Top 19 Cloud Database Management Systems

This blog was last updated in January 2023.

Cloud Database: Defined

Cloud Database Market is forecasted to reach $39.1 billion by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 31.4% during 2021-2026.⁽¹⁾

A cloud database defines a database management service, or a system built on and accessed through a cloud computing platform. It is like the traditional database management service but uses the cloud as a differentiator.

Being based on cloud computing, cloud databases offer more flexibility, scalability, and security as compared to traditional databases. With more and more companies moving their databases to the cloud, the market is full of various cloud Database Management System (DBMS) providers.

But before we look at the services and features offered by the leading Cloud DBMS providers, let’s understand the popular types of cloud database management models.

Different types of Cloud Database Management Systems

We know that cloud databases are built and accessed through the cloud – whether public, private, or hybrid. But what are the available options for their management?

The database management choices can be broadly categorized into three:

Self-managed cloud databases: As the name suggests, this type of cloud DBMS offering is self-managed i.e., it is managed by the organization itself. The service provider will not provide any management support – the user will have complete control over the database installed on the cloud.
Managed cloud databases: The managed cloud databases are the ones where the vendor takes care of the database management for their end-users. Here, the control is in the hands of the provider – the configurations too will be limited to the vendor-supported configurations.
Automated cloud databases: The automated and managed cloud database model might seem the same – however there are a few differences. Unlike the managed databases, here the end-user has access to the database servers and can control database configurations and operations. Here, the cloud database service is accessed using APIs (application programming interfaces).

The vendor offerings we will discuss in this article – will largely fall into any of the three categories we discussed above.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems

Research giant- Gartner, recently published its Magic Quadrant for the cloud database management systems, along with a list of features and services provided by the listed vendors.

By 2022, cloud database management system (DBMS) revenue will account for 50% of the total DBMS market revenue. – Gartner

Source: Gartner

The rest of the article talks about the leading Cloud DBMS providers according to the above quadrant – their services, strengths, and challenges.

Top Cloud Database Management System providers

1. Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud database services are focused on continuous evolvement to address changing customer demands and needs associated with data security and analytics.

According to a recently released press release, revenue has increased 50% YoY with 150,000 customers worldwide ⁽²⁾.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Cloud Database Dedicated Cluster (CDDC) ApsaraDB for MyBase PolarDB (Compatible with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle) DBStack ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL ApsaraDB RDS for SQL server ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB TX PolarDB-X ApsaraDB for Redis ApsaraDB for MongoDB Time Series Database Full List: https://www.alibabacloud.com/product/databases
Strengths	Wide product portfolio with solutions focusing on the storage, processing, analytics, and management of data in the cloud Supports all mainstream open-source and commercial database solutions Highly scalable cloud database solutions to support large and growing customer base Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered features like auto-recovery and auto-optimization
Challenges	The wide range of service offerings sometimes poses the challenge of service overlapping Limited presence in the North America and Europe region
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems: Leader , again, is known for its wide range of cloud database management services. It offers cloud database solutions by use cases – making it easier for businesses to select a particular use case and then choose the best-fit cloud database.

From databases to managed traditional applications like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to high-traffic gaming applications, AWS offers cloud databases for all major use cases.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Relational Databases Amazon Aurora Amazon RDS Amazon Redshift In-memory Amazon ElastiCache Amazon MemoryDB for Redis Time series Amazon Timestream (for IoT and DevOps applications) Key-value Amazon DynamoDB Full List: https://aws.amazon.com/products/databases/?nc2=h_ql_prod_db
Strengths	World’s largest cloud database service provider by the revenue Wide range of cloud database solutions offered by use cases Powerful relational database services with micro to sub-millisecond latency
Challenges	Can lead to management overhead costs due to a wide range of toolkits and features integrated within a solution
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

3. Cloudera

Cloudera focuses on accelerating an organization’s digital transformation journey by making data and analytics accessible for everyone.

The Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) is based on this vision. It is the industry’s first enterprise data cloud. It delivers self-service analytics solutions across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Source: Cloudera

It also takes care of the granular security and governance policies required by various IT and data leaders.

The CDP is simple to use and secure by design and serves as a big data platform for both the business and the IT. The CDP Hybrid Cloud further enhances its usability as it can run everywhere – on any cloud (public or private) and with any analytics. Its popular use cases include genomics and healthcare analytics, real-time compliance monitoring, and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled predictive maintenance.

Popular Cloud Database Services	CDP Data Hub CDP Data Engineering CDP DataFlow CDP Data Warehouse CDP Operational Database CDP Machine Learning Full List: https://www.cloudera.com/products/cloudera-data-platform.html
Strengths	The CDP supports both hybrid and multi-cloud models, making it accessible across all major public clouds It is open-source and thus supports open integrations and multiple computing architectures Supports multiple use-cases, making it ideal for optimizing the data lifecycle
Challenges	Phased rollouts can pose a challenge for old customers to adjust to the new changes Pricing may seem to be costly to some
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Visionary

4. Cockroach Labs

Cockroach Labs cloud database offering includes CockroachDB Dedicated – a fully managed and hosted distributed SQL database service.

It is designed to meet the demands of modern applications.

It works on helping users focus on building innovative application architecture by eliminating the need of provisioning databases. It can handle high value and stringent workloads as well.

Popular Cloud Database Services	CockroachDB Dedicated
Strengths	Distributed SQL architecture Developer-friendly and node-based Geo-partition capability to reduce latency and compliance issues Runs on both AWS (Amazon Web Services) and GCP (Google Cloud Platform) – as well as hybrid on-premises
Challenges	Niche use-cases Might require additional database management expertise Strong competition from CSPs
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

5. Couchbase

Couchbase offers Capella – a fully managed database-as-a-service (DBaaS). It is designed to deliver flexibility and performance at scale for modern enterprise applications.

The memory first architecture helps it deliver blazing-fast performances in real-time. It offers hyper-scalability i.e., better price-performance as the user scales. It uses SQL to query JSON data and can be deployed within a few clicks.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Couchbase Capella
Strengths	Built for performance with responses delivered in milliseconds Multimodel capabilities to meet various use cases Offers lower TCO with operational transparency and licensing flexibility
Challenges	A new entrant as compared to the other DBMS providers Lacks some of the analytical features
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

6. Databricks

The Databricks Lakehouse Platform unifies data warehousing and AI on a single platform. The simplified approach to the modern data stack eliminates traditional data silos to help businesses operate more efficiently and innovate faster.

Source: Databricks

It is available as Databricks Lakehouse Platform on Microsoft Azure – Azure Databricks, as well as on AWS, GCP, and Alibaba Cloud.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Databricks Lakehouse Platform (Delta Lake, Data Engineering, Machine Learning, Data Science, SQL Analytics, Platform Security and Administration)
Strengths	Best of data warehousing and AI built and delivered upon a single platform It is open-source – allowing easy sharing and building of modern data stack with unrestricted access to the data projects and Databricks 450+ partner network Highly scalable and support for multiple use cases
Challenges	Provides relational database capabilities on top of data lake storage – which is not up to the level of more mature relational databases Entry of new market players and competitors for the Lakehouse concept
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

7. Exasol

Exasol offers an analytical database service. With an MPP (massively parallel processing) architecture and columnar database, it is built for delivering performance. Users can query billions of rows in seconds.

It offers a variety of deployment options as well – including SaaS (software-as-a-service), cloud, on-premises, and hybrid.

Furthermore, with automatic query tuning, organizations can reduce maintenance and overhead costs.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Exasol Database
Strengths	Easy to use with multiple deployment options In-memory, MPP, and columnar storage for fast performance Automatic query tuning Strong expertise in analytics
Challenges	Relatively a new entrant Offers a single database product only
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

8. Google

Google offers powerful and scalable cloud database management solutions built on its Google Cloud Platform.

It provides database migration and management services as well as database modernization services.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Relational Databases Bare Metal Solution for Oracle AlloyDB for PostgreSQL Cloud SQL BigQuery Cloud Spanner Key-Value Cloud BigTable Document Firestore Firebase Realtime Database In-memory Memorystore Additional NoSQL MongoDB Atlas Google Cloud Partner Services
Strengths	Google is a leader when it comes to AI and ML (machine learning) capabilities which serve as a strong base for databases built on the GCP Offers open cloud infrastructure where most of the offerings are serverless Meets 100% of the required criteria outlined by Gartner for operational databases
Challenges	Less comprehensive and diverse portfolio as compared to other cloud service providers Lacks hybrid experience User experience is still in the evolution stage
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

9. Huawei Cloud

Huawei offers Relational GaussDB (for openGauss), GaussDB (for MySQL), GaussDB Data Warehouse Service available on Huawei CLOUD and Huawei CLOUD Stack (for on-premises deployment).

It offers non-relational GaussDB (for Mongo), GaussDB (for Cassandra), GaussDB (for Influx) GaussDB (for Redis) and Hadoop-based big data platform FusionInsight.

Popular Cloud Database Services	GaussDB (for openGauss) GaussDB (for Mongo) RDS for MySQL RDS for PostgreSQL Full List: https://www.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/
Strengths	Multinational presence and a strong telecommunication infrastructure Strong presence in Asia Breadth of cloud services and solutions
Challenges	A large portfolio of services can be a bit confusing for users
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

10. IBM

IBM’s Cloud Database service includes Cloud Pak for Data. It is a unified platform that can deliver data fabrics to connect and access siloed data stored on-premises or across multiple clouds without needing to move it.

The service was launched in 2018 and since then, it has helped users unlock the value of their data and infuse AI throughout their business. The latest version 4.0 – has further added intelligent automation to the service, helping business leaders tackle data complexity.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Cloudant Databases for PostgreSQL Databases for EDB Db2 Db2 Warehouse Full List: https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog
Strengths	Purpose-built databases for various use cases and application needs Broad range of data management capabilities – data integration, data analytics, metadata, data science, and governance Strong expertise in metadata management and governance capabilities ·AI and ML capabilities
Challenges	Fragmented databases may not align with the core vision Fully managed “as a service” operations are currently only available in IBM Cloud
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

11. InterSystems

InterSystems offers InterSystems IRIS – a next-generation data platform that delivers high-performance, interoperability, and analytics capabilities. It is a cloud-first data platform and does not require the integration of multiple technologies.

It is ideal for developing and executing critical and data-intensive analytic applications. It can be deployed across all major public clouds including AWS, Microsoft Azure, GCP as well as private clouds, on-premises, virtual machines, or bare metal environments.

Popular Cloud Database Services	InterSystems IRIS
Strengths	Supports the development of data-intensive applications Supports machine-learning applications Requires less coding and maintenance Availability of multiple deployment options
Challenges	Late entrant in the market in the managed DbPaaS space Preferred in the healthcare sector
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Challenger

12. MariaDB

MariaDB offers SkySQL as its cloud database service. SkySQL is designed to bring the full power of MariaDB Enterprise to the cloud backed with powerful features and world-class support.

It is ideal for mission-critical business applications and for enterprise governance apps. It complements automation with human expertise.

The service is also available on AWS and Google Cloud.

Popular Cloud Database Services	SkySQL
Strengths	Deployment across 20+ regions spanning Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the US/Canada Supports exponential growth with elastic scaling and distributed SQL capabilities Availability of redundant database proxies Acts as a single solution for all database needs Built on a state-of-the-art cloud-agnostic foundation
Challenges	Strong competition from native cloud service providers Yet to grow in the commercial marketplace – it is more preferred in the open-source space A relatively new offering (launched in the market in 2020)
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

13. MarkLogic

MarkLogic Data Hub Service is an on-demand and fully managed cloud database service. It delivers a high-performance enterprise database solution with built-in governance and security for organizational data.

It is available on both AWS and Azure.

It can run transactional, analytical, and operational applications at scale for a low cost. Further capabilities include smart mastering, multi-model, distributed transactions, semantic search, and more.

Popular Cloud Database Services	MarkLogic Data Hub
Strengths	On-demand and fully managed service High-performance and lower cost Available on AWS and Azure One-click cloud deployment with full automation Built-in intelligence
Challenges	Strong competition
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Visionary

14. Microsoft

Microsoft offers a variety of fully managed, intelligent, and flexible cloud database services across multiple use cases and types – relational, NoSQL, and in-memory. They are designed to fit the needs of modern application developers.

Most of the database infrastructure is automated – including the scalability, availability, and security that can save the time and money of the users.

The Azure-managed databases further help users focus on the core job of building applications by providing performance insights via embedded intelligence and scalability.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Azure SQL Database Azure Database for PostgreSQL Azure Database for MariaDB Azure Cosmos DB Full List: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/product-categories/databases/
Strengths	Broad category of databases across multiple use cases More refined and comprehensive vision Strong user community and large ecosystem ensures low-risk migration to the cloud Follows a multimodel strategy for simplified deployment
Challenges	Pricing can be complex and challenging for the end-users
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

15. Oracle

Oracle offers a wide range of cost-optimized and high-performance cloud databases, including in-memory, MySQL databases, NoSQL, etc.

The Oracle Autonomous Database is available on-premises via Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or Oracle@Customer. It can help users reduce operational costs with the application of multimodel converged databases and machine-learning-based automation for full lifecycle management.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Autonomously Managed Oracle Database Autonomous Data Warehouse Autonomous JSON Database Autonomous Transaction Processing Oracle APEX Application Development MySQL Database Service with HeatWave Oracle MySQL Database service Heatwave Key-value Database Support Oracle NoSQL Database Full list: https://www.oracle.com/in/database/
Strengths	Delivers high performance with the use of AI and ML-assisted tuning Leverages Oracle’s cloud infrastructure Supports on-premises deployments and ExaCC with disaster recovery in the cloud via ExaData Cloud Service (ExaCS)
Challenges	Price issues when running virtual CPUs on other clouds
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

16. Redis

Redis offers Redis Enterprise Cloud – a fully managed serverless cloud database service. It is built for speed that enables sub-millisecond performance and up to 99.999% uptime for business-critical applications.

It allows users to infinitely scale application data without compromising the performance. It also allows the distribution of datasets across regions – clouds or hybrid environments.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Redis Enterprise Cloud
Strengths	High-performance and uptime guarantees Optimized TCO (total cost of ownership) with pay per use billing Real‑time multicloud data layer Single-digit seconds auto-failover time Disaster recovery, instant failover between regions, clouds, and hybrid deployments
Challenges	Limited support for SQL and relational paradigm
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Challenger

17. SAP

SAP database offerings include SAP HANA Cloud, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP IQ, and SAP SQL Anywhere for both analytical and operational use cases.

The SAP HANA Cloud is a fully managed in-memory cloud database-as-a-service (DBaaS). It can integrate data from across an enterprise and enable faster decision-making. It is ideal for building data solutions with modern architectures and gaining business-ready insights faster and in real-time.

Popular Cloud Database Services	SAP HANA Cloud SAP Data Warehouse Cloud SAP IQ SAP SQL Anywhere Full List: https://www.sap.com/india/products/database-data-management.html
Strengths	Offers a lot of features Quite popular amongst the SAP customers Multi, Inter, and Hybrid cloud availability
Challenges	More popular amongst the SAP users Cost and pricing estimation issues
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

18. SingleStore

SingleStore provides a fully managed and on-demand cloud database service – SingleStore Managed Service. It is ideal for data-intensive applications.

It supports multiple deployment options – AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure as well as a private cloud. It supports the creation of data clusters within a single click. Based on SQL – it has a distributed architecture and is highly scalable.

Popular Cloud Database Services	SingleStore Managed Service
Strengths	One-click deployment and easy cloud scalability Easier to operate and buy as compared to legacy data platforms Supports multi-cloud and hybrid deployment Powered by patented Universal Storage
Challenges	Limited language support – Java, Graph, Python, etc. Limited SQL support – like foreign keys, triggers, etc.
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Niche Player

19. Snowflake

Snowflake offers Snowflake Data Cloud – a single and comprehensive data platform with seamless data collaboration. Users get high performance, flexibility, and near-infinite scalability. It can power an unlimited number of concurrent workloads.

It is an ideal solution for data warehousing, data engineering, data science, data application development, data lakes, etc.

Popular Cloud Database Services	Snowflake Data Cloud
Strengths	Fully managed service with high scalability and performance Fully automated Seamless collaboration Intelligent infrastructure
Challenges	Pricing and cost allocation issues
Position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems	Leader

Wrapping-up

Cloud databases offer numerous benefits as compared to traditional databases. Apart from improved agility and scalability, they can also help organizations decrease database management costs.

The choice of cloud DBMS will again depend on the need of the enterprise or individual users. There are databases that might be a fit for analytical applications while others may be more suitable for internet-scale applications. With multiple use cases, organizations are also moving to multimodel cloud databases – wherein they get multiple data models within a single database.

We hope this article will help you choose the right cloud database management system for your applications. Do let us know your thoughts through the comments section below.

Sources:

Disclaimer: This article aims to provide information about the specific cloud database solutions of different vendors for general informational purposes only. Vendors may change their product or service pricing and features from time to time. It’s therefore advised in the interest of the website visitor that before taking a decision or making a purchase, updated information should be verified from the respective vendor’s site. This information has been sourced from the vendor websites and relevant resources available in the public domain as of March 2022. Though we make best endeavors to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, we do not guarantee its 100% accuracy or timeliness. Furthermore, this is not a ranking, the vendors have been listed in an alphabetical order.