Azure SQL Database vs MarkLogic
Azure SQL Database
azure.microsoft.com
MarkLogic
progress.comSide by side
| Figure | Azure SQL Database | MarkLogic |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · Database Software | 9.0 (#7) | 8.8 (#16) |
| Compliance | Microsoft states that Azure has more than 100 compliance certifications, including over 50 for specific regions and countries. | The security page says MarkLogic complies with GDPR and describes Common Criteria and STIG evaluations or deployments. |
| Documentation depth | Microsoft Learn provides conceptual guidance, quickstarts, tutorials, API references, resource-limit tables, code samples and troubleshooting material. | Installation documentation links to concepts, administration, application development, search, JavaScript, XQuery and release-note guides. |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Integrations | Azure SQL Database can connect to Azure services such as Azure Functions and replicate SQL data into Microsoft Fabric for near-real-time querying and analysis. | Official connectors are provided for MuleSoft, Apache NiFi, ODBC and Pega, with NiFi integration using the Java Client API and DMSDK. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.5 out of 5 from 242 reviews | 4.3 out of 5 from 65 reviews |
| Rating on Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 from 340 ratings | 4.5 out of 5 from 143 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.3 out of 10 from 291 reviews and ratings | 9 out of 10 from 18 reviews |
| REST API | The Azure SQL Database REST API provides operations for managing Azure SQL Database resources. | The REST interface supports document CRUD, search, analytics and faceted-search application development. |
| Security | Its security and governance features include a multilayered approach that includes Microsoft Defender for SQL. | MarkLogic describes its security as secure by default and lists role-based access controls, element or property-level security, built-in auditing, and AES-256 encryption at rest. |
| Self-hosting | Azure SQL Database is delivered as Microsoft’s cloud PaaS service; Microsoft separately documents SQL Server containers and virtual machines for self-managed deployments. | The product can be deployed on premises, in private or hybrid clouds, in customer-selected infrastructure and in containers. |
| What it does | Azure SQL Database is Microsoft’s managed cloud relational database service for transactional and analytical workloads. | MarkLogic Server is a unified enterprise data platform for storing, integrating, searching and analyzing complex data. |
Plans
Azure SQL Database
- Free offerFree
- Azure SQL Database free offerFree
- Azure SQL Database free tierFree
- Azure SQL Database pay-as-you-goPrice not published
- Pay as you goPrice not published
MarkLogic
- DeveloperFree
- Bring-Your-Own LicensePriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Managed SaaSPriced on request
- Progress Data PlatformPriced on request
In their own words
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database is a cloud-native relational database service built on the SQL Server engine and delivered as a fully managed PaaS. Microsoft manages provisioning, patching, backups, monitoring, and high availability. The service supports standard T-SQL and can be accessed through the Azure portal, SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio Code's MSSQL extension, and compatible application frameworks. It supports native JSON and REST and GraphQL APIs through Data API builder. Hyperscale independently scales compute and storage and supports scale-out with up to 30 named replicas. For AI application development, it offers native vector search and connections to Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search. It can connect to Azure Functions and replicate SQL data into Microsoft Fabric for near-real-time querying and analysis. Security and governance include a multilayered approach with Microsoft Defender for SQL; recovery features include disaster recovery and snapshot-based backups. The free offer allows up to 10 General Purpose databases per subscription, each with 100,000 vCore seconds, 32 GB of data, and 32 GB of backup storage monthly. Once limits are reached, a database can auto-pause or remain online with excess use billed at standard rates.
MarkLogic
MarkLogic is a semantic data platform built around a multi-model database and semantic AI technology. MarkLogic Server handles document, semantic graph, and geospatial data natively, and provides relational views for SQL analytics. Built-in search indexes information immediately and applies relevancy scoring. MarkLogic Data Hub ingests information from sources, indexes it for querying and search, then curates it through harmonization, mastering, and enrichment. The platform can run on premises, in virtualized environments, public cloud, or hybrid environments; managed hosting for Server and Data Hub includes installation, upgrades, backups, monitoring, and user management. Security capabilities include role-based controls, element- or property-level security, auditing, and AES-256 encryption at rest, with LDAP, Kerberos, and SAML authentication integration. It supports high availability, horizontal scaling, disaster recovery, rollbacks, and point-in-time recovery. The Developer edition permits up to 1TB of data for noncommercial use, while enterprise storage is listed as unlimited. A free plan and free trial are available, but no plan prices are listed.