# Microsoft SQL Server Reviews **Vendor:** Microsoft **Category:** [Relational Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/relational-databases) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 2,276 ## About Microsoft SQL Server SQL Server 2017 brings the power of SQL Server to Windows, Linux and Docker containers for the first time ever, enabling developers to build intelligent applications using their preferred language and environment. Experience industry-leading performance, rest assured with innovative security features, transform your business with AI built-in, and deliver insights wherever your users are with mobile BI. ## Microsoft SQL Server Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of Microsoft SQL Server, finding it intuitive and powerful for database management. (32 reviews) - Users appreciate the **robust database management** of Microsoft SQL Server for effective data handling and intuitive administration. (29 reviews) - Users value the **exceptional performance** of Microsoft SQL Server, appreciating its power and efficiency for their database needs. (25 reviews) - Users value the **enterprise-grade security and ease of use** in Microsoft SQL Server, ensuring powerful and compliant data management. (23 reviews) - Users appreciate the **easy integrations** with Microsoft products, enhancing data management and workflow efficiency. (22 reviews) - Users love the **seamless integration** of Microsoft SQL Server with other Microsoft products, enhancing productivity significantly. (21 reviews) - Reliability (18 reviews) - Users appreciate the **ease of data management** with Microsoft SQL Server, enjoying its simplicity and flexibility for various applications. (16 reviews) - Setup Ease (13 reviews) - Users appreciate the **incredible efficiency** of Microsoft SQL Server, making it the go-to standard for database management. (12 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find Microsoft SQL Server's **high licensing costs** to be a barrier, especially for smaller businesses and startups. (21 reviews) - Users find the **high licensing costs** of Microsoft SQL Server to be a barrier for small businesses and teams. (12 reviews) - Users find the **high licensing costs** of Microsoft SQL Server burdensome, particularly affecting small businesses and teams. (12 reviews) - Users find the **expensive licensing** of Microsoft SQL Server challenging, especially for small businesses and projects. (11 reviews) - Users report **performance issues** with SQL Server, particularly in scaling workloads and requiring skilled DBAs for optimization. (11 reviews) - Users experience **slow performance** with Microsoft SQL Server, particularly when handling large datasets and global searches. (11 reviews) - Users find the **user interface complex** and not intuitive, leading to a steeper learning curve for newcomers. (8 reviews) - Difficult Learning (7 reviews) - High Hardware Requirements (7 reviews) - Technical Difficulties (7 reviews) ## Microsoft SQL Server Reviews ### 1. Fast, Easy SQL Querying with Clear Table Dependency Insights **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shyam s. | Data Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 21, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** It is very easy to query and understand the dependencies between tables, and it’s also very fast when it comes to processing data. We use stored procedures to perform multiple transformations, and those transformations were faster in SQL compared to distributed computing. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** There are a few issues that cause an indeterministic update when multiple rows match a single target record. Instead of throwing an error, it updates a random row, which is a big issue. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** Currently, we are using it as a data warehouse, and it is fast. We also have all our data coming in from multiple sources. On top of that, we have written multiple transformations as stored procedures and orchestrated them using Azure Data Factory. Overall, everything is running faster, and it helps us make decisions based on the fact tables that are connected in Power BI. ### 2. Reliable, High-Performance Database Management with Strong Security **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dhirendra Y. | Associate Software Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** The best thing about Microsoft SQL Server is its reliability and powerful performance for handling structured data. It offers a robust set of tools for data management, querying, and reporting, making it easy to work with large databases efficiently. I also like its strong security features, seamless integration with other Microsoft tools, and user-friendly interface through SQL Server Management Studio, which simplifies database administration and development tasks. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** One of the main drawbacks is its high licensing and maintenance cost, especially for small businesses or individual users. It can also be resource-intensive, requiring strong hardware for optimal performance. Additionally, some advanced features have a learning curve, and it’s less flexible compared to open-source alternatives when it comes to customization and cross-platform support. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** Microsoft SQL Server solves the problem of efficiently storing, managing, and retrieving large volumes of structured data in a secure and reliable way. It helps ensure data consistency, supports complex queries, and provides tools for reporting and analytics. This benefits me by making data handling faster and more organized, improving decision-making, and reducing the risk of data loss or errors. Its automation and integration capabilities also save time in managing databases and streamline overall workflows. ### 3. SQL Server: Reliable Performance, Strong Security, and Seamless Azure & Power BI Integration **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yuvashree M. | Senior Data Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** The best thing about SQL Server is its balance of performance, reliability, and ease of use. It offers features for handling large-scale data processing, strong security mechanisms, and integration tools with Azure, Power BI, and ETL platforms. It also includes advanced functionality such as indexing, partitioning, and query optimization, along with solid backup and recovery options. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** It requires significant system resources to handle high-performance workloads. As datasets grow or concurrency increases, tuning and query optimization can become complex, especially in large-scale systems. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helped me solve critical business problems related to data storage, management, and reporting. I’ve worked in the logistics business with large datasets, and it benefited daily operations by providing a reliable platform for building ETL processes. Indexing also helped with faster data processing. It also supported Azure integration and downstream Power BI reporting. ### 4. Easy-to-Use Database Management with Strong Error Handling and Debugging **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bansi V. | Database Administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 04, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** This app is used for storing databases and working with MS SQL language databases. Here, we can create a database, and then within the database we can create tables and do many more related tasks. It provides a very good interface, along with helpful troubleshooting, error handling, and clear support when issues come up. In my organization, we are storing our DB in the SSMS platform, and every day we are using this product. It's easy to use and understand. It gives the perfect error handling with line state number and how to solve this error and why it comes, and also gives SQL Server Profiler for debugging, and also provides backups and restores databases. when i am strating then i got some problem to understand but when i am using it day to day is it easy to handle. easy to intergrate. we can also perform try catch and transaction in ms sql for error handling .its gives the best performance some times when we are use this tools it will slow down our system and some times we got stucked and also takes too much timme to start .. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** It takes too long to start, and sometimes using this product slows our system down. As an organization, we use this tool with Red Gate, and the Red Gate extensions are costly. Also, it doesn’t provide an AI interface like other tools do. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easy to manage project data,Saves a lot of time during development, bettwe result while performing developemnt of applications.less debugging time needed ### 5. Top-Notch UI/UX, Fast Performance, and First-Class Support **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stephen W. | Senior Systems Analyst: Digital Accessibility, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 13, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** I've always liked the UI/UX far more than my experience with the alternatives, and I much prefer Microsoft's version of SQL. This has really helped when I've had to integrate with other systems, and I've been really happy by how quickly it performs. Pricing is always tricky, we'd all like to pay less than we do but thankfully I don't have to pay personally! Support has always been first class and I've never not been able to successfully develop. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** Nothing really stands out and I cannot think of anything to suggest. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** I originally learnt to develop databases using ORACLE, Delphi, and MS Access before moving to MS SQL Server. I use SQL Server for all my backend systems now because it allows for integrations with many systems, and the tools are there to enable me to work efficiently. ### 6. Powerful Managed Instance for Enterprise-Scale Data **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** I appreciate more about the managed instance offering. it provides SQL server capabilities in a cloud managed environment, allowing to perform a wide range of operations. The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making day to day database management straight forward even for large scale environment. It handles large volumes of enterprise data efficiently, making it a reliable choice for data warehousing and analytics workload. The performance remains consistent as the data grows. The built-in row level security allows to control data access at granular level ensuring users only see the data they are authorized to view. The ability to manage access through active directory group simplifies permissions management across teams. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** One area that I dislike is the azure synapse analytics dedicated SQL pool. It is powerful for large scale analytics, but it lacks support for several commonly used SQL features such as cross apply, merge and certain data type functions that are readily available in traditional SQL server or managed instance. The straightforward approach we would normally take in a standard SQL server environment don't work in synapse. instead, we have to find work arounds rewriting logic using join, staging tables, multiple steps like insert, update, delete patterns which adds complexity, increases development time and makes code harder to maintain. It is particularly challenging while migrating the existing logic to synapse. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is solving several data management challenges in our environment. It serves as the core engine for our ETL processes, enabling us to extract, transform and load data efficiently using logics. It provides reliable and scalable platform for storing large volumes of enterprise data in a structured and organized manner. It helps to enforce the data quality and validation rules directly at the database level through constraints and custom logics ensuring clean data flow to downstream reports. SQL server agent is a key feature that allows us to schedule and automate jobs based one business requirements, such as nightly loads and periodic refreshes, reducing manual interventions. Most benefit is the data lineage. It helps to track how data moves and transforms across the pipelines from source to destination. The visibility is essential for auditing, trouble shooting and meeting compliance requirement. Overall, it simplifies our end-to-end data operations and gives us confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data we deliver to the business. It has become an indispensable part of our data infrastructure. ### 7. Easy ETL Integrations and Helpful Built-In Transaction Monitoring **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** VIGNESHWAR K. | Senior Data Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 22, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** We can easily integrate with ETL tools like ADF, Databricks, etc. We also have many inbuilt stored procedures available to monitor transactions. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** The issue I faced on my last project came up during an update query. When there were multiple records in the source for a single record in the target, the target table would get updated randomly with one of the records from the source table. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** We can perform live streaming of data by making use of triggers in the table. This can be used to build the set in SQL Server. We can also schedule a SQL Server Agent job to run the job in SQL Server. ### 8. MS SQL Server Data Platform **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 15, 2017 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** Without a doubt, its simplicity in a large part of the tasks and operations on it. Robustness, the fact of supporting multiple workloads and types of data; constituting, along with Oracle, the best convergent databases. The family of advanced functionalities IQP (Intelligent Query Processing) has been introducing greater automation through the versions. Analytical functions for macro data environments and PSP (parameter-sensitive plans), which allows caching up to 3 plans per statement. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** Your TCO, the licensing costs, or even as a service. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft SQL Server:** Keep in mind and consider topics like scalability **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** The database provides support to certain satellite systems of the Organization, such as HR and the document management system. Both systems require minimal support intervention regarding the database. And it is used as a data platform for integration, consolidation, and data analysis. ### 9. Satisfied with MSQL **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** Overall experience with SQL server 2016 is very nice and excited in my perceptions due to Better support for memory optimzed tables, Built in JSON support, Stretch DB concepts, Query Store and dynamic temp db according to size and presence of CPU in the databases **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** Only I know very least number of disadvantages this MS SQL server 2016 is having: 1. Enterprise pricing may be costly as some of the organisation cant afford for the count of data they are having. 2 With the performance tuning, Microsoft SQL Server will be having some gobble resources **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using Sql server in our organisation to create new databases and maintaining the existing ones. Data access is so simple and secure. If there is any business sensitive data then we use to encrypt the table columns data ### 10. Unmatched Reliability and Seamless Administration **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bhavana K. | integration analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2026 **What do you like best about Microsoft SQL Server?** I appreciate how Microsoft SQL Server securely consolidates our application data and delivers unmatched reliability. It also makes complex database administration and troubleshooting feel seamless and straightforward. The initial setup was easy, which was a real advantage for us. **What do you dislike about Microsoft SQL Server?** I’m not a fan of the licensing costs or the portability limitations around SSMS. In my view, Microsoft SQL Server would be better if it offered truly cross-platform capabilities and did away with the restrictive 128 GB memory cap. **What problems is Microsoft SQL Server solving and how is that benefiting you?** Microsoft SQL Server helps us address data fragmentation by securely consolidating our application data in one place. The biggest benefit for us has been its unmatched reliability, and it also makes complex database administration and troubleshooting feel much more seamless. ## Microsoft SQL Server Discussions - [how did you import a MySQL database?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-did-you-import-a-mysql-database) - 3 comments, 2 upvotes - [How can I work on the same query if the connection is lost (timeout) and then I reconnect?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/15675-how-can-i-work-on-the-same-query-if-the-connection-is-lost-timeout-and-then-i-reconnect) - 4 comments, 2 upvotes - [What is Microsoft SQL Server used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/microsoft-sql-server-what-is-microsoft-sql-server-used-for) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [Best features in SQL](https://www.g2.com/discussions/24528-best-features-in-sql) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [How to handle duplicate data from a database and a course on related databases](https://www.g2.com/discussions/como-manejar-datos-duplicados-de-base-de-datos-y-un-curso-sobre-base-relacionadas) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Microsoft SQL Server pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews/microsoft-sql-server-review-1710650?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-26+15%3A22%3A55+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=c8ad1f70-ddd8-48f5-b822-37f520840764&secure%5Btoken%5D=d1d007ff44d98883638d73d3cf99656860a12ca16edff24f758e01564f047c21&format=llm_user) ## Microsoft SQL Server Integrations - [Agentforce 360 Platform (formerly Salesforce Platform)](https://www.g2.com/products/agentforce-360-platform-formerly-salesforce-platform/reviews) - [Agentforce Sales (formerly Salesforce Sales Cloud)](https://www.g2.com/products/agentforce-sales-formerly-salesforce-sales-cloud/reviews) - [Azure Databricks](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-databricks/reviews) - [Azure Data Factory](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-data-factory/reviews) - [Azure Functions](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-functions/reviews) - [Azure Pipelines](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-pipelines/reviews) - [Azure Portal](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-portal/reviews) - [Azure SQL Database](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) - [Azure Virtual Machines](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-virtual-machines/reviews) - [Databricks](https://www.g2.com/products/databricks/reviews) - [Docker](https://www.g2.com/products/docker-inc-docker/reviews) - [Informatica Cloud Data Integration](https://www.g2.com/products/informatica-cloud-data-integration/reviews) - [IntelliJ IDEA](https://www.g2.com/products/intellij-idea/reviews) - [Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server](https://www.g2.com/products/internet-information-services-iis-for-windows-server/reviews) - [Jet Analytics](https://www.g2.com/products/jet-analytics/reviews) - [Microsoft Defender for Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/reviews) - [Microsoft Excel](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-excel/reviews) - [Microsoft Fabric](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-fabric/reviews) - [Microsoft Power Apps](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-power-apps/reviews) - [Microsoft Power BI](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-microsoft-power-bi/reviews) - [Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services to Alation](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server-integration-services-to-alation/reviews) - [monday Work Management](https://www.g2.com/products/monday-com/reviews) - [MuleSoft Anypoint Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews) - [Node.js](https://www.g2.com/products/node-js/reviews) - [NodeJS Web Stack](https://www.g2.com/products/nodejs-web-stack/reviews) - [Oracle Java Downloads](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-java-downloads/reviews) - [Popdock](https://www.g2.com/products/popdock/reviews) - [Redis Software](https://www.g2.com/products/redis-software/reviews) - [Tableau](https://www.g2.com/products/tableau/reviews) - [Umbraco](https://www.g2.com/products/umbraco/reviews) - [Visual Studio](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio/reviews) - [Visual Studio Code](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio-code/reviews) ## Microsoft SQL Server Features **Management** - Data dictionary - Data Replication - Query Language - Data Modeling - Performance Analysis **Management ** - Data Schema - Query Language - ACID - Complaint - Data Replication **Database** - Real-Time Data Collection - Data Distribution - Data Lake **Maintenance** - Data Migration - Backup and Recovery - Multi-User Environment **Support ** - Text Search - Data Types - Languages - Operating Systems **Integrations** - Hadoop Integration - Spark Integration **Security** - Data Encryption - User Access Control **Security** - Database Locking - Access Control - Encryption - Authentication **Platform** - Machine Scaling - Data Preparation - Spark Integration **Performance ** - Disaster Recovery - Data Concurrency - Workload Management - Advanced Indexing - Query Optimizer **Processing** - Cloud Processing - Workload Processing **Building Reports** - Data Transformation - Data Modeling - WYSIWYG Report Design - Integration APIs **Database Features** - Storage - Availability - Stability - Scalability - Security - Data Manipulation - Query Language **Platform** - Mobile User Support - Customization - User, Role, and Access Management - Internationalization - Sandbox / Test Environments - Performance and Reliability - Breadth of Partner Applications ## Top Microsoft SQL Server Alternatives - [Teradata Vantage](https://www.g2.com/products/teradata-teradata-vantage/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (353 reviews) - [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (522 reviews) - [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-sql/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (354 reviews)