We are running Microsoft SQL Server on virtual machines, and it consistently delivers strong performance even under heavy performance loads. We have integrated with Microsoft Power BI and built a dashboard that pulls data from SQL Server, and users can interact with reports without needing to understand the backend. It comes with the great management tool Microsoft SQL Management Studio, which is one of my favorite admin tools. I used it daily for backup management and user permissions. We migrated some of the SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL database. The transition was smooth, and it gives flexibility to scale based on budget and workload. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Understanding the SQL Server licensing is complex, especially when mixing CALs and core-based models. Reporting and analysis workloads are resource-intensive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have been using MSSQL daily for over 15 years, and I can confidently say that it is designed to handle high transaction volumes and manage large datasets effectively. It offers a very stable and highly secure environment for data management, making it well-suited for both small applications and large enterprise systems. Depending on your requirements, you can select from several editions, such as Express, Developer, Standard, or Enterprise. Integration with other products like Azure, Excel, or PowerBI is straightforward and intuitive. While the general implementation process is simple, setting up high availability options can be more time-consuming. The documantation and technical support are excelent, there are many official guides, tutorials and free community resources that it makes easy to learn and troubleshoot. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some features are still lacking or limited in SQL, which can make some tasks more difficult to complete.Additionaly the license cost can be quite expensive for enterprise level deployments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Microsoft SQL Server is one of the easiest databases to setup and use, especially if you are developing a .NET application using C# or VB. the visual editor available in Visual Studio makes it much easier to build relational databases. Configuring various constraints like Primary keys, Foreign keys, and mappings is quite straightforward.

With respect to coding, integrating SQL Server data objects with C# is simple with the help of ADO.NET.

Overall, a great product from Microsoft. I have used both the server version as well as the compact editions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

You might have to struggle a bit to integrate Microsoft SQL server

setup if you plan to use it with languages like PHP and Python. However, if you install the right driver, then it shouldn't be much of an issue.

The pricing is a bit on the higher side, especially for the Enterprise Edition. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Balance of performance, reliability, and ease of management. The integration of tool and features such as Query Store, execution plans, and indexing options make it easier to optimize and troubleshoot complex queries. it’s easy to use SQL Server frequently in day-to-day operations, Its consistency and predictability make it an excellent choice for both development and production environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Certain advanced tuning operations can become cumbersome — especially when working with large datasets or deeply nested queries. Customer support, while responsive, can be inconsistent in terms of technical depth Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most about Microsoft SQL Server is its combination of power, reliability, and ease of use. It’s a robust relational database system that handles both small and massive datasets efficiently, making it suitable for everything from single applications to large enterprise solutions. I appreciate its tight integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, including Azure, Power BI, and .NET, which makes reporting, analytics, and application development seamless. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One of the main drawbacks of Microsoft SQL Server is its cost, as licensing can be expensive, especially for enterprise editions or large-scale deployments. It can also be resource-intensive, requiring substantial memory and CPU for optimal performance. While it now supports Linux, it has historically been Windows-centric, which can limit flexibility in some environments. Advanced features like Always On, replication, or partitioning are powerful but often complex to configure and maintain. Additionally, the different editions with varying feature sets can be confusing, and Microsoft’s licensing rules can sometimes be tricky to navigate, particularly in cloud or hybrid setups. Overall, SQL Server is powerful but can be costly, resource-heavy, and complex for advanced use cases. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I feel that ease of use and setup is key. That it's robust ability to handle large data sets and makes report running an ease. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I feel that SSMS is lacking some features that dbeaver for instance has and is taken for granted. For instance the ability to easily delete tables from a database so you can recreate them. In SSMS you have to drop the table through scripting and isn't as elegant of a solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Microsoft SQL Server is pretty easy to install and configure, and is very easy to use in conjunction with using Microsoft SQL Management Studio as the database client integrated development environment (IDE). I use Microsoft SQL Server daily for my work, and it is robust and highly available in our production environment. I use the Microsoft SQL Server JDBC driver to connect to SQL Server from a Java-based application, and that driver performs well. I previously encountered a defect with a specific version of that driver, and my interaction with Microsoft customer support to get that defect fixed was perfect, providing a fix in a timely manner and back-porting the fix to a previous driver version. I also use the free edition called SQL Server Express locally on work laptop to facilitate my software development activity, and it is also easy to install, administer, and use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not being an open source database there are licensing costs associated with using Microsoft SQL Server depending on the features you need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have been using it for past three years in my current organization for our client . I love the reliability even with the large dataset specially for our client base which holds thousand of data and i have to query for them and there is a daily migration which requires at least once to query a large part of it. It is also very user friendly with its shortcuts and simplified database administration Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not much but I have to say it would b its licensing cost which can be quite high for our client . Also while i love the user friendliness it sometime feels a little slow and the learning curve is a little steep apart from that great tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about Microsoft SQL Server is how reliable and user-friendly it is compared to other enterprise databases. The performance is rock solid, and the tools like SSMS make it really easy to manage even complex environments. I also love how well it integrates with Power BI and the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem — it saves a ton of time when building reports or connecting data across systems Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I dislike about Microsoft SQL Server is mainly the cost — the licensing fees for the enterprise edition are really high, which makes it harder for smaller companies to justify. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Microsoft SQl Server is really scalable, secured, Highly available Database Product for Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure. Fully Supported by Microsoft in Azure to host the Database in traditional Virtual server IaaS model, and lot of options in PaaS (Managed DB Instance, SQL Elastic Pool, SQL Serverless models) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Renewal , purchase cost is very high for Enterprise Edition, Need more training to support 24/7 enterprise operations. Support timelines now takes some time to resolve issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.