Microsoft SQL Server Pricing Overview

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Microsoft SQL Server has not provided pricing information for this product or service. This is common practice for software sellers and service providers. The pricing insights provided here are based on user reviews and are intended to give you an indication of value. Alternatively, contact Microsoft SQL Server to obtain current pricing.

Small-Business

$$$$

30% more expensive

than the avg. Relational Databases product

Read Small-Business Reviews

Mid-Market

$$$$

18% more expensive

than the avg. Relational Databases product

Read Mid-Market Reviews

Enterprise

$$$$

18% more expensive

than the avg. Relational Databases product

Read Enterprise Reviews

Pricing information for Microsoft SQL Server is supplied by the software provider or retrieved from publicly accessible pricing materials. Final cost negotiations to purchase Microsoft SQL Server must be conducted with the seller.

For more information on SQL Server Pricing, visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017-pricing

Pricing information was last updated on April 13, 2018

Pricing Insights

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

3 months

Return on Investment

17 months

Average Discount

14%

Perceived Cost

$$$$$

How much does MS SQL cost?

Data powered by BetterCloud.

Estimated Price

$$k - $$k

Per Year

Based on data from 16 purchases.

Top-Rated Alternatives

View All Alternatives

Microsoft SQL Server Alternatives Pricing

The following is a quick overview of editions offered by other Relational Databases

Google Cloud SQL Committed Use Discounts	Pay As You GoPer Month	You can lower the cost by purchasing 1-year or 3-year commitment plans. Visit cloud.google.com/sql/pricing to check pricing for your region. CPU and memory Other features are available only through on-demand model
Snowflake Standard	$2Compute/Hour	Compute usage is billed on a per-second basis, with a minimum of 60 seconds. You can secure price discounts with pre-purchased Snowflake capacity options. Complete SQL Data Warehouse Secure Data Sharing across regions / clouds Premier Support 24 x 365 1 day of time travel Always-on enterprise grade encryption in transit and at rest Customer-dedicated virtual warehouses Federated authentication Database replication External Functions Snowsight Create your own Data Exchange Data Marketplace access Show More
MySQL MySQL Enterprise Edition	$5,000

Various alternatives pricing & plans

Pricing information for the above various Microsoft SQL Server alternatives is supplied by the respective software provider or retrieved from publicly accessible pricing materials. Final cost negotiations to purchase any of these products must be conducted with the seller.

MS SQL Pricing Reviews

(2)

Mauro B.

Head of Information Technology

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

7/25/2019

"Microsoft SQL is the most important product in our organization"

5/5

What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?

Microsoft SQL is very robust but easy to install and maintain. The available tools such as SQL Server Management Studio really simplify the maintenance process and also allows developers to easily access their databases with powerful and speedy queries. The ability to schedule jobs, setup custom alerts based on message contents, easily setup security access, connect to remote or local databases and just the overall simplicity in managing all of your critical databases and also backup databases on a schedule with little disruption really all contributes to a very powerful solution for most applications that require a database. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?

We find that there are issues when you run SQL on VMs and when you takee a VM snapshot it can mess with your incremental backups which is kind of a huge problem if you are not aware of it. A company definitely needs to have a regular testing plan for data backups as there are some finicky things about SQL that if you do not have a strong DBA or at least a good understanding of SQL, you can easily get into trouble.

Also, I am not happy about the pricing for SQL as it is very confusing and when they start talking about per core pricing, it is like being punished because you happened to purchase yourself a decent server. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Microsoft SQL Server:

If you need a robust database with excellent backing and support, then Microsoft SQL Server is the solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?

We use SQL for our ERP system, PLM system, B2B eCommerce systems as well as for any internal solutions developed in house that require a database backend. Within our ERP we can create custom business related objects and within these we can make SQL statements. As such we often create many stored procedures and call them from these BROs. It is very flexible this way and SQL just simply works well and is solid. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Gunawant B.

Analysis Master Trainer

Information Technology and Services

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/19/2025

"Widely used for its robust features, scalability, and integration with the Microsoft ecosystem."

4/5

What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?

Security: SQL Server offers comprehensive security features, including encryption, row-level security, dynamic data masking, and integration with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), ensuring data protection from unauthorized access. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?

Cost and Licensing Complexity: SQL Server can be expensive, particularly for large-scale deployments or those requiring advanced features. The licensing models can also be intricate and challenging to navigate, leading to higher total cost of ownership compared to open-source alternatives. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.