TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Microsoft SQL Server vs. Toad Database Developer Tools

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft SQL Server

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

    $1,418

    Per License

    Toad Database Developer Tools

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AToad by Quest is a database management toolset that database developers, administrators and data analysts use to simplify workflows, create code free from defects, automate frequent or repetitive processes, and minimize risks. Editions include Toad for Oracle, which automates administration tasks and helps proactively manage databases while embracing performance optimization and risk mitigation. Similar editions exist for IBM DB2, SQL Server, SAP, or MySQL and Postgres environments (Toad Edge).

    $229

    per year

    Pricing
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Editions & Modules
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Toad Edge For MySQL
    $229
    per year
    Toad Edge For Postgres
    $229
    per year
    Toad for SQL - Pro Edition
    $437
    per year
    Toad for Oracle - Base Edition
    $550
    per year
    Toad for DB2 z/OS - Base Edition
    $636
    per year
    Toad for SAP - Base Edition
    $636
    per year
    Toad for SQL - Xpert Edition
    $763
    per year
    Toad for Oracle - Professional Edition
    $829
    per year
    Toad for SQL - Dev Edition
    $930
    per year
    Toad for DB2 z/OS - Pro Edition
    $996
    per year
    Toad for Oracle - Professional DB Admin Edition
    $1,370
    per year
    Toad for DB2 z/OS - Xpert Edition
    $1,529
    per year
    Toad for SAP - Xpert Edition
    $1530
    per year
    Toad for Oracle - Xpert Plus Edition
    $1,753
    per year
    Toad for DB2 z/OS - Dev Edition
    $1,861
    per year
    Toad for SAP - Dev Edition
    $1863
    per year
    Toad for SAP - Xpert+ Edition
    $2099
    per year
    Toad for SAP - DBA Edition
    $3661
    per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Quest Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    90%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    75%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Small Businesses
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    SAP IQ
    Score5.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    9.5
    (34 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    8.2
    (7 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft SQL ServerToad Database Developer Tools
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Quest Software
    Toad for Oracle is very well suited for all Oracle implementations, be it single instance or RAC. It is best suited for use of Oracle DBA, Developer and Database Engineers. I don't recommend Toad for Oracle for Project Managers or Solution Architects. This can be a pricier choice for these people. They can do fine with free options like SQL Developer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Quest Software
    • Toad is a de-facto standard tool for data developers and analysts. Generally speaking it provides almost every function needed to manage data in EDW with great performance and stability.
    • The nature of clinical data is big-sized: one table may have billions of rows. Toad provides critical functions to manage SQLs, e.g. Top SQL that can monitor and manage SQLs using CPU power and network bandwidth, so that EDW administrator can optimize ETL operations in the best efficiency.
    • Many of our data analysts are not computer science backgrounded (having clinical / nursing background). Toad provides great auditing tools such as Tuning Lab or SQL Scanner, so that data analysts can train themselves with guidance of the tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Quest Software
    • The power and control it gives is at the same time kind of a negative thing. There's too many options available, even when you don't need them. For simple database operations it's sometimes easier to just use SQL Developer since navigation is way more intuitive and easy.
    • Related with the above: there is a steep learning curve. However, since this is the main tool for any Oracle developer, this is not that much of a problem.
    • If I remember well, Toad used to be free, some 20 years ago. Or at least had a free version. It would be nice to have a free version. The dedicated Oracle developers and DBA's won't use the free version, but all the rest of us developers might use it instead of SQL Developer. It would make communications between everybody somewhat easier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    It is the preferred tool for our organization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    I give is an 8 because nothing is a 10 and there is always room for improvement. I believe the user who is not as technologically inclined would be better suited with an easier way to identify the options for setting the layout up for Toad's GUI. To some it is very cumbersome and confusing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    I give the overall support for Toad for Oracle a 10/10. This is because whenever there has been an issue with this software, our team has got an immediate response. The same can not be said for similar software. The most recent example of this is when we needed to renew our licenses. Some employees were unable to log in to code with the given license key. Support was able to resolve the issue quickly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    Toad is much better than Tableau query writer. Tableau is not intuitive and requires knowledge of proprietary database language to fully implement. Tableau does not perform as quickly and accurately as Toad. Toad is very easy and slim to install. Additional hardware is often required to run Tableau smoothly. Support for Tableau is even more expensive than Toad support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    • Quick and easy query development helps reduce man-hours in a project which converts to real dollars.
    • Query analysis and tuning result in low database overhead and low latency, thus translating into real dollars because a system can thus handle more requests from customers.
    • Ease of use makes it easy to deploy greenhorns in projects with minimal training, thus helping save money. Otherwise menial and simple jobs would have required experienced DBAs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots