83 engineers on Hacker News describe using SQL Server first-hand: 21 endorse it, 10 regret it, 5 are mixed.
“We're experiencing the MSSQL query planner occasionally generating terrible plans for core queries which then gets cached, leading to support calls.”
regret · production · magicalhippo · 2025-05-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Even with our tests running against a hosted SQL Server on a separate server, the database is never the slow part.”
endorse · production · lbriner · 2024-12-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I implemented mssql active-active log replication over dropbox shares back in 2010 to synchronise two databases in the Us and in the UK. Worked perfectly fine”
endorse · production · rad_gruchalski · 2024-04-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the hosted sql server instance that is prohibitively expensive to run at a half decent speed”
regret · production · davidhyde · 2023-11-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“as we migrated more and more away and the graybeards became upset about moving logic out of stored procedures”
regret · production · aae42 · 2023-10-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've ran both mssql and Postgres in prod in the same project... SQL server made some things possible which Postgres simply didn't have an answer for - column stores being the notable single killer feature”
endorse · production · baq · 2023-10-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“SQL Server was struggling with all these purge activities. Replacing with DuckDB made things much lighter and faster.”
regret · production · meitham · 2023-05-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The SQL server instance would lock up/use 100% CPU for days every other week, even after restarting”
regret · production · javcasas · 2023-04-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Our Oracle on HP/UX estate got eaten by SQL Server 7.”
endorse · production · unxdfa · 2023-02-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“our usage of SQLite vastly outperformed an identical schema on top of SQL Server.”
regret · production · bob1029 · 2021-12-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Then I encountered MsSql Server and it was pleasent enough.”
endorse · production · scotty79 · 2021-12-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We had mixed experience with SQLite and bad experience with SQL Server.”
regret · production · cygned · 2021-04-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Much as I like SQL/Server, my projects have always had a Plan B.”
mixed · production · specialist · 2020-05-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“All my SaaS products run on a Windows server, with SQL Server as a database and ASP.NET on IIS”
endorse · production · 15 yr · jasonkester · 2019-11-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We also use SQL Server which end up costing 2X what MySQL or PostgreSQL would on RDS. ... I'd still recommend SQL Server though.”
mixed · production · lancefisher · 2019-06-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've long felt that SQL Server's a god-awful DB with awesome tooling”
mixed · production · yellowapple · 2019-03-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At work, we run SQL Server... in terms of performance and reliability, I cannot say a single bad word about SQL Server.”
endorse · production · krylon · 2018-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I used soundex or SOUNDEX() in Microsoft SQL Server many times. Very useful.”
endorse · production · 8 yr · drawkbox · 2018-05-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we switched to a partial index (CREATE UNIQUE INDEX ON activities(account_id, activity_type) WHERE activity_state = 0) which works flawlessly.”
endorse · production · snuxoll · 2017-09-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use SQL Server, and it just allocates more files. It's not zero touch, but with the right storage technology it's not bad”
mixed · production · kabdib · 2017-08-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've encountered the fewest sharp edges and disappointments with SQL Server.”
endorse · production · dhd415 · 2016-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“With sql server, we've been able to just use the columnstore indexes and write simple, straightforward queries that run in ~200ms vs 10-20 seconds in postgres.”
endorse · production · coderzach · 2016-12-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've built a generic trigger function for postgres and proc for sql server that will do the auditing in K-V format on every table. Works well.”
endorse · production · buckbova · 2015-08-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm using both and they're both great but not for or in spite of the reasons outlined here.”
endorse · production · lassoman · 2015-04-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“In my personal opinion, MSSQL (including the tooling around it) is awesome and possibly one of Microsoft's best products.”
endorse · production · Amezarak · 2015-04-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use both pg and mssql... mssql is more 'enterprise friendly'... I'll probably recommend mssql”
endorse · production · tdubhro1 · 2014-11-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using MSSQL since the 7.0 days in the 1990s and have never seen nor heard of A) happening.”
endorse · production · 16 yr · JohnBooty · 2014-11-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I had to develop a HTML5 mobile app around a MS SQL database (though eventually we migrated to PostgreSQL).”
regret · production · sarciszewski · 2014-11-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“For whatever it's worth, I love MSSQL. Been using it for well over a decade.”
endorse · production · 10 yr · JohnBooty · 2014-11-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Fantastic integration with SQL Server throught the SqlClient Type Provider.”
endorse · production · jackfoxy · 2014-11-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We could (and have) run the entirety of our peak load with 1 SQL server and 2 web servers”
endorse · production · Nick-Craver · 2014-07-22 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have tended to use MSSQL+C# historically for business apps, and it doesn't sit well with the people writing checks when you tell them you need multi-$k extra for the DB license”
regret · production · eitally · 2013-07-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the DB Link module has poor functionality when compared to MSSqlServer's DB Link.”
endorse · production · arjn · 2012-07-20 · source ↗ · wrong label?“when we replaced the VAXCluster with SQL 6.5 (bad bad bad decision othe than for electricity usage!)”
regret · production · gouranga · 2012-06-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I feel MS SQL Server DBLINKs are way better.”
endorse · production · 2 yr · arjn · 2012-03-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have been using SQL Server in our own company for our projects and i was really starting to get annoyed with it. I found it to be heavy on resources, slow to respond”
mixed · production · krmmalik · 2011-11-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have a version of our software for Oracle (and MSSQL) as well so no biggy”
neutral · production · anonzzzies · 2026-09-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“It was through MS SQL Server that a colleague taught me about backups and recovery”
neutral · production · fipar · 2026-04-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“migration to Java/PG instead of C#/MSSQL.”
neutral · production · eitally · 2025-11-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We wrote a little utility... Repeatedly upload groups of fixed length rows into temp table... temp sproc generated for the exact schema”
neutral · production · RaftPeople · 2025-09-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“for years we were mostly a Oracle shop. With some SQL Server thrown in.”
neutral · production · nirav72 · 2025-07-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“mostly stuff like .NET and SQL Server on the backend”
neutral · production · hnurl · 2025-07-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“once we've moved to MSSQL (old db server isn't supported by EF)”
neutral · production · magicalhippo · 2024-10-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“An APM tool was the Achilles heel for both our Akka Links, as well as our SQLServer connections.”
neutral · production · to11mtm · 2024-09-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“In Azure, we use ~5 products: AAD/Entra ID, DNS, Azure Functions, SQL Server, Azure Blob Storage.”
neutral · production · bob1029 · 2023-12-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We load the finished data marts to a MS SQL server”
neutral · production · kfk · 2023-08-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Someone with great intentions thought "I hate this crappy mssql db, I'll create a new modern one"”
neutral · production · firefoxd · 2023-08-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“to smooth some of the edges of an existing SQL Server analytics solution.”
neutral · production · NortySpock · 2022-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The RDBMS I've spent the most time with over the years is Microsoft SQL (immediately when 2000 was released)”
neutral · production · 22 yr · mdip · 2022-12-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the advantages at the time was lower price for the db servers but also more people who are familiar with Sql Server”
neutral · production · kennethh · 2022-07-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We replaced SSMS + SQL Server with Python + SQLite run in AWS Lambda.”
neutral · production · thesketh · 2022-04-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“20 years ago I ported an app from Microsoft SQL server to Oracle as a new requirement from the incoming CTO equivalent.”
neutral · production · amichal · 2021-11-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we were running a heavy workload on MS SQL Server in a fast growing business.”
neutral · production · andrem · 2021-07-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use SQL Server, for example.”
neutral · production · bartread · 2020-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“They hosted the database on SQL Server shared clusters and much of the application backend in VMware instances”
neutral · production · rkagerer · 2020-08-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“PG also has simpler planning than MSSQL anyway.”
neutral · production · manigandham · 2019-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“One of the reasons to use Windows was Sql Server but mostly PowerShell which we do all automation in.”
neutral · production · majkinetor · 2019-05-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Ten years ago we build things in C#, used MSSQL and deployed to IIS.”
neutral · production · jaabe · 2019-03-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Our database is still SQL Server, even though we've switched our development platform 3 times, and I'd love to be on Postgres.”
neutral · production · bdcravens · 2019-01-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have used MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Mongo and Cassandra all as primary data stores.”
neutral · production · davismwfl · 2018-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Only access to the payment server was from behind the firewall over RDP and MSSQL over non standard ports.”
neutral · production · jermaustin1 · 2018-11-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“our healthcare system db was mssql. There was a column in one of the tables called `recordDeleted`”
neutral · production · kspy · 2018-11-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“when we switched from SQL server to Hadoop is the terrible tooling”
neutral · production · swalsh · 2018-10-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“when our SQL server license is up for renewal, the move to the cloud will be the best financial option.”
neutral · production · eksemplar · 2017-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“You can send your Linq expression to sql Server, Mongo etc in production and mock out your source in your unit tests”
neutral · production · scarface74 · 2017-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using SQL over 20 years in Oracle/Informix/Sybase/IBMDB2/MSSQL”
neutral · production · jasode · 2016-12-15 · source ↗ · wrong label?“For development environments we are running MSSQL (yes that MSSQL, unclustered though”
neutral · production · paultyng · 2016-11-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I currently have a Django-based intranet site (Windows Server 2012 w/ MSSQL DB) and will also have a web-app with the same set-up”
neutral · production · mkane848 · 2016-09-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Then we replaced the backend with SQL Server (without changing the front end.)”
neutral · production · dan_b · 2016-06-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We've been running mostly VMs all this time on our app (Windows, SQL Server, Linux w/ Rails)”
neutral · production · atonse · 2014-12-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using MS SQL Server for over 10 years, including versions as early as 2000.”
neutral · personal · 10 yr · autokad · 2014-11-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At work we run a large mix of Windows Servers, SQL servers, Linux, Drupal, MySQL, Moodle etc.”
neutral · production · wfjackson · 2014-10-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“since we standardized on PostgreSQL (moving off MSSQL) we've been devving on 9.2/9.3”
neutral · production · eitally · 2014-10-22 · source ↗ · wrong label?“But we also use SQL server where appropriate (i.e. transactional account stuff).”
neutral · production · cnlwsu · 2014-02-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using R to pull data out of SQLite, SQL Server and Oracle db's every single day, for years.”
neutral · production · 8 yr · withme · 2013-11-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We figured out we weren't using most of SQL Server's features and didn't want the mental overhead of MSFT licensing.”
neutral · production · taude · 2013-07-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We run both massive SQL server and postgres installations.”
neutral · production · hp50g · 2013-04-08 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At my previous job we used Sybase SQL Anywhere (horrible, wouldn't recommend it), Microsoft SQL server, MySQL, Amazon RDS and H2.”
neutral · production · martinp · 2012-11-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“unless a client forces us into MsSQL/IIS.”
neutral · production · trebor · 2012-11-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“SQL Server licences are not cheap either (6K-7K each) so in the long run I believe we will be saving money.”
neutral · production · rfurlan · 2011-10-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Since we run on .Net and SQL Server it felt like the right choice.”
neutral · production · vyrotek · 2010-12-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?