SQL Server On-Premises

Select another system to compare it with SQL Server On-Premises

Our visitors often compare SQL Server On-Premises with Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database.

Deployment and Management
Deployment	Provision hardware/VMs and install OS and SQL – slowest option, entirely manual (weeks to procure if new hardware).
Management	Fully self-managed by your IT team (complete responsibility for maintenance).
Customization	Unlimited – choose any hardware, OS, SQL configuration (most flexible).
Use case	Ideal for strict data control, low-latency to on-prem apps, or existing data center investments; also when compliance or legacy systems mandate it.

Maintenance and Operations
Maintenance responsibility	Your IT team entirely – on-prem requires internal processes for all updates.
Operational control	Complete control at hardware, OS, and DB level – no restrictions (can even delay patches indefinitely, for example).
Backups	Completely on user – typically use maintenance plans or enterprise backup tools writing to tapes/cloud.

Scalability and Performance
Scalability	Vertical: buy/upgrade hardware (major project); Horizontal: add servers and distribute load (requires significant effort and maybe app changes).
Performance	Potentially the highest (you can use top-end hardware, dedicated storage arrays, etc.); ultimate performance if budget allows, with no virtualization overhead if physical.
Elasticity	None – capacity is fixed once purchased. Scaling requires planning and manual execution (or new hardware purchase).

Features and Capabilities
SQL Server version	Any version/edition for which you have media and license – including very old versions (some orgs still run 2008 or 2005 for legacy apps, which on-prem allows, albeit unsupported by MS).
SQL feature support	Everything SQL Server offers is available if you set it up – including things like replication, Linked Servers, Service Broker, etc. You have to configure them, but nothing is disabled by a provider.
Cross-database queries	Yes, common on on-prem to have many DBs on one server and join them. Also, cross-server via linked server is possible.
Custom software	Yes – common to have monitoring agents (SCOM, etc.) on SQL servers, or backup agents. You could even run a third-party application on the same machine (though best practice is to separate, it’s up to you).

Network and Security
Network configuration	On your corporate network – ultimate control (your own firewall, switches, VLANs). You can make it as open or isolated as you need. Typically behind corporate firewalls and accessible only within company network.
Security	Entirely on you – from physical security of the server room, to network security, to OS and SQL security. You can achieve very high security (even completely air-gapped networks), but it requires strict processes. Encryption (TDE, etc.) must be configured by you.
Authentication	Windows Auth and SQL Auth – often tightly integrated with on-prem AD. You can enforce AD group policies, etc. If not on a domain, SQL Auth is used. No cloud-specific auth out of the box (though you could integrate Kerberos and AD FS if needed for fancy setups).

High Availability and Disaster Recovery
High availability	Many options but all manual: Failover Cluster Instances (with shared storage like SAN), Always On AG, database mirroring (old), log shipping as quasi-HA. Requires redundant hardware and networking. You manage failover process (though AG can auto-failover).
Disaster recovery	Entirely on you: could be as robust as a secondary data center with log shipping or AGs, or as basic as offsite backup tapes. DR testing and execution are your ops team’s duty.

Pricing and Licensing
Pricing	Big upfront CapEx for hardware & licenses, then minor OpEx (power, cooling). Amortized 3-year cost for an 8-core server might be ~$1-3k/month depending on edition (Standard vs Enterprise), but you own the asset. Scaling requires new investment.
Licensing model	Perpetual or Subscription licenses. Typically purchase per core (Enterprise ~$7.5k/core, Standard ~$1.9k/core) plus optional SA ~25%/yr. Hardware bought or leased separately. No builtin pay-per-use; however, you could run SQL Developer or Express free in non-prod.

Pricing Comparison of Database Configuration
8vCore + 4TB Data size + Backup, Single Instance	On-prem not monthly billed, but roughly ~$1k (Std) / ~$3k (Ent) per month value when spread over a few years.
8vCore + 4TB Data size + Backup + DR/HA	Multi-site on-prem: requires second set of hardware (and possibly second license if active-active). Hard to monthly-ize, but essentially 2× hardware cost; SQL license for passive is free with SA.

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