Oracle Database vs. Microsoft SQL Server

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Oracle Database
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Oracle Database, currently in edition 23ai, is a converged, multimodel database management system. It is designed to simplify development for AI, microservices, graph, document, spatial, and relational applications.
$0.05
per hour
Microsoft SQL Server
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.
$1,418
Per License
Pricing
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Editions & Modules
Oracle Base Database Service - Standard
$0.0538
per hour
Oracle Base Database Service - Enterprise
$0.1075
per hour
Oracle Base Database Service - High Performance
$0.2218
per hour
Standard Edition
Contact Sales
Enterprise Edition
Contact Sales
Personal Edition
Contact Sales
Subscription
$1,418.00
Per License
Enterprise
$13,748.00
Per License
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Best Alternatives
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Small Businesses
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.4
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Oracle DatabaseMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
I believe Oracle Database is still the best RDBMS database which is the database to consider for OLTP applications and for Adhoc requests. They are good in Datawarehousing in certain aspects but not the best. Oracle is also a great database for scaling up with their Clusterware solution which also makes the database highly available with services moving to the live instance without much trouble.
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Microsoft SQL Server is ideal for highly available SQL workloads by using SQL Server Always On availability groups. Microsoft SQL Server might not be appropriate for solutions which require a very low resource footprint, since it requires significant CPU cores and RAM memory as well as high IOPS, always depending on the usage scenario.
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Pros
  • Best thing about it is that it supports PL/SQL which is helpful in writing complex quarries easily.
  • Its storage capacity , backup and recovery features make it the best database storage tool available.
  • Other thing I like about this software is its interface is so good.
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  • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
  • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
  • Data Security
  • Easy to understand and use
  • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
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Cons
  • New (actually it is more than five years old) multi-tenant architecture is not as straightforward as SQL Server, but it has been enhanced in Oracle 12c Release 2 and later 18c and 19c.
  • Many features require additional licensing (either as options or as packs) that increase the total cost
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  • The import/export process can be tricky to follow with lots of steps and could be better for importing flat files
  • Obtaining help from Microsoft is cumbersome and often other internet sources are better and quicker
  • The documentation is not great and again it's generally better to obtain help elsewhere if needed
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Likelihood to Renew
It is very likely to use this 12c (or next version) of Oracle Database. Nothing close to it in the marketplace in terms of performance, reliability and overall database management efficiency. If Oracle did one thing really good - it is it's OLTP Database I must say.
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I think it is unlikely that sql server has disappointed someone, it is likely that someone will come initially discouraged if the needs and problems that occur are very challenging, but definitely have a SQL oriented system means having a solid base to work and on which maintain the their data securely
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Usability
Many of the powerful options can be auto-configured but there are still many things to take into account at the moment of installing and configuring an Oracle Database, compared with SQL Server or other databases. At the same time, that extra complexity allows for detailed configuration and guarantees performance, scalability, availability and security.
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SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Its does not have outages.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
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Support Rating
1. I have very good experience with Oracle Database support team. Oracle support team has pool of talented Oracle Analyst resources in different regions. To name a few regions - EMEA, Asia, USA(EST, MST, PST), Australia. Their support staffs are very supportive, well trained, and customer focused. Whenever I open Oracle Sev1 SR(service request), I always get prompt update on my case timely. 2. Oracle has zoom call and chat session option linked to Oracle SR. Whenever you are in Oracle portal - you can chat with the Oracle Analyst who is working on your case. You can request for Oracle zoom call thru which you can share the your problem server screen in no time. This is very nice as it saves lot of time and energy in case you have to follow up with oracle support for your case. 3.Oracle has excellent knowledge base in which all the customer databases critical problems and their solutions are well documented. It is very easy to follow without consulting to support team at first.
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We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
It was good
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
very hands on and detailed training
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Implementation Rating
Overall the implementation went very well and after that everything came out as expected - in terms of performance and scalability. People should always install and upgrade a stable version for production with the latest patch set updates, test properly as much as possible, and should have a backup plan if anything unexpected happens
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Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
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Alternatives Considered
Oracle Database is among the easiest to integrate with, program against, have a reliable cluster with DR, and has the most understood and well-documented databases. It suits really well if the software shop is primarily Java-based, and deals with large volumes of data with a high degree of diversity among the applications by purpose and use. Paid support is recommended as well as planned periodic patching and upgrades.
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Microsoft SQL is slower than MySQL and Access but far more feature-rich and reliable. Access is almost obsolete nowadays, so not too many people are considering it, but unless budget or an open-source ethos is a factor, Microsoft SQL is superior in every way. Many commonly used tools, like Crystal Reports, support it.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
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Return on Investment
  • We wasted lots of money (Oracle is crazy expensive), time and effort on the project and were highly relieved when we found a different approach to supporting our aging ERP app that did not include Oracle.
  • Because of the difficulty of using Oracle, we spent a lot of money on consultants to help us over the conversion hump. Also wasted. And it was interesting to see them struggle with the software. Upgrades never went well always requiring multiple site visits, for example.
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  • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
  • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
  • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
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