Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Microsoft SQL Server VS Azimutt

Compare Microsoft SQL Server VS Azimutt and see what are their differences

Microsoft SQL Server logo Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft Azure is an open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform. Move faster, do more, and save money with IaaS + PaaS. Try for FREE.

Azimutt logo Azimutt

Next-Gen ERD to Design, Explore and Document real world databases (big and messy ones ^^)
  • Microsoft SQL Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-17
  • Azimutt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-14

If you are looking to explore and understand your database (relational or document), Azimutt is the tool you need. It's the first entity relationship diagram built to handle big database schema (up to 1000 tables) with dedicated features: search, find path and even schema analysis to keep it consistent.

Azimutt

$ Details
freemium โ‚ฌ7.0 / Monthly (Solo)
Platforms
Web Browser
Release Date
2021 November

Microsoft SQL Server features and specs

  • Performance
    Microsoft SQL Server offers high performance and efficient database management capabilities, optimized for both OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing).
  • Security Features
    SQL Server comes with advanced security features such as encryption, data masking, and advanced threat protection to ensure data integrity and privacy.
  • Scalability
    The server supports horizontal and vertical scaling to accommodate growing amounts of data and increasing number of users.
  • Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem
    Seamless integration with other Microsoft products such as Azure, Power BI, and Visual Studio, making it a versatile choice for businesses already using Microsoft services.
  • Ease of Use
    The server provides a user-friendly interface and helpful tools such as SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for database maintenance and management.
  • Comprehensive Support
    Microsoft offers extensive support and documentation, along with a strong community that provides additional resources and insights.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft SQL Server

  • Cost
    Licensing and operational costs can be high, especially for larger enterprises, making it a significant investment.
  • Complexity
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex, often requiring expert knowledge to deploy and maintain effectively.
  • Resource Intensive
    The server can be resource-heavy, requiring significant hardware and computational resources to run efficiently, especially for larger databases.
  • Limited Cross-Platform Support
    Although improvements have been made, SQL Server is primarily optimized for Windows environments, which can limit its use in cross-platform scenarios.
  • Proprietary Software
    Being a proprietary software solution, it lacks the flexibility and cost benefits that come with open-source alternatives.
  • Updates and Patches
    Frequent updates and patches can sometimes disrupt service, requiring periodic maintenance that could result in downtime.

Azimutt features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Azimutt offers a clean and intuitive user interface, making it easy to navigate and use for both technical and non-technical users.
  • Visualization of Database Schema
    The tool provides effective visualization options for database schemas, enabling users to better understand and manage complex databases.
  • Collaborative Features
    Azimutt supports collaboration, allowing multiple users to work together on the same database project, enhancing teamwork and productivity.
  • No Installation Required
    As a web-based application, it does not require any installation or setup, making it convenient to access from any device with internet connectivity.

Analysis of Microsoft SQL Server

Overall verdict

  • Microsoft SQL Server on Azure is a strong choice for enterprises looking for a reliable, feature-rich database system that can easily integrate with other Microsoft products and services. Its cloud capabilities make it a versatile option, especially for those already within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Why this product is good

  • Microsoft SQL Server, when hosted on Azure, offers robust performance, scalability, and integration with other Microsoft services. It provides features such as automated backups, advanced analytics, high availability, and security options. The Azure platform enhances these capabilities with added flexibility, allowing for easy scaling, managed services, and integration with cloud-native features.

Recommended for

  • Organizations using other Microsoft services and products.
  • Businesses requiring high scalability and performance for their database needs.
  • Companies needing a strong security infrastructure for their data.
  • Developers and IT teams interested in leveraging cloud-native features alongside traditional SQL capabilities.
  • Businesses looking for a fully managed database solution with minimal maintenance.

Microsoft SQL Server videos

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Azimutt videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Microsoft SQL Server and Azimutt)
Databases
85 85%
15% 15
Database Tools
0 0%
100% 100
NoSQL Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Microsoft SQL Server and Azimutt.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Azimutt's answer:

Azimutt is mainly targeted at developers working with databases, allowing them to easily explore and understand them by either importing the schema or connecting to a live instance.

As it's quite easy to use, we have seen other profile such as product owners, engineering managers and even CFOs using it to better understand the product they build or extract meaningful data on their own ^^

What's the story behind your product?

Azimutt's answer:

Early 2021 I joined Doctolib, a health startup very successful in France, and discovered their big Ruby on Rails monolith backed by a large PostgreSQL database with more than 700 business tables (more then 1300 in total). As an architect I worked with several teams and needed to understand their models but neither Ruby, Rails or the structure.sql were very helpful for such a big app. So I looked for a tool but they all failed with such a large database, so after a few month and tens of tools tested, I decided to build my own: Azimutt. Now it has evolved a lot and we are still very active to enable new usages every months. I believe it's a solid product and quite unique โค๏ธ

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Azimutt's answer:

From development languages, Azimutt is built with Elm/TypeScript for the frontend, Elixir/Phoenix for the backend and PostgreSQL/S3 as storage.

What makes your product unique?

Azimutt's answer:

It's the only ERD able to handle databases with many tables (>1000) nicely thanks to unique features:

  • layouts to see only the relevant tables (not all are useful for everyone)
  • smart search everywhere

It's also very unique in the sense it's made to explore and understand real world databases, from development to production with larges features:

  • database design with an intuitive DSL
  • database documentation, on any table, column or layout (markdown text and tags)
  • database analysis to make sure best practices are in place
  • innovative data exploration

Thousands of developers already love it, give it a try, we have several samples you can try right away!

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Azimutt's answer:

Azimutt is the all-in-one app to explore real world databases. If you look for very specialized features some competitors may be more suited, but if you want a versatile app to explore and understand your database, we believe no competitor come close to us.

  • if you have more than 50 tables, there is no match, you should be amazed by Azimutt features built for large databases
  • if you want to mix data exploration and schema exploration, it's also very unique
  • if you care about open source, visit our GitHub

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Azimutt's answer:

Azimutt is used at Doctolib (3000 people company) and some other french scale ups I can't disclose yet.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Microsoft SQL Server and Azimutt

Microsoft SQL Server Reviews

Best SQL Server Development Tools for Developers and DBAs (2026)
Microsoft SQL Server development tools are the baseline for most teams. Theyโ€™re widely used, free to start with, and tightly integrated with SQL Server. Even teams that rely on third-party tools typically keep Microsoftโ€™s tooling at the core of their workflow.
Source: quickref.me
A Comprehensive Guide to SQL Server Data Tools
In this article, you were introduced to Microsoft SQL Server and its promising SQL Server Data Tools. You understood the need for SQL Server Data Tools and its various features. Moreover, you learned the key steps to set up your SQL Server Data Tools. However, there can be some limitations to it such as its narrow focus on SQL Server, less advanced data visualization...
Source: hevodata.com
20 Best SQL Management Tools in 2020
It is a SQL management tool for analysing the differences in Microsoft SQL Server database structures. It allows comparing database objects like tables, columns, indexes, foreign keys, schemas, etc.
Source: www.guru99.com

Azimutt Reviews

We have no reviews of Azimutt yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Microsoft SQL Server should be more popular than Azimutt. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Microsoft SQL Server mentions (6)

  • Deploying Your Angular App to Azure
    Imagine your Angular application, currently confined to your development environment, becoming instantly accessible to users across the globe with Azure. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Cloud provider comparison 2024: VM Performance / Price
    Azure is the #2 overall Cloud provider and, as expected, it's the best choice for most Microsoft/Windows-based solutions. That said, it does offer many types of Linux VMs, with quite similar abilities as AWS/GCP. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Amdocs, NVIDIA and Microsoft Azure build custom LLMs for telcos
    Amdocs has partnered with NVIDIA and Microsoft Azure to build custom Large Language Models (LLMs) for the $1.7 trillion global telecoms industry. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Windows Azure: Microsoft's crown jewel
    You can utilise various tools on the platform to significantly improve your IT performance. Due to its flexibility, even official recommendations for Azure might need to be clarified and easier to comprehend. Simply put, Azure (formerly Windows Azure) is Microsoft's cloud computing operating system. Source: about 3 years ago
  • From developer to (solutions) architect. A simple guide.
    This is not to say there aren't architects still working on premise in self managed environments, but if you're planning to join the forces, you probably want to have an idea of who are the 3 public cloud providers (AWS, Azure and GCP), and their offering and topology. - Source: dev.to / about 5 years ago
View more

Azimutt mentions (4)

  • SQLitebrowser: First update in three years (July 2024)
    Not mine but someone showed me this : https://azimutt.app/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • SQLite Schema Diagram Generator
    I just want to get a basic overview quickly. An old colleague of mine created an interactive web app that does this. We use it internally and I find it super useful. Supports SQLite, among others: https://azimutt.app/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • One Month Post Product Hunt Launch: An Honest Review of Azimutt.app launch
    Hello Dev.to community, I'm Sam, a proud part of a dedicated trio that built Azimutt.app. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • pgAdmin Generate ERD stuck on load
    A couple of options here: - From a database. Generate ERD by connecting to your database directly. I've used this as a quick way to generate a diagram from my local or even QA DB (not prod DB for obvious security reasons). - From a schema dump file. Take a pg dump and then generate an ERD from the dump file. There are ERD tools like dbdaddy.dev and azimutt.app that support these options. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Microsoft SQL Server and Azimutt, you can also consider the following products

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

TablePlus - Easily edit database data and structure

PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.

DrawSQL - Easy database diagrams. Create, visualize and collaborate on your database entity relationship diagrams.

CouchBase - Document-Oriented NoSQL Database

ChartDB - Visualize your DB via one-single query. Free and open source, database design editor.