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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    MySQL

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AMySQL is a popular open-source relational and embedded database, now owned by Oracle.N/A

    Microsoft SQL Server

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

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    Oracle
    Chose MySQL
    In terms of capabilities, Microsoft SQL Server is one of the leaders in the database market. It provides a lot of features for high availability, disaster recovery, performance and security. The primary reason why MySQL 8 was chosen was due to the open source nature of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Having used both PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server, I can tell that MySQL performs admirably in a Linux setting. When compared to Microsoft SQL Server, the extra benefit is the minimal or nonexistent licence fee. We find that MySQL's programming interface is particularly …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    I have also used Microsoft SQL Server. It is quite similar to MySQL. However, MySQL has always been my first choice, I have been using it for a very long time. I have also worked with PostgreSQL in a DevOps project. It is good too but a bit hard to learn and understand.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Is not a drop-in replacement for any of the things listed above. MySQL has it's purpose and use-cases, same as those. It's a low-cost solution for high read/low write applications and works very well when used in the right circumstances. Support can be purchased from various …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Rest all the big brand databases incure high licensing cost giving almost the same value that MySQL is giving being an open source database. Other databases like Oracle, MS SQL servers need extensive resource along with a huge team to manage those databases. However, thats not …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    We chose MySQL because of its open-source nature and its compatibility with various systems, languages, and databases. It is easy to use and fast. Additionally, it has been in the market for more than 30 years now which makes it a reliable option when compared to its …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    As I have been commenting in our company, we have solved our performance problems and responses obtaining speed in the queries occupies less disk space, in addition to its price and all the tools of great Scope it possesses.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    We let go SQL server as We don't want to use Windows server and bare the cost of Windows licensing.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL is open source and reduces development costs drastically.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MongoDB has a dynamic schema for how data is stored in 'documents' whereas MySQL is more structured with tables, columns, and rows. MongoDB was built for high availability whereas MySQL can be a challenge when it comes to replication of the data and making everything redundant …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Microsoft SQL and SQLite i have used for different scenarios. SQLite is very small database which is more easy to work with low profile devices like mobiles. MySQL is not suitable for that level and MSSQL mainly comparable with MYSQL. MSSQL has complex installations and …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    So the main reason i would stack up Mysql from rest of the others is that it is open source which can be helpful for doing any POC on the products and learning new technologies and it is also compatible with all other softwares like Microsoft SQL serve and Postgre Sql
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Cost related, is the biggest advantage.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    I would say that in a Linux environment MySQL works great compared to both PostgreSQL and MS SQL. The added benefit compared to MS SQL is the low or absent licensing cost. As we use it mainly from PHP the programming interface is great for MySQL. PostgreSQL has many of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL is relatively easier to use and than PostgreSQL or SQL Server; it's also cheap to use in production compared to SQL Server. For a beginner who wants to ship something quickly, MySQL is really suited for it.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL offers best conditions for a rapid adoption at the organization.
    Also because it's free software, you can scale up in implementations without worrying about licenses fees.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL has most of the functionality of other, very costly, alternatives without the big price tag. It is open-source with improvements coming at a relatively good rate. It is not as robust as those other offerings and can have some challenging points at scale for large …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Microsoft SQL can be considered as an enterprise level software since it is recommended for large businesses. Microsoft SQL has some unique categories like big data processing, DBMS, etc. whereas MySQL is not capable of handling such features. I guess this is how these both …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    I've been using MySQL for so long that it's my go-to RDBMS. I really like MySQL Workbench in conjunction with MySQL. I've experimented with Amazon DynamoDB in my personal time.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL has a GUI which makes it easy for developers to work upon. It has all features like replication, backup and crash recovery. Also since it is freely available it becomes commercially feasible for people to use this DB. Also MySQL can be easily used as a back end for the …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Easy to use.
    Cost-effective.
    Integration with development tools.
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    MySQL provides the option to reduce support and maintenance cost when P0 Level 1 support is not really needed for databases used for noncritical use cases and workloads. Other versions that include Microsoft SQL, Amazon RDS, etc don't provide such options and are overkill. …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    Familiarity: With MySQL, I know what to expect, and that goes a long way. Also, since it adheres fairly close to SQL '92, It's relatively easy to construct queries, views, etc. without a steep learning curve. Also, RAM usage is important (this is true of any RDBMS …
    Incentivized
    Chose MySQL
    First of all, it's free and open source and MySQL supports more programming languages. The MySQL query syntax is easier to learn compared to other database management software. It also works perfectly with Linux or Unix servers. But compared with others, MySQL runs slow on …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    You could consider i did use MySQL since i worked with some websites that were using a MySQL database. I could not give a side by side comparision since i don't use those like i use the Microsoft SQL , but so far it worked well. I prefer Microsoft SQL due to support and info …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    The first database application taught when I was in school was Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft SQL Server was used where I first started, so I had the opportunity to improve myself in MySQL. SQL is also used in my current workplace. It is widely used in very large projects due …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    [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
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    We used MySQL for some smaller projects because this RDBMS works better with a small amount of data and a lot of young workers, especially students, can handle MySQL very well because they learned it at the university. One important thing to keep in mind is that MySQL is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    SQL Server is better for large databases containing structured relational data. It makes it easy to group and order, to sum and create tables of data from any data stored in a table or related tables. While Dynamodb is very good at STORING huge amounts of unstructured data, it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    The major factor in favor of Microsoft SQL Server as compared to Oracle DBMS is its cost for small to medium enterprises. For larger organizations, Oracle DBMS's value is in being a bit more competitive but when it comes to smaller organizations, Microsft SQL Server is much …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    UI of the Microsoft SQL Server makes it easy to use and learn. The better technical support and documentation give it an extra edge over other databases. The Microsoft ecosystem provides additional advantages, as we can seamlessly use other Microsoft products, such as Power …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server is faster and more compatible, but it does cost more, so you're paying for those features. I use the others in many other places where critical transaction processing time and compatibility aren't of great concern.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server providers a more user friendly experience when it comes to Microsoft SQL Server components management via its unique SQL Server management Studio. It is also a production ready, resilient, highly available and tested database management system (DBMS). The …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    It just boils down to why learn anther product when you are going to run across it so seldom. Developers determine what database engine I am going to need so I just tend to pick products for implementation that use a well know product that has lots of support resources …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    [Microsoft SQL Server] offers a full solution, Inhouse Applications and hosted application continue to use SQL as backend database. Allows easy creation of development environments and continuous feature release.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    The free version is very powerfull and easy to install and use for small companies.
    Going to Professional and Standard, gives you all the support and the flexibility needed. It is known within the Database Administrator crew, and you can get support very easily over the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Native to Windows and being required for other MS apps puts it above others in terms of usage. If we were not heavily dependent on Microsoft applications or OS, we might have considered other database solutions. It's an expensive solutions but it is a solid reliable solution. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server is still the industry standard for the type of development we do, and the types of applications that we use. Almost every developer or analyst we hire has at least a reasonable grounding in the use of SQL servers, and it is almost universally compatible …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Language/syntax slightly different than MS SQL.
    Seems reasonable for small data sets.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    For a single vendor solution, SQL Server is the best choice in my opinion. Most of the other solutions do not offer the full range of products in a single package. Also, for a largely Microsoft shop, there are additional integrations which increase the value proposition. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server is a DBMS that can be used in any situation, from small projects to big ones, and the latest versions now can be used in several OS platforms. It is a great product with many features over its competitors. It's a mature and robust product. It's easy and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Compared to free versions, SQL Server just blows away the free/open-source software. Things just run faster, and better, and at less overhead. This is truer and truer with the later versions. Microsoft just invests so much into research and development into their product. And …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Amazon Redshift is a cloud-based data warehouse. It does what it says it will do, but my experience is that for a cloud data warehouse, it is a little slow and I'd hope for performance to be insanely fast. Plus, it is also very costly. Same performance for much less cost in …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    MS SQL Server is easier to use compared to other RDBMS which really speeds up development time and relatively easier to find a problem when it happens as well. It's also pretty quick to run a query, especially in a large table make it pretty convenient if we need to monitor the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server stacks up pretty well - it is well established and has a large userbase. The main reason we selected Microsoft SQL Server over any other RDMS was because of its well established place in the market for such tools and large number of users (easy to hire …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft SQL Server
    For our enterprise software, SQL Server has more predictable functionality and tools than the other products we've examined. If we have a question or a problem, it's quite likely someone else has had to deal with the same thing, and it's possible to find help or tips online …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    49 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    51 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    51 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    46 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    MariaDB Platform
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    PostgreSQL
    Score8.8 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SQLite
    Score8 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (146 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    7.9
    (18 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 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
    MySQLMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Oracle
    MySQL is best suited for applications on platform like high-traffic content-driven websites, small-scale web apps, data warehouses which regards light analytical workloads. However its less suited for areas like enterprise data warehouse, OLAP cubes, large-scale reporting, applications requiring flexible or semi-structured data like event logging systems, product configurations, dynamic forms.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Oracle
    • Stable - it just runs, with minimal downtime or errors
    • Fast - well-structured data is quickly written and read
    • Secure - MySQL is easy to keep data secure from people and applications that shouldn't see it
    • Easy to use - SQL is industry standard so no problems with adding, editing and reading data stored in MySQL
    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
    Read full review
    Cons
    Oracle
    • Learning curve: is big. Newbies will face problems in understanding the platform initially. However, with plenty of online resources, one can easily find solutions to problems and learn on the go.
    • Backup and restore: MySQL is not very seamless. Although the data is never ruptured or missed, the process involved is not very much user-friendly. Maybe, a new command-line interface for only the backup-restore functionality shall be set up again to make this very important step much easier to perform and maintain.
    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
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Oracle
    For teaching Databases and SQL, I would definitely continue to use MySQL. It provides a good, solid foundation to learn about databases. Also to learn about the SQL language and how it works with the creation, insertion, deletion, updating, and manipulation of data, tables, and databases. This SQL language is a foundation and can be used to learn many other database related concepts.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Oracle
    I give MySQL a 9/10 overall because I really like it but I feel like there are a lot of tech people who would hate it if I gave it a 10/10. I've never had any problems with it or reached any of its limitations but I know a few people who have so I can't give it a 10/10 based on those complaints.
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    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
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Oracle
    We have never contacted MySQL enterprise support team for any issues related to MySQL. This is because we have been using primarily the MySQL Server community edition and have been using the MySQL support forums for any questions and practical guidance that we needed before and during the technical implementations. Overall, the support community has been very helpful and allowed us to make the most out of the community edition.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Oracle
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Oracle
    1. Estimate your data size. 2. Test, test, and test.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Oracle
    MongoDB has a dynamic schema for how data is stored in 'documents' whereas MySQL is more structured with tables, columns, and rows. MongoDB was built for high availability whereas MySQL can be a challenge when it comes to replication of the data and making everything redundant in the event of a DR or outage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Oracle
    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
    Oracle
    • As it is an open source solution through community solution, we can use it in a multitude of projects without cost license
    • The acquisition by Oracle makes you need to contract support for the enterprise version
    • If you have knowledge about oracle databases, you can get more out of the enterprise version
    Incentivized
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    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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