as data warehousing and online transactional processing (OLTP). This is a product that I have never used in production, however.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that it is easy to use and you don't have to do a lot of configuration. For example, there is no installation.

When you want to insert data, it is easy to do. For example, if I want to test something then I log into my GitHub account, download what I want, and then upload it to the SQL server.

The integration with other products like SQL Developer is really good. Connecting it to Visual Studio is also quite good.

What needs improvement?

More things in SQL Server need to be automated. We need to do a lot of things, especially on the cloud, and Oracle has better automation for handling these kinds of tasks. Automation is the key, these days.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SQL Server for a couple of months.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With respect to scalability, I can say that the cloud version is scalable. I don't have much to say about how an on-premises deployment scales. However, in general, both Oracle and Microsoft products scale really well.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is responsive and quite good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also have experience with Oracle Database. When I compared pricing between the two products, I found that Microsoft was more expensive.

How was the initial setup?

There is no installation. Everything is done by Microsoft and all you have to do is deploy it. The process takes less than five minutes.

What about the implementation team?

I have done the installation many times by myself.

As a cloud-based product, there are no special resources required for maintenance. Once you deploy it, you just want to make sure that the data is displayed or presented in the way that you want it. Most of the technical work is handled by Microsoft.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a charge for this product if you are using it in production. For development, there is no cost. The pricing from Microsoft is quite expensive compared to Oracle.

What other advice do I have?

In summary, this is a good product, I plan to continue using it, and I definitely recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1362099 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Apr 1, 2021
Easy to use, with good performance but could have better pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "The performance is good."
  • "The performance is good and it's very easy to use."
  • "The pricing in general could be better."
  • "The only people that can use it directly are developers."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used for studying data and statistics. We have some services that we are monitoring and keeping records and doing reports, and we use it for that.

What is most valuable?

The solution is quite stable.

The solution has the capability of scaling.

The performance is good. 

It's very easy to use.

What needs improvement?

The solution was delivered to us, and we really don't interface with the solution directly. I can't speak to any features that are missing.

The only people that can use it directly are developers. It's not for everyday users.

The pricing in general could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for about five years or so. It's been a while.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. It's reliable. We do not deal with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale, however, it's dependant on the hardware. It's not limitless.

There are about ten users using the solution at this time.

We do have plans to increase usage in the future.

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't interface with Microsoft support. We always go to the vendor that performed the integration for us.

How was the initial setup?

We did not implement the solution. We had it delivered to us.

I've done an installation in the past, however, not at this company. It's straightforward. It's simple due to the fact that it's going to be installed on the Microsoft operating system, not like MySQL that's used on a Linux server.

Deployment may take about 15 minutes or so.

We have a technical team of about eight people that can handle maintenance as necessary.

What about the implementation team?

We had an integrator deliver the solution to us, as we are not ourselves developers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't have any details on the licensing in terms of any details or costs. It's not an aspect of the solution I directly deal with.

What other advice do I have?

We are just customers and end-users. We don't have any business relationship with the company.

We use the express edition of the solution.

It was delivered as part of a solution. We are not developers. It was a turnkey solution delivered to us by an integrator, and we are doing some maintenance, however, we are not developing the content of the database. It was used as part of our services for maybe five years or more.

The database is on the back end. We are using it with our applications at the front end that we are interfacing with. In terms of the SQL server, we don't go and use it directly. We use it through the application. There's an application that is providing a user interface for us, and we work on that user interface. We don't work on the native interface of the SQL server.

Overall, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten. I've heard that Oracle is better.

I'd recommend this solution to other companies.

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.
PeerSpot user
Technical Director at Progetti e Soluzioni
Real User
Mar 28, 2021
Great integration with extensive documentation and a good community for support purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "We've found it to basically be pretty problem-free."
  • "It's a very complete product, we've found it to basically be pretty problem-free, the integration with other products has always been quite good, and the security of the product has never given us any issues."
  • "The interface could be updated to make it slightly more user-friendly."
  • "The interface could be updated to make it slightly more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for recording transactions and information related to the reservation of a service. 

What is most valuable?

The product is very stable.

It offers very good documentation. When there are some little issues, it's always very easy to go into the documentation for troubleshooting purposes. There's just so much documentation on hand and a really great community around the product that is very helpful.

It's a very complete product.

We've found it to basically be pretty problem-free.

The integration with other products has always been quite good.

The security of the product has never given us any issues.

What needs improvement?

We're quite satisfied with the solution. There aren't any outstanding features we would like to add.

The interface could be updated to make it slightly more user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for more than ten years. It's been a while. It's been more than a decade at this point.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. there are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. it's excellent.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't really scaled the solution all that much. At the moment, we have measured the scalability in a horizontal way. When we needed to have more installation and more capacity, we split the database into a different SQL Server instance.

In the future, we'll likely need to consider scalability more. We are also moving in the last two years, also to a different architecture from a monolithic to a more microservice architecture. Maybe the scalability can be more easily handled in the applications that are talking to each other and leaving the database out of the equation.

While end-users are hard to quantify, I can say that likely half a million users have come through our system for transactions.

In the near future, we will continue to use the solution. We might use it for the next four or five years, although it is hard to say.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've always been able to rely on the fantastic documentation and great community around the product in order to troubleshoot problems. It's very easy to fix issues as they arise due to the public knowledge available to everyone.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've mostly always used this solution. Last quarter, we moved a little bit to a NoSQL database. We have done a little experiment on Cassandra however, previously, it has always been on SQL Server.

We're considering moving away from the solution right now and trying something new. The owner of the company wants to experiment with other technologies and see what is out there, which is why there is talk of change. However, it's not a reflection on this product, which has been largely quite good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not overly difficult. It's pretty straightforward. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process.

We have 12 technical people on our team that can handle the implementation.

What other advice do I have?

The last version we used is 2015 if I'm not mistaken. We don't jump immediately to the latest version due to the fact that, usually, we look for stability. We make the move to the next version in case of some integration or limitation. We prefer not to move onto something that might have bugs or glitches that need to be patched. It's more secure for us that way. 

I'd recommend the solution to other companies.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. It's doing exactly what we need it to do. We've very happy with it.

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.
PeerSpot user
it_user1494501 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Developer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Mar 23, 2021
A stable and scalable relational database management system
Pros and Cons
  • "The performance is great."
  • "Overall, it is generally a good product, and if you're interested in using this solution, my advice is to do your research because it's a good product, but there are other products available."
  • "It's difficult to make changes. It's a very complicated product in general — that's the issue."
  • "SSAS-MD is difficult to make changes. It's a very complicated product in general — that's the issue."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to analyze the profitability of sales.

Within our organization, there are roughly 30 people using the analysis services solution from the Business Intelligence side.

What is most valuable?

The performance can be great. Tuning and understanding SSAS is not straightforward.

What needs improvement?

The issue is that Microsoft is not really supporting the Multi Dimensional Analysis Services feature any longer and it's looking very obsolete. We're looking at replacing it.

SSAS-MD is difficult to make changes. It's a very complicated product in general — that's the issue. It is too complicated for most. It's too difficult to change. It's too difficult!

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this product for more than 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This particular product is quite stable. We've not had any particular problems. We've had problems with Microsoft Excel recently, but Analysis Services has been quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, it's quite good. It's not scalable up to the big data type of thing that people are doing now. It's scalable up to a point, but it has been overtaken by newer products.

How are customer service and technical support?

We try and avoid calling Microsoft support, generally. That's the truth. We've tried getting support for other products like Power BI — support is an issue.

They're changing their products and they're not stable enough. Analysis Services has been okay, but some of their other products, like Excel and Power BI, are not stable.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We're looking at alternative solutions because we think Microsoft's licensing costs have been expensive and multidimensional cubes have been overtaken by other technologies such as in-memory databases and products like Snowflake.

We're looking for a solution that allows us to pay by usage rather than pay by the number of users. We don't want to pay for hardware capacity that we rarely use. I'm looking at several products, including Snowflake, that bill by how much we use the product. I'm not sure if Microsoft is on board with that yet. I was also looking at Qlik — they do a commercial model that is paid by the amount of time. I think paying per usage is a rising trend at the moment.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give SQL Server a rating of nine. It's generally a good product.

If you're interested in using this solution, my advice is to do your research. It's a good product, but there are other products available.

One of the biggest issues that I have with Microsoft is that they change their products and don't continue to support the old product. We've got some things in Microsoft Excel that are no longer supported. They bring out a new model and they drop support for some of the older features.

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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1522923 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT, CTO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Mar 21, 2021
Reliable, scalable, and user-friendly but the pricing could always be better
Pros and Cons
  • "It's much more friendly in comparison with Oracle."
  • "From my point of view, using SQL Server 2017 and 2019 is very good."
  • "I am fine with the pricing, but pricing is an area that can always be improved."
  • "I am fine with the pricing, but pricing is an area that can always be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are using this solution as a database. The main purpose is as an SQL Server.

How has it helped my organization?

Our backend and core systems are using Microsoft SQL Server. We have no complaints from anyone who is using it.

We have nothing that we can compare it with.

What is most valuable?

It's much more friendly in comparison with Oracle.

We are using the standard features. I don't see any areas that can be simplified with the standard functionalities. We don't use any special extended features.

From my point of view, using SQL Server 2017 and 2019 is very good. I haven't experienced any issues or been in a situation where I was struggling with problems for which I didn't have access to proper documentation or proper functions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SQL Server for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

After eight years in our company, we have not had any issues with SQL Server from a stability point of view.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are a small company. We don't have any issues with this and we are fully virtualized. If we need to, we can extend the amount of CPUs as we want.

Our core system is being used by 50 users, but they are not accessing the SQL Server. We have approximately 10 users in our company who are using the SQL Server.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have never used technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I am using Avamar and Data Domain. I have been using Data Domain for four or five years. It was used as the data storage for the backup solution in our sister company.

I worked with Oracle in the previous company. Microsoft SQL Server is better.

We have also used Software Center, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, and almost everything that is Microsoft-based.

How was the initial setup?

It was installed by an outsourcing company. It is another sister company.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's cheaper than Oracle.

I am fine with the pricing, but pricing is an area that can always be improved.

We are Microsoft D-level partners. Pricing is not an issue for us, because of the outreach of our mother company.

What other advice do I have?

We are a Microsoft-based company.

I would rate SQL Server a seven 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. partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SQL Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SQL Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.