Part of the Azure SQL family, SQL Managed Instance is an intelligent cloud database service combining the broadest SQL Server engine compatibility (back to SQL Server 2008) with the benefits of a fully managed, up-to-date platform as a service. With your successful assessment on Azure Migrate or Azure Data Studio, confidently modernize your custom and vendor-provided apps to Azure.
Always operate on the latest version of SQL
Stop worrying about updates, upgrades, or end of support. SQL Managed Instance is built on the SQL Server engine, so it's always up to date with the latest SQL features and functionality.
Meet your mission-critical requirements up to five times faster while paying up to 93 percent less than AWS RDS.1 Learn how SQL Managed Instance outperformed across three different benchmarks, spanning transactional and analytics workloads.
Accelerate application modernization with the latest managed SQL Server capabilities in the cloud. Keep using familiar tools and SQL Server features like cross-database queries, linked server, and support for Windows authentication with an entire SQL Server instance within a managed service. Move your custom and vendor-provided apps without worrying about compatibility or performance changes—SQL Managed Instance maintains the highest SQL Server compatibility levels.
Boost productivity and operate more efficiently by letting the fully managed service perform time-consuming and complex tasks on your behalf. Take advantage of built-in high availability, accelerated database recovery, and automated backups to help ensure that your data is available when you need it, and use AI-powered automatic tuning to optimize performance. Get the best of SQL Server with the financial and operational benefits of a platform as a service.
Achieve isolation at both the compute level and the network level. Ensure that your instances and databases don't share virtual machines with other customers. Keep workloads fully contained within a secure native virtual network, and get the benefits of the public cloud while remaining isolated from the public internet.
34KFull-time equivalent engineers dedicated to security initiatives at Microsoft.Embedded security and compliance Learn more about security on Azure 15KPartners with specialized security expertise.>100Compliance certifications, including over 50 specific to global regions and countries.
Apps
Migrate to Azure SQL Managed Instance and confidently use your apps
Explore Microsoft partners that offer certified apps for SQL Managed Instance.
“With Azure, we have the flexibility to quickly scale up resources as needed with just the click of a few buttons.”
Raimond Diederik, Executive Vice President of Information Services, Descartes
“Azure SQL Managed Instance strikes the right balance by providing an agile and scalable solution, while allowing us to rapidly deploy a highly available and geographically redundant solution at scale.”
Terence Danker, Principal Enterprise Architect, Architecture & Engineering Services (AES), Global Business Services, Wolters Kluwer
“We used Azure to meet our business goals for a more flexible database, more operational efficiency, and improved ability to deliver the healthcare information our customers need as quickly as they deserve.”
Sigfredo García Irizarry, Assistant Executive Vice President of IT Administration, MCS
Azure SQL Managed Instance is a fully managed SQL service that brings near‑full SQL Server instance compatibility to Azure. It allows organizations to modernize existing SQL Server workloads while preserving instance‑level features such as SQL Agent, cross‑database queries, and native AI integration—without managing infrastructure.
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What kind of technology is Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Azure SQL Managed Instance is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering built on the SQL Server engine. Microsoft manages provisioning, patching, backups, high availability, and disaster recovery, while customers manage databases, schemas, and queries using familiar SQL Server tools.
Unlike infrastructure‑based deployments, Managed Instance removes OS and database maintenance while retaining SQL Server behavior at the instance level.
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What are the benefits of Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Azure SQL Managed Instance helps organizations:
Migrate SQL Server workloads to Azure with minimal or no code changes
Reduce operational overhead through automated patching, backups, and HA
Retain instance‑level SQL Server features not available in database‑only services
Improve security with built‑in compliance, encryption, and network isolation
Modernize confidently using a fully managed SQL Server–compatible service
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Where is Azure SQL Managed Instance available?
Azure SQL Managed Instance is available in multiple Azure regions worldwide and is deployed inside a customer‑managed Azure Virtual Network. This architecture enables private connectivity, hybrid scenarios, and integration with on‑premises environments.
Availability may vary by region and service tier.
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Can I try Azure SQL Managed Instance for free?
Azure SQL Managed Instance can be explored using Azure free credits, allowing customers to evaluate Managed Instance for development, testing, or proof‑of‑concept scenarios before moving to production.
Azure SQL Managed Instance is available for free for up to 12 months, providing 720 vCore hours, 64 GB storage, and support for up to 500 databases per subscription.
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Is Azure SQL Managed Instance PaaS or IaaS?
Azure SQL Managed Instance is a PaaS (Platform as a Service) offering. Unlike SQL Server running on Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS), Managed Instance eliminates the need to manage operating systems, patching, and backups while still supporting SQL Server instance‑level features.
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What service tiers are available for Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Azure SQL Managed Instance offers multiple service tiers designed for different workload needs:
Next‑gen General Purpose – Optimized for price‑performance with faster scaling, improved reliability, and modernized architecture for most business workloads.
Business Critical – Designed for mission‑critical applications requiring low latency and high I/O performance using local SSD storage.
General Purpose – Cost‑effective PaaS tier for standard workloads with moderate performance and scalability needs, using remote storage and a simpler configuration model
All tiers include built‑in high availability, automated backups, and enterprise‑grade security.
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Can I migrate SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Yes. Azure SQL Managed Instance is designed specifically for SQL Server database migration. Most workloads can be migrated with minimal changes using tools such as Azure Database Migration Service, making it a common choice for modernization projects.
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What does "broadest compatibility with the SQL Server engine" mean?
When you migrate from SQL Server to SQL Managed Instance, you want to be sure your apps will run in the cloud without the need to make any changes. Having a higher degree of SQL Server engine compatibility means less refactoring and one less thing to worry about. The degree of compatibility is controlled by database compatibility levels, and SQL Managed Instance is set to the highest compatibility level by default, which is on par with the latest version of the SQL Server engine. In fact, SQL Managed Instance was built on the SQL Server 2016 engine, making it compatible with SQL Server engines ever since. A commitment to not retire older SQL Server engine code also makes SQL Managed Instance backward-compatible with SQL Server engines dating to 2008. Before migrating to SQL Managed Instance, use Azure Migrate or Azure Data Studio to conduct a comprehensive assessment of your data estate to confirm that your databases are ready for the cloud.
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Which features are supported on SQL Managed Instance?
Price–performance claims based on data from a study commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Principled Technologies in April 2022. The study compared performance and price performance between a 16 vCore, 64 vCore and 80 vCore Azure SQL Managed Instance using premium-series hardware on the business-critical service tier and the db.m6i.32xlarge, db.r5b.4xlarge and db.r5b.16xlarge offerings for Amazon Web Services Relational Database Service (AWS RDS) on SQL Server. Benchmark data is taken from a Principled Technologies report using recognized standards, HammerDB TPROC-C, HammerDB TPROC-H and Microsoft MSOLTPE, a workload derived from TPC-E. The MSOLTPE is derived from the TPC-E benchmark and as such is not comparable to published TPC-E results, as MSOLTPE results do not comply with the TPC-E Specification. The results are based on a mixture of read-only and update-intensive transactions that simulate activities found in complex OLTP and analytics application environments. Price–performance is calculated by Principled Technologies as the cost of running the cloud platform continuously divided by transactions per minute or per second throughput, based upon the standard. Prices are based on publicly available US pricing in South Central US for Azure SQL Managed Instance and US East for AWS RDS as of April 2022 and incorporates Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server, excluding Software Assurance and support costs. Performance and price–performance results are based upon the configurations detailed in the Principled Technologies report.
Savings based on eight vCore Managed Instance Business Critical in East US Region, running 730 hours per month. Savings are calculated from full price (license included) against base rate (applying Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server), which excludes Software Assurance cost for SQL Server Enterprise edition, which may vary based on EA agreement. Actual savings may vary based on region, instance size, and performance tier. Prices as of May 2022, subject to change.