What is Azure SQL Database used for?

Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's fully managed relational database service on Azure, built on the SQL Server engine for cloud applications. It is a good fit for moving SQL Server applications to the cloud, backends for line-of-business apps on Azure and multi-tenant SaaS databases using elastic pools.

How much does Azure SQL Database cost?

Azure SQL Database is a paid product with no free plan.

Is Azure SQL Database open source?

No. Azure SQL Database is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Azure SQL Database include MySQL, MariaDB and Autobase.

What are some alternatives to Azure SQL Database?

Azure SQL Database competes with Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora and Google Cloud Spanner. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Azure SQL Database alternatives.

Azure SQL Database: features, pricing and alternatives

About Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is a managed relational database service on Microsoft Azure. It is based on the SQL Server engine, so applications written for SQL Server and T-SQL can usually move to it with limited changes, while Microsoft handles patching, backups and high availability instead of the customer's own administrators.

Microsoft describes it as designed for performance and reliability and for building and scaling apps with automation. Common options in the service include elastic pools for sharing resources across databases, a serverless compute tier that pauses and resumes with demand, and a Hyperscale tier for very large databases. It integrates with the wider Azure platform for monitoring, security and data services.

Azure SQL Database is a hosted, proprietary service and cannot be run on your own servers; teams that need a self-managed engine would install SQL Server instead. It fits organizations already on Azure or the Microsoft data stack that want a managed SQL Server-compatible database.

Key features

SQL Server-compatible relational engine
Fully managed patching and maintenance
Built-in backups and high availability
Elastic pools to share resources
Serverless compute tier
Hyperscale tier for large databases

Good fit for

→Moving SQL Server applications to the cloud
→Backends for line-of-business apps on Azure
→Multi-tenant SaaS databases using elastic pools

Tags: sql-server; relational-database; azure; dbaas; managed-database; t-sql

Azure SQL Database: questions and answers

What is Azure SQL Database used for?: Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's fully managed relational database service on Azure, built on the SQL Server engine for cloud applications. It is a good fit for moving SQL Server applications to the cloud, backends for line-of-business apps on Azure and multi-tenant SaaS databases using elastic pools.
How much does Azure SQL Database cost?: Azure SQL Database is a paid product with no free plan.
Is Azure SQL Database open source?: No. Azure SQL Database is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Azure SQL Database include MySQL, MariaDB and Autobase.
What are some alternatives to Azure SQL Database?: Azure SQL Database competes with Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora and Google Cloud Spanner. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Azure SQL Database alternatives.