--- title: Microsoft Access Reviews meta_title: 'Microsoft Access Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 855 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Microsoft Access works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.0 review_count: 855 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-12' parent_category: name: Database Software url: https://www.g2.com/categories/database-software --- # Microsoft Access Reviews **Vendor:** Microsoft **Category:** [Desktop Database Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/desktop-database) **Average Rating:** 4.0/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 855 ## About Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) developed by Microsoft, combining the relational Access Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. As part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Access enables users to create, manage, and analyze databases efficiently. It allows for the development of application software and supports integration with various data sources, including SQL Server and Oracle, through ODBC compatibility. Access is designed to facilitate rapid application development (RAD), making it suitable for both novice users and experienced developers. Key Features and Functionality: - Data Storage and Management: Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Database Engine and can import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases. - User Interface Design: It provides tools to create forms and reports, enabling users to design intuitive interfaces for data entry and analysis. - Query and Reporting Tools: Access includes a query interface and report creation features that can work with any data source that Access can access. - Programming Support: Access supports Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), allowing for advanced automation, data validation, and error trapping. - Integration Capabilities: It can link to data in its existing location and use it for viewing, querying, editing, and reporting, allowing the existing data to change while ensuring that Access uses the latest data. Primary Value and User Solutions: Microsoft Access provides a versatile platform for users to develop custom database solutions tailored to their specific needs. Its integration with other Microsoft Office applications enhances productivity by allowing seamless data sharing and reporting. Access's user-friendly interface and robust functionality make it an ideal choice for small to medium-sized businesses, educational institutions, and individual users seeking to manage and analyze data effectively without requiring extensive programming knowledge. ## Microsoft Access Reviews ### 1. An outdated solution, not a fan of the design. For data geeks only **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrei M. | Operations Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2021 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** If you want to own your supplier/crm or some other sort o database on your own computer for cheap, MS Access is a great choice. Most people I worked with already have experience working with it from school, that lets you skip additional employee trainings. And again, the prices are very affordable even for larger organizations. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** The design is not most user friendly, there are competitors who offer solutions more satisfying to user's eye. Last time I tried to do a project in collaboration it didn't let me, so would have to fix it through shared folders. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used this in the previous work to build databases on customer statistics and success numbers and integrated them with the software we were sellers for. For example, we extracted the retail customer traffic numbers, engagement statistics and linked them with conversion rates, revenue and other POS data. ### 2. Not the best database option **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 23, 2021 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** It is helpful when we are working with semester schedules **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** It is difficult to use among numerous users **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using it to solve scheduling issues in academic departments. It can keep lots of data from all programs efficiently. ### 3. Becoming Outdated **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Religious Institutions | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2019 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I appreciate basic functionality of Access. You can enter data, run queries and reports, and export information into other Microsoft programs. It also comes with the Microsoft Professional packages that we have to get anyway. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** I actually love Access and we use it on a daily basis. It's really the core of what we do. However, you really have to know what you are doing (read a lot of training) to be able to utilize it to it's fullest potential. This aspect (the training needed) really limits us in what we can actually do with it. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** If you are willing to put in the time to really be trained, and are using this for personal use, then it has a ton of analytical and tracking benefits. For business use, it's "free" in that if you buy Microsoft Pro packages it's included, otherwise I'd go somewhere else that is a bit more advanced and easier to use and learn. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's extremely outdated for the technology the rest of the world uses. It doesn't integrate well with other financial or web based software. ### 4. Program Crashes Often **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joanna M. | Area Sales Coordinator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2019 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** It is very well for using as a database for our customers. It is easy to navigate. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** It crashes often. It is a very touchy program and can be difficult to operate with when you need it constantly and it does not always work. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using it as a registration program for our customers. ### 5. Only Good If You Are A Super User **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sam G. | President of HOCOA San Diego, Consumer Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 10, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** That I could build and use a simplistic database. When I needed something fast. It was easy to update, and simple to access from my computer. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Oh, trying to update the entire system was a nightmare for me. If I wanted to change the database look and feel, I would go into this cause and effect. If I wanted to add a new field or remove a field, it would almost always be a long process. I would spend hours trying to figure out how to update a table and how it would link up to the other tables. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** If you have a person on your team that has been a user and builder for years, great. If not, there are simpler programs on the market. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Really just a place I could keep my prospect list and update. Whenever I needed to add people, it would work great and update all of the tables. It was simple to open, update and read. However, it was very clunky to update across the board. I usually would hire someone to do the design implementation when needed. After a few more painstaking years, I realized that there were better online services that I could use. I decided to stick to online programs that focused on user-friendliness over brand loyalty. It just made more sense for us to go with a program that was easier to use and had a better support mechanism in place. ### 6. Hard to use, harder to maintain **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2019 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** Ability to run reports from amalgamated data **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Everything else. Sometimes a random feature will just quit working permanent. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** Don’t **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use it as a school database for a non profit. Should be able to get information quickly for grant writing purposes, but often have problems with the database when trying to obtain this data. ### 7. Very outdated and not user-friendly **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I do not like this system at all; there is nothing I like about it. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** The system is antiquated. It may work great for some business models, but I work for a large, global company with hundreds of entities and business units which need to be tracked and this system is too time-consuming to use and difficult to install for new people. Not recommended at all. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** Don't. I highly recommend Salesforce as it combines several aspects of business tracking and reporting (for HR, Accounting, Legal, Biz Dev, etc.) and it much more customizable, intuitive, and user-friendly. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** My company utilizes Access for franchisee contract obligations and fulfillment. I have not realized any benefits of it as it is very time-consuming and not user-friendly. ### 8. Microsoft access review **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** stara h. | collections, Banking, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I like it I can sort and pull whatever information you want it to pull no matter how much data has been entered **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** It takes the right fields to be entered to pull the data that you want but it has to be put in the correct way and can be.confusing **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use it sort to find different loans with different problems put a full database which is useful if you have over a 1000 loans and there may only be 5 with a certain problem Microsoft access can pull those 5 ### 9. Nightmare to maintain **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 11, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** It's cheap to used and you are able to export to excel **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** It is a nightmare to maintain. Also difficult to follow the logic of whomever designed the database. Too many hidden fields. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** Access is NOT excel. You must know databases and programming before using this product. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has provided a quick setup of a database and it is cheap ### 10. Hate this evil program **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christin W. | Accounts Payable Coordinator, Construction, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** Nothing. I liked NOTHING about this program. Perhaps it is because I was taught on a slightly older version, but it was deeply flawed and did not work properly. It kept crashing, and would not work right at all, in spite of having a specialist in this program on hand. I refused to work with it after about 3 months. I only (sometimes) touch other people's files if they still use it if I must, and there are not many of us. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Everything. I disliked everything about this program. It was difficult to learn, and never worked right, even when properly used. Again, perhaps it had to do with my using an older version, but I refuse to use this program myself. I do not have time to do the same task over and over and over again. Technology is supposed to make things easier, not the other way around. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** Find a better program, unless they have done some serious upgrades to this program. There are so many that are better. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** I solved no problems, and in fact, it created more because what should have taken me 20 minutes was taking me 2 hours. This is a big problem. Especially during the busy season. I would much rather use a different program and know that what I just did will not need to be redone than run the risk of wasting my time. Not to mention, my boss finds it funny when I start cussing at my computer. Another situation I would rather avoid. ### 11. A fragile program **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I like the vast capabilities of Access. We use it for a lot of different functions: keeping information on users, tracking fundraising, tracking attendance, etc. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** The program is very complex. We've been using our Acess database for more than 10 years but can't delete old information because if we do, features will break. We're holding our breath until all functionality is gone and we can get the funding to get a new program. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Information tracking ### 12. Too confusing and different from traditional MS products **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Writing and Editing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** It is at least laid out well. The program itself is laid out cleanly. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Everything. It is really confusing and too complex of a database system. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Access:** Shut it down **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've tried to use it in the past to create database systems to override the current system that we use, and it just does not work. Plus, it does not offer the optimal sharing features I need. ### 13. The database master **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 03, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I loved the ease of use. It was very straight forward and easy to use from a template. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** I didn’t like the design of the program. It wasn’t very easy to read. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Created a database of children files and data. ### 14. Horrible. Do yourself a favor and invest in a real database **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Fund-Raising | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2017 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I can't say I like anything about this product. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Time consuming. Difficult to set up. Low tech. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** None. ### 15. Microsoft Access Unfriendly, difficult and extremely unstable to revisions of software **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** P K. | Biomedical Technologist, Health, Wellness and Fitness, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 01, 2015 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** I like the possibility of writing my own database **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Microsoft Access is written by buffs who don't understand that others are not at their level. Access 2003 is a good program and has help screens built in. Access 2007 is supposed to convert Access 2003 databases. It converts them and saves with no warning so that your early version is now lost. The new version does not work. A look at the experiences of others shows that the conversion does not work. Any coding that you have entered fails and cannot be resurrected. You are sunk. Questions posted on forums are frequently unintelligent and incomplete. It should take a couple of hours to construct a simple database and associated reports and queries. It take day after frustrating day. The market craves a simple database program that presents the same flexibility as Access but without the grief. When such a program becomes available , Access will have to improve or die. **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Simple database to manage assets and work done. ### 16. Worst DB EVER **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 01, 2014 **What do you like best about Microsoft Access?** Not much. I would rather use SQLite. The worst DB format. Once you reach the threshold, forget about it! **What do you dislike about Microsoft Access?** Almost everything. Difficult for developers. Not user-friendly **What problems is Microsoft Access solving and how is that benefiting you?** Develop good software. Not MS crap ## Microsoft Access Discussions - [do you know other useful documentation besides those of Microsoft?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/do-you-know-other-useful-documentation-besides-those-of-microsoft) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [Is it reliable to use Access forms just like visual basic to build applications?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-it-reliable-to-use-access-forms-just-like-visual-basic-to-build-applications) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [What is Microsoft Access used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/microsoft-access-what-is-microsoft-access-used-for) - 1 comment - [what is microsoft access used for](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-microsoft-access-used-for) - 4 comments - [View Microsoft Access pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-access/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=1§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-12+11%3A20%3A43+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=689b089f-d7ff-4cd9-9297-5e4b84aceac3&secure%5Btoken%5D=52e9666155f6d28e208bb68f748c2fb2f4fc69883a6e3a02c35f052327ed9dd8&format=llm_user) ## Microsoft Access Integrations - [Altium Develop](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-develop/reviews) - [Azure SQL Database](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) - [Jitterbit](https://www.g2.com/products/jitterbit/reviews) - [Microsoft Excel](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-excel/reviews) - [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) - [MySQL](https://www.g2.com/products/mysql/reviews) - [Octopart](https://www.g2.com/products/octopart/reviews) - [SAP Business One](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-business-one/reviews) ## Top Microsoft Access Alternatives - [Ninox](https://www.g2.com/products/ninox/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (332 reviews) - [OpenOffice Base](https://www.g2.com/products/openoffice-base/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (52 reviews) - [Memento Database](https://www.g2.com/products/memento-database/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (49 reviews)