Microsoft SQL Server Reviews & Insights

Score8.7 out of 10

1,630 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Microsoft SQL Server are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Ease of Use and Integration: Users have consistently found the software easy to use, praising its simple design and common interface. They also appreciate its seamless integration capabilities with various frameworks and tools like Visual Studio, Dot Net, MSBI, PowerBI, Crystal Reports, etc.

Reliability and Performance: Reviewers have highlighted the software's reliability in handling high volume transactions and data staging operations. They also value its fast performance, intuitive SQL coding experience, efficient data table management, and quick information filtering capabilities.

Data Management Capabilities: Users have praised the software for its functionalities as a relational database server and its support for OEM applications. They particularly appreciate its features for data storage, manipulation, scalability options, quick data analysis abilities, troubleshooting tools availability, and maintenance procedures.

Microsoft SQL Server Reviews

33 Reviews

Enterprises (1,001+ employees)

Most reliable database product

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

April 28, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft SQL Server is being used for the various applications in our organization, which are OLTP, Data warehouse, and Java-based applications. The various tools that come up with Microsoft SQL Server like SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Profiler etc make the maintenance and performance analysis very easy. We also have integrated it with Power BI for the analysis purposes.

Pros

Highly reliable and scalable
Ease in operation and maintenance with the help of various tools
Good technical support

Cons

Being open-source databases available in the market, the licensing cost seems to be on the higher side.
Server resource utilization is more. It can be tuned further.
Can have better compatibility with third-party applications.

Likelihood to Recommend

In our organisation, scalability is of frequent use. With Microsoft SQL Server, we are able to scale up and down the servers based on the demand. We are also using it in our Data warehouse applications and the performance has been far better as compared to other databases. Since we are using other Microsoft products as well, Microsoft SQL Server provides a good ecosystem with those products.

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

Microsoft SQL Server: Perfect Data Manager for an Organization

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 7, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft SQL Server is used in our organization by IT personnel to Store data, fetch data specific to requirements. For instance, in Sales Module SQL server is used to fetch data specific to a sales transaction and it helps to troubleshoot the errors reported by users. Similarly, it is used by IT technical team and other IT functional team to query the data stored in data server.

Pros

Data Storage,Data retrieval in conjunction with front-end software
Scalability to handle small-large database
SQL server available with different architectures under one umbrella

Cons

Nested queries are complex and need expertise - BI should be used to provide ease
Time and Space complexities - Can be improved
OLTP can be further enhanced
Cloud version can be improved

Likelihood to Recommend

1) We had a set-up where the ERP application and the servers were in-house and Microsoft SQL Server is perfect to query the data and troubleshoot the error reported by user. 2) The Microsoft SQL Server is taught to students from high school and this is like a baseline for students from IT. So it makes it easy to use at organization level since individual had already gained lot of experience in querying in previous projects at college level or otherwise. 3) In case of Cloud architecture, there is stiff competition and every software enterprise need to re-version itself for betterment. Otherwise, its- no less than any product out there.

varun kohli

Senior Executive in Information Technology at Vardhman textiles ltd. (Textiles, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

19 years of experience

Verified on LinkedIn

Microsoft SQL Server Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

October 28, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am a computer engineer. I have been working as a software developer for about 7 years. I've been using Microsoft SQL Server since I was a student. The interface is very simple and useful, even beginners can use it comfortably. The dark theme has no shortcomings except that it is added under options. Table, schema, and index adding operations can be handled with a single line.

Pros

Ease of learning
Simple design
Common use
Documentation

Cons

Dark theme
Improvement of the query plan
Output screen is white

Likelihood to Recommend

I'm making bank software and I can use Microsoft SQL Server for all scenarios. Customer data, account data, card data, credit data all information is kept in the Microsoft SQL Server database. It provides convenience while keeping related data. While reporting, slowness may occur because there is too much data. We use Oracle as an equivalent.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (Financial Services company, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

Gold Standard for Transactional Databases

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

August 13, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SQL server as a back-end for the vast majority of our software applications. This includes backends for web apps, data staging and SSIS/SSRS. As far as DB's go, SQL server is our first choice because it integrates easily with our Microsoft .net and .net core applications. Our SQL DB's are used across the entire organization.

Pros

high volume transactions
data staging and bulk data loads
integration to active directory
ease of setup

Cons

it's still a memory hog, but that's gotten better since 2016
it can be expensive to license

Likelihood to Recommend

If your organization builds a lot of Microsoft based applications using .net or .net core, then the use of SQL is a no-brainer. The integration with .net is second to none as a backend for web apps and APIs.

In general, SQL performs well for a multitude of tasks beyond web app backends. We use SQL for high volume transactions for our core ESB which has very high data volume and data churn.

Gordon Lo

Digital Solutions Architect in Information Technology at Dynacare (Hospital & Health Care, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

View profile

As long as it's not in your department's budget, Microsoft SQL Server is great

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

July 16, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it as our central data warehouse across the entire organization for most of our data needs. We base our microstrategy analytics software off of it, executive reporting off of it, and use it to house several years of transaction and inventory data. It serves as the central source of truth.

Pros

Is reasonably responsive even when thousands of queries are executing at the same time
Provides an end user experience that allows for intuitive use of structured query language coding
The database explorer is intuitive and easy to use for SQL neophytes

Cons

This is probably a sys admin setting, but it forces me to reset my password every month
I've heard the enterprise edition is quite costly
If we want to do anything substantial with it beyond simple storing and reporting, we often need to hire consultants

Likelihood to Recommend

As long as my colleague that I'm recommending Microsoft SQL Server to has an unlimited budget, it's great. Truly best-in-class enterprise-wide data warehousing and reporting functionality; Microsoft SQL Server is the real deal for robust reporting. It's best suited for a Fortune 500 company that definitely has the budget for IT sophistication.

Blake Baron

Senior Financial Analyst - Cost Analytics in Finance and Accounting at Lowe's Companies, Inc. (Retail, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile

Powerful Relational Database Management with Microsoft SQL Server

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 29, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, Microsoft SQL Server is being used as a relational database engine to store and manage data for multiple applications of CRM, ERP, and Automation. It is widely used by a large number of teams across different project functions which require a database management solution.

Pros

Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
Data Security
Easy to understand and use
Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script

Cons

Database backup and recovery functionality need improvement. Sometimes I have observed that when you try to restore a backup to a previous date/state, it does not work as expected, and restore fails.
Cost gets higher on integrating with Azure SQL

Likelihood to Recommend

It is well suited for large-scale projects. It definitely requires a learning curve for the developers to work on. A plethora of support and self-help documents/articles are available on the internet to get familiar with the micro functionalities.

Shivani Pandey

Project Engineer in Information Technology at Wipro Limited (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

Powerful, Flexible and Scalable.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

May 23, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Microsoft SQL Server to provide a platform for our field users to input data for multiple purposes. We store contract data, financial data, time entry data, customer survey data among other data. Microsoft SQL Server gives us a single source of truth for a lot of our reporting. This allows us to have confidence that we are recording and reporting out accurate data.

Pros

Integration. We use PowerBI and Crystal Reports for our reporting and it integrates seamlessly with either.
Ease of use. Easy to learn and use. (Not the language - but the application)
Protection. Easy maintenance and backup options.

Cons

Licensing. Can be sometimes confusing layers and expensive.
Efficiency. Can be memory intensive on larger tables.
Server maintenance can be intensive as well.

Likelihood to Recommend

Microsoft SQL Server has so many ways to integrate data from other platforms and sources, and available tools that it really is versatile enough to handle almost any need. There could be cheaper alternatives out there if you only have a minimal amount of data. At the same time, the cost can be high for smaller companies looking into big data capabilities.

Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology (Construction company, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

MS SQL is still rock solid

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

April 29, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SQL Server is our only database engine. We use it for every main application and therefore across the entire organization. It solves the business problem of getting the right data to the right users quickly and efficiently.

Pros

Reliable
Efficient
Fast

Cons

Ease of use
De-duplicate data

Likelihood to Recommend

Where ever data is stored in large quantities and needs to be retrieved quickly by queries. Where data is small and easily manipulated by a spreadsheet, then SQL will be overly complicated as a solution.

Mike McFarland

IT Operations Director in Information Technology at American Medical Technologies a d/b/a of Gordian Medical, Inc. (Hospital & Health Care, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

25 years of experience

View profile

Microsoft SQL Server - A complete package

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

April 13, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft SQL Server is being used by my whole organization by analysts and database administrators to maintain banking data including documents, statements, check images location pointers etc. It is able to store large banking information and can be managed easily at one place. Besides our client banks data, our company internal applications database is also stored and managed in it.

Pros

Data Storage and Manipulation
Highly Scalable
Easy Integration with a lot of framework including .NET

Cons

Lower prices
Better UI
Requires a lot of maintainence
No visualization of data

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited scenarios include:
1. Microsoft SQL Server is well suited when company needs to have high control over their data from creating, managing to maintaining.
2. Data needs to be highly structed and related to each other.
3. It can be integrated with a lot of frameworks.

Less appropriate scenarios include:
1. Pricing is very high and becomes difficult for smaller or mid-tier companies.
2. We are moving towards big data which is mostly unrelated and is very difficult for SQL to handle it.

Verified User

Engineer in Product Management (Financial Services company, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Good robust software for handling complex datasets

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

April 8, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Microsoft SQL Server to store various databases that are used within both the whole company and also within certain departments. Data from these databases have front-end interfaces for easy editing by certain users and data also feeds into other systems and is merged with other data sources. It allows us to have a common silo for storing our data that helps developers and admin staff easily access the data for further use.

Pros

Good range of data types helps us store lots of diverse data
Easy administration helps us control who has access and what they can do with the data
Backup and restore processes are easy to manage and provide good security
Data can be easily replicated from Server to Server for use in other countries

Cons

The import/export process can be tricky to follow with lots of steps and could be better for importing flat files
Obtaining help from Microsoft is cumbersome and often other internet sources are better and quicker
The documentation is not great and again it's generally better to obtain help elsewhere if needed

Likelihood to Recommend

Ultimately [Microsoft SQL Server] is fairly easy to set up and easy to use if you have knowledge of relational databases and how they work. Being from Microsoft it is a well known, widely used robust piece of software that is ever evolving and plenty of related information can be found all over the internet in various guises such as forums and blogs.

Paul Nockolds

Data Analyst / Scuba Dive Instructor in Information Technology at Haymarket Publishing (Media Production, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

20 years of experience

View profile

Loading Reviews List....