Microsoft SQL Server Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to Microsoft SQL Server for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best Windows alternative is SQLite, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Microsoft SQL Server and many of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to Microsoft SQL Server are PostgreSQL, MySQL Community Edition, MariaDB and MongoDB.

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Microsoft SQL Server alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. SQLite icon
     348 likes

    SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain.

    71 SQLite alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Self-Hosted
     
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    9
  2. PostgreSQL icon
     320 likes

    PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system with over 35 years of active development that has earned it a strong reputation for reliability, feature robustness, and performance.

    75 PostgreSQL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Self-Hosted
     
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    3
    14
    Comments about PostgreSQL as an Alternative to Microsoft SQL Server
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    Its free with same power of MS SQL

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    similar syntax, familiar environnment

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    I'm a begginer but I think is because of features and small disc space usage!

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    PostgreSQL icon
    PostgreSQL icon
    • Almost everyone thinks PostgreSQL is a great Microsoft SQL Server alternative.

    • PostgreSQL is Free and Open SourceMicrosoft SQL Server is Freemium and Proprietary
  3. MySQL Community Edition is a freely downloadable version of the world's most popular open source database that is supported by an active community of open source developers and enthusiasts.

    66 MySQL Community Edition alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  4. MariaDB icon
     141 likes

    MariaDB is a backward compatible, drop-in replacement of the MySQL® Database Server. It includes all major open source storage engines.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  5. MongoDB icon
     148 likes

    MongoDB is a document database with the scalability and flexibility that you want with the querying and indexing that you need

    101 MongoDB alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • BSD
     
  6. DbGate icon
     28 likes

    DbGate is cross-platform database manager. Simple and effective, allowing to work with many various databases simultaneously - SQL and NoSQL.

    168 DbGate alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
  7. The Apache Cassandra database is the right choice when you need scalability and high availability without compromising performance.

    52 Apache Cassandra alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Google Cloud Platform
    • Microsoft Azure
     
  8. Oracle Database icon
     22 likes

    Oracle Database delivers industry leading performance, scalability, security and reliability on a choice of clustered or single-servers running Windows, Linux, and UNIX. It provides comprehensive features to easily manage the most demanding transaction processing, business...

    61 Oracle Database alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  9. CouchDB icon
     48 likes

    Apache CouchDB is a distributed, fault-tolerant and schema-free document-oriented database accessible via a RESTful HTTP / JSON API. It includes incremental map / reduce mechanics for queries and keeps data safe with an append-only datastore.

    74 CouchDB alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
     
  10. IBM DB2 icon
     4 likes

    DB2 offers industry leading performance, scale, and reliability on your choice of platform from Linux to z/OS. DB2 supports storing XML and relational data and offers SQL PL and PL/SQL procedural languages.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  11. A complete cloud-first data platform that includes a multi-model transactional data management engine, an application development platform, and interoperability engine, and an open analytics platform.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
  12. Firebird icon
     21 likes

    Firebird is a relational database offering many ANSI SQL-92 features that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Firebird offers excellent concurrency, high performance, and powerful language support for stored procedures and triggers.

    48 Firebird alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Android Tablet
     
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