Azure SQL Database vs Cosmos DB

Home » Azure Cheat Sheets » Azure SQL Database vs Cosmos DB

Azure SQL Database vs Cosmos DB

Last updated on March 20, 2023

 

Azure SQL Database

Azure Cosmos DB

Type of Database

Relational database

NoSQL database

Features

Has several SQL deployment options for different kinds of workloads – SQL databases, SQL managed instances, SQL virtual machines.

Delivers single-digit millisecond response times and instant scalability.

Storage Size

  • 100 TB for SQL database

  • 8 TB for SQL managed instance

  • 256 TB for SQL virtual machine

Unlimited storage per database and container.

Availability

SQL database – 99.995% availability

SQL managed instance and SQL virtual machine – 99.99% availability

Single-region – 99.99%

Multi-region – 99.999%

Backups

With long-term backup retention policy, database backups are automatically retained in separate Azure Blob storage containers (up to 10 years).

Periodic backup mode (default) – the backup is created at a periodic interval and the data can be restored by creating a request with the support team.

Continuous backup mode – allows you to restore your data to any point of time within the last 30 days.

Encryption

Supports encryption at rest for Microsoft-managed service side and client-side encryption.

Supports Transparent Data Encryption for server encryption.

The Azure SQL Database supports RSA 2048-bit customer-managed keys in Azure Key Vault.

CosmosDB encrypts data at rest and the keys are managed by Microsoft. You can also use your own encryption keys (customer-managed keys).

Maintenance

Supports serverless compute tier for Azure SQL Database.

Supports serverless containers that can serve thousands of requests per second.

Pricing

The resources are billed hourly at a fixed rate based on the service tier and compute size you choose.

The cost of all database operations is normalized and expressed as request units (RU).

Specific billing options for each database operation models: Provisioned Throughput and Serverless.

Use cases

Azure SQL is based on SQL Server engine, you can easily migrate applications and continue to use the tools, languages, and resources that you’re familiar with.

Azure Cosmos DB is used for web, mobile, gaming, and IoT application that needs to handle massive amounts of data, reads, and writes at a global scale.

 

Azure SQL Database vs Cosmos DB Resources:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/azure-sql-iaas-vs-paas-what-is-overview
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/relational-nosql

Tutorials Dojo portal

Be Inspired and Mentored with Cloud Career Journeys!

Tutorials Dojo portal

Enroll Now – Our Azure Certification Exam Reviewers

Tutorials dojo strip

azure reviewers tutorials dojo

Enroll Now – Our Google Cloud Certification Exam Reviewers

Tutorials Dojo Exam Study Guide eBooks

tutorials dojo study guide eBook

FREE AWS Exam Readiness Digital Courses

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Tutorials Dojo YouTube Channel

FREE Intro to Cloud Computing for Beginners

FREE AWS, Azure, GCP Practice Test Samplers

Recent Posts

Written by: Jon Bonso

Jon Bonso is the co-founder of Tutorials Dojo, an EdTech startup and an AWS Digital Training Partner that provides high-quality educational materials in the cloud computing space. He graduated from Mapúa Institute of Technology in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in Information Technology. Jon holds 10 AWS Certifications and is also an active AWS Community Builder since 2020.

AWS, Azure, and GCP Certifications are consistently among the top-paying IT certifications in the world, considering that most companies have now shifted to the cloud. Earn over $150,000 per year with an AWS, Azure, or GCP certification!

Follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or join our Slack study group. More importantly, answer as many practice exams as you can to help increase your chances of passing your certification exams on your first try!

View Our AWS, Azure, and GCP Exam Reviewers Check out our FREE courses

Our Community

~98%
passing rate
Around 95-98% of our students pass the AWS Certification exams after training with our courses.
200k+
students
Over 200k enrollees choose Tutorials Dojo in preparing for their AWS Certification exams.
~4.8
ratings
Our courses are highly rated by our enrollees from all over the world.

What our students say about us?