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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Amazon Web Services

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing services. With over 165 services offered, AWS services can provide users with a comprehensive suite of infrastructure and computing building blocks and tools.

    $100

    per month

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database.

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    Free Tier
    $0
    per month
    Basic Environment
    $100 - $200
    per month
    Intermediate Environment
    $250 - $600
    per month
    Advanced Environment
    $600-$2500
    per month
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsAWS allows a “save when you commit” option that offers lower prices when you sign up for a 1- or 3- year term that includes an AWS service or category of services.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    Amazon AWS
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    My experience with Microsoft SQL Server and the form to connect across multiple data connector: Flat file, CSV, Access, Oracle, MySQL, excel file, XML, JSON. Also, MS SQL has a good Reporting tool and interaction with the Web Apps like an HTTP.Requesting data. MS SQL Server is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    When talking about structured storage, the big three currently are SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle. You can also toss in PostgreSQL into the mix. From a straight forward relational storage stand point, any of these tools will work, and work well. However, SQL Server is superior in …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    48 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    50 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    40 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Features
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
    Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Amazon Web Services
    8.6
    79 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime9.273 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic scaling8.974 Ratings00 Ratings
    Elastic load balancing9.470 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-configured templates7.567 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring tools8.774 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-defined machine images8.367 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating system support8.273 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security controls8.875 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automation8.126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Object Storage
    Score9 out of 10
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers
    Score8.7 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP on IBM Cloud
    Score9 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (91 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.4
    (10 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    7.8
    (22 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.2
    (24 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Amazon AWS
    This is something that is actually common across most cloud providers. A comprehensive understanding of one's use cases, constraints and future directions is key to determining if you even need a cloud solution. If you are a 2-person startup developing something with a best-scenario audience of 1k DAU in a year, you would very likely best served by a dirt-cheap dedicated Linux server somewhere (and your options to graduate to a cloud solution will still be open). If, however, you are a bigger fish, and/or you are actively considering build-vs-buy decisions for complicated, highly-loaded, six-figure requests per minute systems, global loadbalancing, extreme growth projections - then MAYBE you solve all or part of it with a cloud provider. And depending on your taste for risk, reliability, flexibility, track record - it might be AWS.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Amazon AWS
    • During the month-end, we experience high resource utilization; however, with AWS's scalability, we can effectively tackle the peak load.
    • With AWS IAM, we don't need to set up complete infrastructure for identity and access management, as AWS provides end-to-end IAM services.
    • With AWS, development has become very easy as it's very quick to spin up and destroy the environment, which saves costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • 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
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Amazon AWS
    • When there is any misconfiguration of EC2 related to SSM Connect. It doesn't clearly states that what particular configuration is missing.
    • Debugging networking related issues could be improved.
    • From the security group page, it's difficult to determine which resource a security group is associated with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
    • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
    • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Amazon AWS
    We are almost entirely satisfied with the service. In order to move off it, we'd have to build for ourselves many of the services that AWS provides and the cost would be prohibitive. Although there are cost savings and security benefits to returning to the colo facility, we could never afford to do it, and we'd hate to give up the innovation and constant cycle of new features that AWS gives us.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Amazon AWS
    AWS offers a wide range of powerful services that cater to various business needs which is significant strength. The ability to scale resources on-demand is a major advantage making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. The sheer volume of options and configurations can be overwhelming for new users leading to a steep learning curve. While functional the AWS management console can feel cluttered and less intuitive compared to some competitors which can hinder navigation. Although some documentation lacks clarity and practical examples which can frustrate users trying to implement specific solutions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Amazon AWS
    Availability is very good, with the exception of occasional spectacular outages.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Amazon AWS
    AWS does not provide the raw performance that you can get by building your own custom infrastructure. However, it is often the case that the benefits of specialized, high-performance hardware do not necessarily outweigh the significant extra cost and risk. Performance as perceived by the user is very different from raw throughput.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Amazon AWS
    The customer support of Amazon Web Services are quick in their responses. I appreciate its entire team, which works amazingly, and provides professional support. AWS is a great tool, indeed, to provide customers a suitable way to
    immediately search for their compatible software's and also to guide them in a
    good direction. Moreover, this product is a good suggestion for every type of
    company because of its affordability and ease of use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Amazon AWS
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Amazon AWS
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Amazon AWS
    The API's were very well documented and was Janova's main point of entry into the services.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Amazon AWS
    Amazon Web Services fits best for all levels of organisations like startup, mid level or enterprise. The services are easy to use and doesn't require a high level of understanding as you can learn via blogs or youtube videos. AWS is Reasonable in cost as the plan is pay as you use.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    [Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Amazon AWS
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Amazon AWS
    • Using Amazon Web Services has allowed us to develop and deploy new SAAS solutions quicker than we did when we used traditional web hosting. This has allowed us to grow our service offerings to clients and also add more value to our existing services.
    • Having AWS deployed has also allowed our development team to focus on delivering high-quality software without worrying about whether our servers will be able to handle the demand. Since AWS allows you to adjust your server needs based on demand, we can easily assign a faster server instance to ease and improve service without the client even knowing what we did.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots