Microsoft SQL Server vs SingleStore Helios
Microsoft SQL Server
microsoft.comSingleStore Helios
singlestore.comSide by side
| Figure | Microsoft SQL Server | SingleStore Helios |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $0.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 20 | 6 |
| Spec score · Database Software | 8.5 (#24) | 9.3 (#3) |
| Spec score · Spatial Databases | 8.1 (#16) | 8.7 (#7) |
| Spec score · Sql Databases | 8.0 (#14) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | SQL Server 2025 integrates with LangChain, Semantic Kernel, Entity Framework Core, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Fabric. | Listed integrations include AWS Glue, Apache Beam, Apache Flink, Apache Spark, Azure Data Factory, Azure Event Hubs, Confluent Kafka, Fivetran, Informatica, Qlik, Tableau Prep, dbt, Datadog, New Relic and Terraform. |
| Security | Microsoft's SQL Server security guidance covers platform and network security, permissions, encryption, and secure connections. | SingleStore describes security across application security, cloud security, corporate IT security, and governance, risk, and compliance. |
Plans
Microsoft SQL Server
- Standard per corePriced on request
- Standard per corePrice not published
- Standard serverPriced on request
- Standard serverPrice not published
- Standard CALPriced on request
- Standard CALPrice not published
- Enterprise pay-as-you-go$274 a month
- Developer – Standard & EnterpriseFree
- ExpressFree
- Standard pay-as-you-go$73 a month
SingleStore Helios
- SharedFree
- Standard$0.99 a month
- Enterprise$1.49 a month
- StandardPriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
- BYOC StandardPriced on request
In their own words
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a database platform for storing, processing, and securing data, offered with both deployment models and a free plan. Its Database Engine includes replication, full-text search, relational, XML, and JSON data management, as well as Python and R machine-learning services. Integration Services provides graphical tools and programmable objects for moving and transforming data, while PolyBase can query Azure Storage, S3, and ODBC sources. SQL Server 2025 adds vector search, vector embedding generation, text chunking, and DiskANN vector indexing, and integrates with LangChain, Semantic Kernel, Entity Framework Core, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Fabric. Microsoft provides downloads for Windows and Linux and a SQL Server container image for Docker. Express is a free entry-level edition for learning and desktop or small server applications; its single Database Engine instance is limited to the lesser of one socket or four cores. Developer editions provide Enterprise or Standard functionality for development and testing, not production. SQL Server 2025 does not support SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
SingleStore Helios
SingleStore Helios is a cloud database service available on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. It handles transactional and analytical workloads in one database, with storage and compute scaled independently. Its data capabilities include relational records, JSON/BSON documents, vector and full-text search, time-series, geospatial, and key-value data. SingleStore Pipelines can ingest from sources such as Kafka, Amazon S3, and HDFS. For AI workloads, the service includes Jupyter notebooks, data integration services, and a compute service. Listed integrations include Datadog, Terraform, Apache Spark, AWS Glue, Azure Data Factory, dbt, and Fivetran. Helios is available through web and API platforms. The free Shared plan provides one workspace for evaluation, development, and non-production testing, with self-support. Standard is $0.99 a month for managed production workloads, with read replicas, database branching, 30-day monitoring, and support. Enterprise is $1.49 a month and adds online point-in-time recovery, Smart Disaster Recovery, audit logging, and customer-managed encryption keys. The listed availability commitments vary by configuration, reaching 99.99% across two availability zones on paid plans.