How to Choose SQL Server Over Oracle in PostgreSQL

Why use SQL Server over Oracle?

Explains when and why teams pick Microsoft SQL Server instead of Oracle for transactional workloads, licensing, tooling, and developer productivity.

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Description

Example H2

Example H3

Why might a startup prefer SQL Server to Oracle?

Licensing costs are lower, editions scale from free Express to Enterprise, and Windows-native integration simplifies ops for small DevOps teams. Built-in tooling like SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and Visual Studio integration cut ramp-up time for .NET shops.

How does SQL Server’s syntax differ in daily queries?

Key keywords differ—TOP instead of ROWNUM, IDENTITY instead of SEQUENCE, and GETDATE() instead of SYSDATE.Understanding these lets engineers port code quickly.

Which features speed up development?

Readable T-SQL, table-valued parameters, and native JSON support reduce boilerplate. Always Encrypted and Row-Level Security require fewer add-ons than Oracle.

What is the basic connection string in SQL Server?

sqlcmd -S server -d Database -U user -P password.Windows Authentication removes password management overhead when Active Directory is in place.

How do I select the latest customer orders?

Use TOP WITH TIES to keep ties without subqueries, a feature Oracle lacks.

SELECT TOP 5 WITH TIES o.* FROM Orders o ORDER BY o.order_date DESC;

When does Oracle still win?

Massive multi-tenant OLTP, advanced RAC clustering, and long-standing PL/SQL ecosystems remain Oracle strengths.Evaluate if you need those before switching.

Best practices for migrating from Oracle to SQL Server

1) Map data types (NUMBER → DECIMAL). 2) Replace SEQUENCE.NEXTVAL with IDENTITY or SEQUENCE + DEFAULT. 3) Convert CONNECT BY to CTEs. 4) Re-index with included columns.

Common pitfalls and fixes

Implicit transactions default off in SQL Server—wrap batches in BEGIN TRAN for parity. Case sensitivity depends on collation—pick Latin1_General_CS_AS if you relied on Oracle’s sensitivity.

Why How to Choose SQL Server Over Oracle in PostgreSQL is important

How to Choose SQL Server Over Oracle in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Fetch top-selling products for a dashboard
SELECT TOP 3 p.name, SUM(oi.quantity) AS units_sold, SUM(oi.quantity * p.price) AS revenue
FROM OrderItems oi
JOIN Products p ON p.id = oi.product_id
GROUP BY p.name
ORDER BY revenue DESC;

How to Choose SQL Server Over Oracle in PostgreSQL Syntax


-- Create table with identity (auto-increment)
CREATE TABLE Customers (
    id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    name NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    email NVARCHAR(255) UNIQUE,
    created_at DATETIME DEFAULT GETDATE()
);

-- Use TOP instead of ROWNUM
SELECT TOP (10) *
FROM Products
ORDER BY price DESC;

-- Merge (upsert) pattern
MERGE INTO Products AS target
USING (VALUES (1, 'Keyboard', 49.99, 100)) AS src(id, name, price, stock)
ON target.id = src.id
WHEN MATCHED THEN
    UPDATE SET price = src.price, stock = src.stock
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
    INSERT (id, name, price, stock)
    VALUES (src.id, src.name, src.price, src.stock);

Common Mistakes

Assuming SQL Server is always case-insensitive. Fix: choose a case-sensitive collation or quote identifiers to mimic Oracle behavior.
Porting ROWNUM directly to SQL Server. Fix: replace with TOP or WINDOW functions to get deterministic pagination.