Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) vs Azure SQL Database

Likelihood to Recommend

It is very well suited for big data analytics. Predictive modeling, optimization, and other large scale analysis benefit from using a properly defined SQL Data Warehouse. It is also suited for simple business intelligence such as building historical and active dashboards

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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The most important positive for our organization is the ability to scale up or down at will. As a startup, we needed to quickly adapt to changing space and performance needs. It's also integral as we grow different branches of the business. Thus far, we haven't encountered much of anything with the tool that hasn't been a good fit for our business.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Other

Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse)

Azure SQL Database

Automatic software patching

Database scalability

Automated backups

Database security provisions

Monitoring and metrics

Automatic host deployment

Pros

It is very cost-effective
Development time needed was much less in comparison to other systems
Played very nicely with our ETL and OLAP reporting tools

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Samir Patel, PMP

SQL Development Team Lead

Allianz Asset ManagementInvestment Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Scalability is #1: if it used to be an almost no-win endeavour to try to modernize your server or migrate to other hardware, with Azure SQL Database it becomes a press of a button.
All the tools simply work after you are on Azure SQL Database.
The applications do not need changes in order to start using Azure SQL Database.
Hybrid Cloud scenarios will work.
Clustering and failover - already there.
You can start monitoring the use and extract performance insights in a new way in Azure.

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Arthur Zubarev

Senior Data Platform Consultant

Generali Global Health ServicesInsurance, 5001-10,000 employees

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Cons

Limited T-SQL query library
It is not suitable for OLTP environment
Doesn't support cross-database queries

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Prabhu Sundararaj

Associate - Project

CognizantInformation Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees

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A little slow on processing complex or large Views. We use a lot of Views to feed our BI system, and the processing time could see some improvement, IMHO.
Additional monitoring components would be nice too, automating some built in performance measurement tools would be a nice feature.
Price can always be improved as well. It’s not bad, but room for improvement.

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Verified User

Manager in Finance and Accounting

Consumer Goods Company, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Azure SQL Database 8.0

Based on 1 answer

This is best solution as a DBA one could expect from a service provider and as a cloud service, it removes all your hassles.

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Zimran Azim

Software Project Manager

Forman Christian CollegeInformation Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) 8.0

Based on 1 answer

It helps us to provide data just in time to our clients. With help of massively parallel processing, it consumes less time for both loading and querying the data and it also helps us to plan a more precise budget to our business and send just-in-time alerts in case of any outrage.

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Prabhu Sundararaj

Associate - Project

CognizantInformation Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) 7.9

Based on 3 answers

I like their Support team

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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Azure SQL Database 9.0

Based on 6 answers

We give the support a high rating simply because every time we've had issues or questions, representatives were in contact with us quickly. Without fail, our issues/questions were handled in a timely matter. That kind of response is integral when client data integrity and availability is in question. There is also a wealth of documentation for resolving issues on your own.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Other

Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

SQL Data Warehousing is much easier to manage if you already have SQL Server experience and analysts who are familiar with its interface. We are currently piloting using NoSQL and Hadoop type databases but it is difficult to get set up properly. Additionally, we have to re-train our users to learn how to create python scripts and use spark to query the data

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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Comparing with Amazon Aurora: Azure SQL DB is 100% compatible with SQL Server and Aurora is compatible with MySQL and PostGreSQL. Because of if, SQL DB suits large enterprises with hundreds of databases better. Comparing with Oracle: the main issue is that Oracle will try to push all other services available in their product offering.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Mining & Metals Company, 10,001+ employees

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Return on Investment

We have had an improvement in our overall processing time
Cost was much lower than most of its competitors
Our reporting needs have grown and housing the data here has been great

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Samir Patel, PMP

SQL Development Team Lead

Allianz Asset ManagementInvestment Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Our database costs have decreased over time by 20%.
Our engineer spends much less time managing API calls with some of the new features available.
Our engineer is planning on using the Power Query embedded feature to streamline some ETL processes.

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Scott Kennedy

Director, eCommerce Analytics and Digital Marketing

Franklin SportsSporting Goods, 201-500 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) Editions & Modules

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Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Azure SQL Database Editions & Modules

Edition

2 vCORE	$0.5044¹
6 vCORE	$1.5131¹
10 vCORE	$2.52¹

Per Hour

Additional Pricing Details

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Rating Summary

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse)

Azure SQL Database

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse)

Azure SQL Database

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse)

Azure SQL Database

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse)

Azure SQL Database

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) vs Azure SQL Database