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Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Overview

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.

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Learn from top reviewers

Microsoft SQL Server: Perfect Data Manager for an Organization

Rating: 9 out of 10
March 7, 2025
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft SQL Server is used in our organization by IT personnel to Store data, fetch data specific to requirements. For instance, in Sales Module SQL server is used to fetch ...
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varun kohli
Professional - Information Technology
Senior Executive
Vardhman textiles ltd.
Microsoft SQL Server19 years of experience
Verified on LinkedIn

Microsoft SQL Server inspiration

Rating: 8 out of 10
November 22, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft SQL Server supports the databases for our primary accounting system (MS Dynamics GP). This avoids us using much less efficient flat files or less compliant software ...
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Verified user
Manager
Microsoft SQL Server15 years of experience

Microsoft SQL is a valuable tool to manage and present information across platforms.

Rating: 7 out of 10
October 10, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I work for a company that creates a software suite that allows our customers to manage and track their work, their companies and contacts, user logins, etc. We use an extensiv...
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Verified user
Technician
Microsoft SQL Server18 years of experience

Microsoft SQL Server review

Rating: 10 out of 10
June 28, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I primarily use Microsoft SQL Server 2019 and 2022 data engine to run commercial workloads of various customers. A frequent configuration use case is the usage of Microsoft SQ...
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Verified user
Professional
Microsoft SQL Server10 years of experience

Solid and Reliable.

Rating: 10 out of 10
August 28, 2023
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use MSSQL Server along with SSIS and SSRS as it's a very competent software suite and very stable. It integrates well with other software that we use, namely JAMS Scheduler...
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Verified user
Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server11 years of experience
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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Subscription

$1,418.00

Cloud
Per License

Enterprise

$13,748.00

Cloud
Per License

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

An Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server's Statistics

YouTube

Introduction to Transact SQL (T-SQL) using Microsoft SQL Server

YouTube
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Product Details

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Microsoft SQL Server Video

Microsoft SQL Server Integrations

Microsoft SQL Server Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.

Reviewers rate Implementation Rating highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Microsoft SQL Server are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

View all reviews
(1-5 of 100)

Easy to use and set up, robust and reliable DBMS

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
January 20, 2020
lh
luka horvat
Software Engineer
King-ICT (Computer Software, 501-1000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
5 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
In our database department, we use Microsoft SQL Server for storing data, data aggregation, and manipulation. We use Reporting services tools for creating, managing and deploying reports for our clients. For creating a report definition I personally used Report Builder which makes defining data source connections, queries used to retrieve data, expressions, parameters and others extremely easy to perform. We also try to improve the performance of stored procedures, user-defined functions, and triggers by learning the execution plan in detail. One of our clients has a web app for an insurance company and they have a large amount of data stored in the Microsoft SQL Server database. Our goal is to improve performance from queries that are used in that web app, so we try controlling execution plans with hints or adding indexes. In cases when we meet a new client who already has some database storage then we use replication technology for copying and distributing data and objects from one database to another. Besides that, we also help our clients to build parameterized queries in order to defend from SQL injection which is one of the most common web hacking techniques.
Pros
  • It offers a lot of functionalities, such as Reporting Services, Integration Services, Job Scheduler, Resource Manager, Query Analyzer and Profiler, etc.
  • You can connect it to Active Directory if you so desire.
Cons
  • The price of the enterprise version could be a little lower and also licensing should be more understandable.
  • There can be problems when connecting with software that is not owned by Microsoft.
Likelihood to Recommend
When a client is working in a .NET environment and he is developing a web application then it is advisable to use Microsoft SQL Server as a storage solution. Also when some company wants to store a large amount of data then Microsoft SQL Server is an extremely good solution because it is a very stable and maintainable database option. But in cases when someone wants to make a small website or application that stores a small amount of data then it is probably better to store it in some open-source database which is also free to use. When some company relies a lot on analytics then SQL Server is the first-class solution. A scenario where it would be less appropriate is when some startup doesn't have much money for starting and at the start they don't need some very professional RDBMS, then they could use something like MySQL.

SQL Server is a reliable, stable, and easy to use DBMS

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
May 13, 2021
Verified User
Supervisor in Information Technology
Chemicals Company, 51-200 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
21 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft SQL Server is our organization's main Database Management System and is the primary back-end server for most of our critical business applications. It's a general requirement that any new application we implement has to operate on SQL Server, if it requires a database back-end. We have a great dependency upon SQL Server and it has not disappointed us.
Pros
  • Easy to use to set up databases
  • Reliable clustered instances
  • Maintenance plan wizards
  • Good UI with Management Studio
  • Good BI tools out of the box with SSIS, SSAS, and SSRS
Cons
  • It could use more/better templates in SQL Server Profiler
  • Lacks error avoidance tools when working in different environments (DEV/TEST/PROD). That is, preventing some code execution against PROD, for example.
Likelihood to Recommend
I have used Microsoft SQL Server in one flavor or another for two decades. It has always been a reliable database management system for running anything from custom, in-house applications to business critical Enterprise Resource Planning systems. There is also a broad SQL Server ecosystem available on the internet, which is helpful for development tasks, training and troubleshooting.

Easy to use, robust and powerful DBMS that can help with any data need.

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
January 19, 2020
AP
Armando Peña
Programmer Analyst
Referencia Laboratorio Clínico (Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1001-5000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
10 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We are using Microsoft SQL Server to store the data of many commercial and internal software applications: SAP Business One, our Point of Sale system installed in more than 60 branches around the country, several web and desktop applications, and our data warehouse used across the company. That represents thousands of transactions per day.
Pros
  • Easy setup
  • High performance and flexibility
Cons
  • Data recovery
  • Linked server functionality
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft SQL Server handles a thousand transactions very well, but a bad database design can turn that into a nightmare. The tools that it brings are great integration services. The analysis services and reporting services are very flexible and productive. It is integrated very well with Microsoft Office. In terms of programming, the support is great.

Solid, affordable and easy to install and use database engine

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
May 06, 2021
LF
Lisandro Fernigrini
Sr Database Administrator / Developer
Kapsch Trafficcom (Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
13 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Microsoft SQL Server as the DB option for the commercial back-office modules of our MLFF (Multi-Lane - Free Flow) Tolling solution. All the commercial back-office (from Customer registration to involvement and payment handling) relies on Microsoft SQL Server databases. Other vital components of the entire solution, like Security and Vehicle Management, and the Reporting environment also utilize Microsoft SQL Server.
Pros
  • Microsoft SQL Server is simple to install and configure.
  • Many advanced options like Compression and Partitioning are available with no extra cost, thus reducing the overall TCO.
Cons
  • Partitioning does not provide as many options as Oracle (like Foreign Key partitioning, list partitions, hash partitioning and sub partitions)
  • The default READ COMMITED isolation level block readers, so it is important to use the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT option, that should be default right now...
Likelihood to Recommend
I've found Microsoft SQL Server a robust and affordable solution for most OLTP scenarios, starting with department solutions up to enterprise-level systems. There are many advanced features (like compression and partitioning) that correctly implemented provide huge benefits on performance, reducing hardware requirements and costs. The default locking mechanism can be a problem for systems with high concurrency if the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT option is not selected.

Easy to implement this complete set of tools

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
September 10, 2019
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
Hospital & Health Care Company, 501-1000 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
15 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
It is used as a data warehousing and business intelligence platform across the whole organization.
Pros
  • Troubleshooting is easy because of several forums available on the internet. We can Google error messages and find solutions easily.
  • It has a complete set of tools for data warehousing and business intelligence, so integration and automation are easy.
  • Easy access to training and skilled workforce availability.
Cons
  • There are some in-memory tools in the market that I have used to replace analysis services. Those in-memory tools have reduced the aggregation time to a few minutes as compared to a couple of hours on analysis services.
  • Mobile apps for SSMS and SQL agent would be a good addition to the toolbelt.
  • A built-in SQL source code control tool that can be used to track code changes and schema changes from SSMS would be very useful. It should easily show who made the changes, what changes were made and when, and provide an option to roll back to any of the previous versions if needed.
Likelihood to Recommend
SQL Server is easy to implement and has all the components for data management and business intelligence. It needs some performance improvement and built-in SQL source code change tracking.
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