# Page 14 | Microsoft SQL Server Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 14 - Is Microsoft SQL Server the right Database solution for you? Explore 1974 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/1417/SQL-Server/reviews --- Microsoft SQL Server 4.6 (1974) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/1417/SQL-Server/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 25th, 2026 # Page 14 - Reviews of Microsoft SQL Server ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 326-350 of 1974 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Pinki K. Manage Data in Snowflake Data Warehouse Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best RDBMS for managing Data" October 16, 2022 4.0 Its been very good experience to use sql server. With help of sql server we are managing very large amounts of data very efficiently. Pros Its very easy to use and manage very large data. We have 2 products in both projects we are using sql server for managing data as it’s capable of managing and handling large data. Performance is also very good. Cons Its license cost is very costly. And in sql server 2012 Json is not supporting which is not good. Review Source dS diego S. a Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "es muy bueno !!" July 9, 2023 5.0 me ha facilitado mucho Pros es muy facil de usar y de rapida insersion Cons nada por mejorar es una aplicacion genial Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Programmer Retail Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Worked with Sql Server over the years" November 30, 2021 5.0 Pros The list of functions that makes easy to show the data is one of the features that makes me stay with SQL Server, Reporting Services and Analysis Services are a great value to the bundle that works great with other microsoft products. Cons The lack of features in lesser types of licences Review Source Chathuranga S. Cyber security enthusiast Management Consulting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Patch Managemnt" November 14, 2018 5.0 I was a system administrator and i was used the SQL Server 2014. The Microsoft are give critical updates daily basic and they help to administrators protect their data. Pros Database is very critical because of the organization data will stored in the Database Server. Windows Sql server will provides the lot of critical patches daily basics. If do not patch the server attackers can be attacked to the DB and get all information within the organization. So SQL Server vendors are maintain the patches for zero day exploits. Cons If we patch the DB some of functionality will be not working properly. Therefore we have to use the UAT system to check the accuracy of the functions. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer System Administrator Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "My Favorite Server" September 21, 2018 5.0 Microsoft SQL Server is definitely my preference over the competition, such as Oracle. It is much easier to operate and allows me to increase my performance, ultimately increasing the company's performance. Pros Microsoft SQL Server is the easiest server I have come across professionally. Whether you have previous experience or a beginner, it will not take you long to learn new functions of Microsoft SQL Server. It is extremely simple and straightforward to perform common functions such as backing up and restoring databases. You will become a pro in no time. Cons You will come across error messages every once in awhile when performing tasks, however they are usually easy fixes. Review Source Miguel C. software developer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great server , good community support " November 20, 2018 5.0 i work on this platform every day designing new data structures and debugging applications Pros It is like an standard database server good to host small databases and business inteligence alike , it have a management studio that is good and the profiler that also helps in troubleshooting during development Have a good performance on larger databases and in case of any question there exists a large community to support it besides Microsoft Cons The updates sometimes cause some issues on existing applications , and also i think that the performance is good on large databases but it can be better the deadlock management is not great also, it can improve Review Source David A. Web Developer Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Does what it says it will" July 20, 2018 5.0 Pros What can I say? SQL server has been an industry standard for a long time. The software can connect to numerous web apps with ease and users can perform all sorts of manipulations on the data with CRUD operations. You can browse records which can make it safer to change data on the live server as you can see exactly what rows you may affect with your changes. Cons The UI needs a bit of work. SQL Server has basically had the same UI for a long time and it would be nice if it could appear a little bit more like the latest version of Visual Studio or Windows 10. Wish the price was a bit lower too as this software is pretty pricey compared to other alternatives. However for the price it does seem to offer a performance advantage to our previous server that was running on Postgres. Review Source Nick W. Solution Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Microsoft SQL Server - is the gold standard in RDBMS" May 12, 2022 4.0 Very good experience - always my goto database on Windows and even Linux ! Pros Super easy to install, setup and configure Cons On-premise installations need careful planning and consideration Review Source NR Nicholas R. Software Support Technician Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "So far I enjoy using SQL Server to query databases that our customer have at my job" April 17, 2018 4.0 Pros I like that you can upload a database, then immediately start querying the data or altering if needed. There is no waiting afterwards. Our customer at my job have databases that we don't really query on to reduce usage or traffic. So we make backups and upload on our person computers that way we can hit it hard and not have to worry about the customer seeing any issues or if we accidentally mess up, it doesn't shut them down instantly. Once you get used to using select statements, joins, and looking at store procedures, SQL is pretty easy to use. Cons My only con is that the learning curve is difficult but I understand why. It would be ridiculous to make it easy and then hackers all over would destroy data or steal it even more. The actual con I have is in the latest release of SQL Server. It is a bit glitchy when it comes to opening the application and waiting for it to fully load after signin. This could be the hardware I am using it on but at times it is the only thing running and still is slow. Review Source Saravanan V. Tax Consultant Human Resources Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Simply outstanding" August 15, 2023 5.0 Overall experience is outstanding and extend the services to our sister companies Pros The customer support and the data migration were done without any difficulty. Data migration team done our job well Cons Noting to say "Least" about Microsoft SQL Review Source MuKuL G. Software Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Improving yourself with Sql server" October 28, 2018 5.0 It is simply the most and only preferred software i use till now for my work. Sql coding , execution, processing is done at a fast pace depending on your computer configuration too. Sql jobs are a plus to track your product. Pros Database backups and restore are easy tasks. Exporting scripts. Debugging code. Indexing data. Saving your code or sql scripts. Sql jobs tracking is easy. Bulk execution for data upload is quite fast. Rdbms system has got lot of features. Processing of data is fast. Cons Not for small place to do work with purchased version. Agent takes time to load and start. Tool set can be improved to be included with more features. Cost of enterprise versions. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Software Engineer Oil & Energy Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Enterprise Database" September 5, 2019 5.0 Is eady to understand and manage. No problems to consume it. Stable and fast for any escenario or scale. Pros It's a leader in the database industry. Being in a SQL implementation, you know 90% of the developers know how to work with it. It's well integrated with any ORM framework even outside .NET frameworks. As a database works stable and fast. You can do anything that any other database provide. Cons It's only fit for companies, there is absolute no point using it for personal projects or small companies. Have you meet someone that has bought in it's personal computer? Me neither. You have free SQL databases. They need a community version. Review Source Bishal B. Software Engineer Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Best choice for DBA and businesses" November 13, 2020 5.0 Being a software developer, I'm using SQL Server and writing codes in T-SQL for quite a while now and I feel like it is really an awesome product. There are few things that I feel, can be improved too but regardless, for me this is the best RDBMS. Pros SQL is easy to use, user-friendly, easy to understand and configuring as well as maintaining DBs is really easy. It allows data security with optimized data storage. Best thing about SQL Server is that it is suitable for both small as well as enterprise sized clients. Job tool is also really amazing to schedule tasks. Cons SQL Server installation takes a lot of time. Price for its enterprise version is really expensive. Also, I feel like the version update is quite a bit of nuisance and If you have different databases running on different versions of SQL server, then it might be a trouble on maintaining the database. Review Source Mohamed O. Software Developer Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Very reliable " December 21, 2021 5.0 Reliable Pros The security and availability of the database are very important. I trust Microsoft for that. Cons Tools available are good but it can be improved by adding more tools and make it more simple. Review Source Patrick R. Manager of Development Services Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Excellent Database for Microsoft Platform" April 18, 2019 5.0 I love it and use it every day. I have tried MySQL and it just seems so much less polished and hard to use. SQL Server is mature, powerful, and a joy to work with. Pros The best thing is the user interface, SQL Server Management Studio. SSMS was easy enough to use when I started with SQL Server 20 years ago and it is powerful enough to do most of what I need today. Cons The worst thing is the cost. Licensing per core can add up really fast. Review Source JA Jamie A. IT Support Technician Furniture Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The absolute core of our business" September 5, 2019 5.0 Our overall experience with SQL Server has been formidable. This is the reason that it has been at the center of our business since we outgrew an Access central database over 20 years ago. Pros Installation and upgrading of the software is excellent. The additions of Query Store and other Analytics have drastically changed our ability to monitor the performance of all metrics of our Databases. Cons Turn around time from issuing the Purchase Order until the license is released into our Microsoft account was rather slow, when we needed the software, we had to find an alternative solution until our license was released to us. Alternatives considered [Oracle Database](https://www.capterra.com/p/5938/Oracle-Database/) Reason for choosing Microsoft SQL Server It came down to cost and ease of implementation that drove our purchasing to Microsoft SQL Server over Oracle Database. Review Source Greg P. Business Intelligence Analyst Internet Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Industry Standard for Databases" November 7, 2017 5.0 As an Analyst it was good to use an industry standard and reliable tool that was relatively easy to use. Code completion in the Server Management Studio works really well, unlike some of the tools for open source equivalent tools. Full functionality vs other DBs like MySQL, so I was able to complete complex tasks at the database rather than reporting layer which sped analysis time up considerably. Pros Industry standard, full featured SQL Database. Reliable code completion in the SQL Server Manager. Large Community online able to answer questions. Ability to Pivot data on the fly. Cons Generally considered to be a little expensive. Proprietary standard. Open Source could provide alternative solution. Review Source PR Pankaj R. Pankaj Rayal Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for Enterprise application" February 1, 2019 4.0 I will rate it 9/10. Looking into features and ease to operate, performance etc. I have tried other DBs but personally like this one. SSDT is great component for Visual Studio and sometime you don't need to run SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio), as you get most of it on SSDT, but database engine must be running. I love it. Pros Even for beginners it's easy to use. Great for creation, management and easy to learn. The query analyser is awesome. Inbuilt template for New Database, stored procedure, views, tables. Easy to generate script for table and it's data. Execution plan is really helpful when writing complex queries. Overall, I really like it. I have full version installed my machine and have disabled some services which I don't want like SQL Agent. Cons The heavy one. I know it has many in built features like sending emails directly from database and generate reports but still heavy. Sometime I couldn't restore the backup from older version and that is painful. The price is high, may be the reason they have done tremendious job since they release 2005 version. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Data Scientist Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SQL Server 2008/2017 " August 14, 2019 4.0 This is the core database, i use in development and production. My usage is high and i am most familiar with the syntax as i use it more often, but i like a improvements in speed/performance and need more features in the UI Pros I like this software because the syntax is more easier to interpret and replicate unlike, Oracle or Teradata or Hive. Its the best for running Jobs using SSIS Cons The security is not good as oracle and SQL server is slower in handling large data like in Teradata or Hive. I like the Teradata client user interface. You can see your past queries on the same screen. Even Apache Hue has better UI than SSMS. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Platform Architect Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great management interface and stable platform" March 3, 2020 4.0 SQL Server is a robust RDBMS, it is highly configurable, but many of the options are not defaulted. Make sure to spend time fine tuning the deployment. Pros SQL Server has a robust administration interface that allows administrator to easily configure the servers and deploy it into production. Cons SQL tends to consume a lot of resources and does not do garage collection very well. Once it consume RAM or CPU resources it is hard to get it to release them. Alternatives considered [PostgreSQL](https://www.capterra.com/p/48791/PostgreSQL/)[MySQL](https://www.capterra.com/p/11482/MySQL/) Review Source Vikash Kumar S. Lead Engineer Industrial Automation Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy and Fast for Development" September 19, 2019 3.0 Pros MS SQL makes your life easy by bringing SQL Management tool easy to create new database on the fly. Free express Database for development purpose Easy to troubleshoot performance issue,. Same SQL can be published to azure or get the same feeling on Azure. Most used database Cons When DB size grow large then it leads to performance issue. these days in world on No SQL database, ppl tend more use other kind of DBS Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Senior Software developer at OATI Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SQL server Review" January 8, 2019 4.0 Overall experience with SQL server is too good and I am very happy with it's performance and features. I have been worked on 9 product in my current organization and used SQL server as backend for all of the products. Pros I like the development tools provided by SQL server, it's intelligence feature. It's debugging or tracing tool is very useful feature of sql server that make developer life easy. Visual Studio Integration is also good and beat all db softwares. Cons SQL server's intelligence get stopped working sometime when we set user customize shortcuts. Moreover it has much benefits foR the large scale businesses and can't be use for small business. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Systems Engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "simple to query, offering quick quick information" January 16, 2023 4.0 Pros A company's data is easily managed by an MS SQL server, which only occasionally, if ever, experiences problems. It requires very little upkeep once set up. The Teamcenter integration is more seamless than the Oracle integration. The SQL server management studio app makes it simple to duplicate a production environment when we need to with just a few clicks. Cons I can't undo the executed operation until I utilise rollback. When loading txt files, the software frequently crashes or fails to recognise mouse and keyboard inputs when we utilise CSV or txt files. It also has trouble detecting delimiters and data types when importing txt files. Review Source GM Gabe M. IT Administrator Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Enterprise-grade SQL that is polished and with high adoption for the Microsoft eco system" February 22, 2018 4.0 Pros \- Support: Well-documented, and is a cornerstone of Microsoft enterprise software, and is well-designed very robust. - Integration: If you are standing up Microsoft applications that require MS SQL as it's back-end, the process is flexible regarding if you want the SQL server hosted on the same box or on a remote server for design and resilience. The process is generally very well documented and the requirements for the installation are highlighted and straightforward. - Clustering: It can be complicated to initially setup, but it is worth it. Clustering your SQL servers reduced single points of failure, leveraged our hardware resources more efficiently while also making maintenance and patching more flexible. Cons \- Pricing confusion for physical vs virtual licensing: Pricing is a moving target with Microsoft, so pay very close attention to your infrastructure, how you use SQL, and work with your reseller to determine the most cost-effective way to move forward. -Split-permissions: Active Directory is the flagship of Microsoft enterprise software, and it grooms you to understand shared permissions that are integrated around Active Directory, and everything joined to it. MS SQL is not setup this way, they are split out, so to understand the permissions model of MS SQL, you have to invest in the MS SQL eco system. Review Source Armando P. Programmer Analyst Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Robust, scalable and easy to use RDBMS" April 21, 2020 5.0 I have used SQL Server for data management in different size systems on desktop, mobile and servers. Facilitates work during development and production time. It is accompanied by a set of additional tools for data transformation, data analysis, reporting, among other tools that make this product a great ally for the company. Pros The thing I like most about sql server is being able to generate xml automatically using sql format. It is quite easy to use and offers good performance. The transact language is a gem. Cons It doesn't free up memory once you make queries. Bad data model design can greatly affect performance. Reason for choosing Microsoft SQL Server Experience and previous confidence in the product. Review Source Similar Products Featured