SQL Database

Andrew analyzes and writes about Microsoft's data management, business intelligence, and machine learning solutions, as well as aspects of licensing... more

Azure SQL Database is a multitenant relational database management cloud service, based on SQL Server‘s latest database engine, designed for individual database deployments. SQL Database is part of the Azure SQL brand of services that also includes Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure SQL Edge, Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server in Azure VMs.

Product: SQL Database

Licensing: SQL Database

Near-Term Updates and Roadmap (2026–2027)

SQL Database spent the past year absorbing the latest SQL Server 2025 engine and layering AI and identity work on top of the service.

The major concern is the churn of new features and capabilities, although none of them are mandatory. Two tool retirements and a hardware retirement occurred, while most of the AI capabilities remain in preview. Tangential to the service, a new offering—SQL Database in Fabric—arrived, but is a different product with different limits and management, and it has different costs.

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