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Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft SQL Server

Composite Score

8.9 /10

CX Score

9.2 /10

151 Reviews Write a Review

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What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Apply intelligence across all your data with SQL Server 2022. Whether your data is structured or unstructured, query and analyze it using the data platform with industry-leading performance and security. Regardless of where your data is stored, query and analyze it with the data platform known for performance, security, and availability.

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Awards & Recognition

Microsoft SQL Server won the following awards in the Transaction Data Store category

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2025 Data Quadrant Champion

Latest Award, 2025

5 Top Rated Capabilities

2 Top Rated Features

Latest Award, 2025

2025 Emotional Footprint Champion

2025

Contract Negotiation

2025

2024 Data Quadrant Champion

2024

4 Top Rated Capabilities

6 Top Rated Features

2024

2024 Emotional Footprint Champion

2024

2023 Data Quadrant Champion

2023

3 Top Rated Capabilities

2 Top Rated Features

2023

3 Top Rated Capabilities

2 Top Rated Features

2022

Microsoft SQL Server Ratings

Real user data aggregated to summarize the product performance and customer experience.
Download the entire Product Scorecard to access more information on Microsoft SQL Server.

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

89 Likeliness to Recommend

99 Plan to Renew

84 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

1
Since last award

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Emotional Footprint Overview

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

+92 Net Emotional Footprint

The emotional sentiment held by end users of the software based on their experience with the vendor. Responses are captured on an eight-point scale.

How much do users love Microsoft SQL Server?

0% Negative

3% Neutral

97% Positive

Pros

Reliable
Performance Enhancing
Effective Service
Fair

Feature Ratings

Average 84

Analytics and Reporting

Data Management

Database Management

Data Protection and Security

Data Backup

Data Monitoring and Administration

High Availability

Data Replication

High Speed & Online Transaction Processing

Operations Management

Hybrid Transaction and Analytical Support

Vendor Capability Ratings

Average 83

Business Value Created

Quality of Features

Ease of Implementation

Breadth of Features

Usability and Intuitiveness

Ease of Data Integration

Availability and Quality of Training

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Ease of IT Administration

Ease of Customization

Vendor Support

Also Featured in...

Data Integration

Score 8.8

View Microsoft SQL Server in this category (opens in a new tab)

Microsoft SQL Server Reviews

Sandeep K.

Role: Finance
Industry: Technology
Involvement: End User of Application

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Dec 2025

For business-critical data, it's rock solid.

Likeliness to Recommend

9 /10

What differentiates Microsoft SQL Server from other similar products?

The main difference between SQL Server and other databases like MySQL is that SQL Server is more stable and has built-in capabilities like always-on availability groups. That high-availability capability is a must-have for our data warehouse when it needs to be up all the time. This means we don't have to worry about losing data or having long periods of downtime when hardware fails. That piece of mind is worth the price of admission compared to trying to figure out how to use community-supported clustering solutions.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

I really enjoy how well it works with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem. SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is a great all-in-one solution for managing, monitoring, and designing queries. The integration with Active Directory for security is perfect, which makes managing users and permissions easy and strong. The performance tuning tools and query optimiser are also great and really help us get the most speed out of complicated queries.

What do you dislike most about this product?

The cost of licensing, especially for the enterprise edition, is a big continuous cost that small firms can have trouble with. It's not cheap to increase the number of cores.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

SQL Server has the stability and features needed for heavy-duty, reliable operations if your company runs mission-critical applications or data warehouses and needs to work closely with Microsoft products.

Pros

Reliable
Effective Service
Fair
Generous Negotitation

Cons

Less Productive

Yu C.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Apparel
Involvement: End User of Application

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Nov 2025

A fundamental and reliable data warehouse tool

Likeliness to Recommend

8 /10

What differentiates Microsoft SQL Server from other similar products?

Natural integration to the Microsoft ecosystem

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Easy to learn and scalable

What do you dislike most about this product?

A bit traditional and lack of innovation

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

It is a decent and reliable product

Pros

Reliable
Enables Productivity
Trustworthy
Respectful

Cons

Commodity Features

Marco Aurelio C.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Technology
Involvement: IT Development, Integration, and Administration

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Sep 2025

SQl Server Review from a Developer standpoint

Likeliness to Recommend

10 /10

What differentiates Microsoft SQL Server from other similar products?

Its embedded features for reporting, integration, and analytics, plus the unique features for metadata management; support for external formats is also highly appreciated, APIs, full integration with Microsoft Tools, plus cloud integration.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Metadata management is a real plus that saves a lot of time when organizing data

What do you dislike most about this product?

The licensing prices for on-premises versions is prohibitive

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Design your databases locally and when fully optimized, move them to the cloud, probably to the Azure Data Lake for large installations, or Azure SQL for smaller platform demands

Pros

Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Performance Enhancing

Microsoft SQL Server

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Company Details

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Awards & Recognition

2025 Data Quadrant Champion

2025 Emotional Footprint Champion

2024 Data Quadrant Champion

2024 Emotional Footprint Champion

2023 Data Quadrant Champion

Microsoft SQL Server Ratings

89 Likeliness to Recommend

99 Plan to Renew

84 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

1 Since last award

Emotional Footprint Overview

+92 Net Emotional Footprint

How much do users love Microsoft SQL Server?

Pros

Feature Ratings Average rating of all product features, some of which may not be shown below

Analytics and Reporting Includes historical & real-time dashboard visualizations, detailed & summary reporting and easy data extraction for data analysis.

Data Management Includes data sharing, data storage, records management, and data security.

Database Management Supports multiple data types, data structuring, data retrieval, database customization, and multi-user access.

Data Protection and Security Includes data encryption, data audit, and data compliance.

Data Backup Includes the creation of duplicate instances to recover from an unplanned data loss. Also, support for high volumes of data processing and data compression.

Data Monitoring and Administration Includes ability to continuously monitored data quality rules, as well as generate alerts to notify data stewards when they need to address an issue.

High Availability HA DB designed for near-zero downtown by seamless replication of data between environments for uninterrupted real-time access and fail-over capabilities.

Data Replication Support for a real-time copy of the database in more than one system to facilitate access to the copy of data from multiple systems without any inconsistencies.

High Speed & Online Transaction Processing Also referred to as OLTP (Online Transaction processing). OLTP databases include strong support for CRUD operations and ACID compliance.

Operations Management Includes cost control, production management, and performance management.

Hybrid Transaction and Analytical Support Includes OLTP and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing). Most OLTP systems support some level of OLAP but very few OLAP systems support OLTP.

Vendor Capability Ratings Average rating of all vendor capabilities, some of which may not be shown below

Business Value Created Software needs to create value for employees, customers, partners, and, ultimately, shareholders. This data expresses user satisfaction - or lack thereof - with the product's business value.

Quality of Features Feature quality is just as important as quantity. Use this data to determine if this product will do what you're purchasing it to do, easily, intuitively, reliably, and effectively.

Ease of Implementation Successfully implementing new software is necessary to realize its full value and promote end user adoption. This data indicates whether or not the product is easy to implement.

Breadth of Features Users prefer feature rich software that enables them to perform diverse series of tasks. This data expresses user satisfaction with the product's breadth of features.

Usability and Intuitiveness End user learning curves cost the organization money. Pay attention to your end users' technical ability to determine how important UX is in your purchase.

Ease of Data Integration Use this data to determine whether the product will cause headaches or make data integration easy.

Availability and Quality of Training Effective and readily available training enables users to get the most out of the software you've chosen. Use this section to make sure your vendor's training programs and materials measure up.

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement Vendors who don't stay on top of emerging needs and trends won't enable you to meet your business goals. Use this data to separate innovators from imposters.

Ease of IT Administration This data indicates whether IT personnel will be able to resolve issues and perform configurations efficiently and effectively.

Ease of Customization Don't get bogged down in a difficult customization; use this data to make sure you can easily achieve the functionality you need for your particular situation.

Vendor Support The importance of vendor support will vary for each organization depending on internal capabilities, but there will always be issues that only the vendor can resolve.

Also Featured in...

Data Integration

Microsoft SQL Server Reviews

Sandeep K.

For business-critical data, it's rock solid.

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Cons

Yu C.

A fundamental and reliable data warehouse tool

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Cons

Marco Aurelio C.

SQl Server Review from a Developer standpoint

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

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1
Since last award

Feature Ratings

Analytics and Reporting

Data Management

Database Management

Data Protection and Security

Data Backup

Data Monitoring and Administration

High Availability

Data Replication

High Speed & Online Transaction Processing

Operations Management

Hybrid Transaction and Analytical Support

Vendor Capability Ratings

Business Value Created

Quality of Features

Ease of Implementation

Breadth of Features

Usability and Intuitiveness

Ease of Data Integration

Availability and Quality of Training

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Ease of IT Administration

Ease of Customization

Vendor Support