Cloud databases and platforms are providing businesses with a great opportunity to establish their own infrastructure. While, currently in 2022, our market has boomed enough in cloud platforms and their services. Consequently, creating a dilemma in the choice of cloud database services. Certainly, there are many cloud platform providers who are competing with almost similar benefits. So, which cloud provider will be the best with maximum leverage, will eventually be our concern.

Addressing your concerns, this blog will not only enlist the top 5 cloud database services providers but also the benefits one can get from them. This blog will also let you know the benefits and challenges of cloud databases for business in general. So, let’s get started.

What is a Cloud Database?

A Cloud Database is a database that runs on a cloud computing platform i.e., built, deployed, and accessed in the cloud environment and provided as-a-service i.e., Database as a service (DBaaS).

What are the Benefits and Challenges of Cloud Databases?

Let’s go through the advantages one can have from a cloud database and what challenges one can also face.

Benefits of Cloud Databases

Notable benefits one can have from cloud databases are

1. Reduced Overall Cost
   Implementing cloud computing is a way to reduce total costs by eliminating on-site maintenance, administrative, licensing, renewal, and update costs. Therefore, you will be only paying for the services you need or whenever you expand your storage.
2. Scalability
   Besides providing reduced costs, cloud databases let you expand your storage needs as your business grows. Thus, catering to businesses of all sizes and needs.
3. Remote and mobile accessibility
   Cloud databases provide remote and mobile access to every staff member with busy schedules, Therefore, enabling them to stay updated with their clients and co-workers regardless of location and device.
4. Agile Disaster Recovery
   Cloud Databases provide you robust disaster recovery i.e., in minutes and hours instead of in days, whether it be a natural calamity or power outages.
5. Robust Security
   Also, DBaaS infrastructure provides more amped-up security by encrypting the data transmitted over networks and stored in databases. In other words, this encryption and other security settings by providers make your data inaccessible to hackers and unauthorized persons.
6. Increased Collaboration
   Most importantly, collaboration becomes easy for team members due to the collaborative social space provided by cloud computing. Thus, enabling employees to view, share, and interact across the organization.
7. Consistent Quality Control
   Most importantly, cloud database stores data in a single format and therefore, enables everyone to access the same information. Thus, maintaining data consistency by avoiding errors and providing records on revisions and updates.

Challenges of Cloud Databases

Following are the challenges which come up with a cloud database and can be drawbacks if the platform is not chosen wisely

1. Vendor Lock-In and Migration
   Vendor lock-in is a phenomenon of signing up and starting using the cloud services of a cloud database provider. Certainly, it can be challenging for medium-to-large size companies if they run into a crisis with their provider. Therefore, making the migration to another platform problematic due to the sheer size of the data.
2. Cost Management with scalability
   If your business is booming with exponential growth and expansion, your data and services will grow exponentially as well. Therefore, this expansion and scalability can be problematic in terms of cost management which will rise sharply with more storage requirements.
3. Security issues with the data breach
   Headlines on compromised credentials, broken authentication, hacked APIs, and account hijacking, still somehow get the limelight. No doubt, all other cloud providers are constantly improving their security capabilities. But on your end, always verify provider has secure user identity management, authentication, and access control methods before you lock in your vendor.
4. Downtime and performance
   To function orderly, cloud services are dependent on an uninterrupted internet connection. That is to say any interruption and downtime from either side, especially at the provider’s end, will largely affect your productivity and performance.

What are the top 5 Cloud Databases in 2022?

The top 5 Cloud Databases that can scale up your business in 2022 are

1. AWS Databases Services
2. Oracle Cloud Database
3. SAP HANA Cloud
4. Microsoft Azure SQL Database
5. Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

1. AWS Database Services

AWS i.e., Amazon Web Services, is a leading cloud computing platform by Amazon.

Available AWS cloud Databases

Currently, AWS offers above 15 cloud databases. But notable ones are as below:

Amazon Aurora, Amazon RDS, Amazon Redshift, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon MemoryDB, Amazon DocumentDB, Amazon Keyspaces, Amazon Neptune, AmazonTimestream and Amazon QuantuM Ledger Database (QLDB).

What are the benefits of AWS Databases?

• Purpose Built Databases: AWS databases are purpose-built. That is to say, they are designed to support diverse data models, which include relational, document, in-memory, key-value, graph, time series, wide column, and ledger databases.
• Fully Managed Databases: AWS itself fully manages its cloud databases. In other words, this means the businesses don’t need to perform management tasks of backups, configurations, and patch-ups by themselves.
• Continuous monitoring and self-healing storage: AWS database services offer non-stop monitoring, self-healing storage, and automated scaling. Thus, lessening the workload on DBAs.
• Highly accessible and Secure Databases: AWS databases provide multi-level security and multi-region replication. Consequently, making their databases highly accessible and secure.

2.  Oracle Cloud Database

Oracle Cloud Database popular as Oracle Autonomous Database is an all-in-one cloud database solution i.e., a multi-model database management system in the cloud.

What are the benefits of Oracle Autonomous Database?

• Single Database for all data types: Unlike AWS providing different databases for different data types, Oracle Autonomous Database is a solution designed to support multiple data types for data marts, data lakes, operational reporting, and batch data processing.
• Fully automated and managed: Like AWS, Oracle Autonomous Database has also automated all the database tasks and manages them itself. Therefore, reducing the workload on DBAs.
• Reduced Operational Costs: Most importantly, the consolidation of multiple databases into a single database i.e., Oracle Autonomous Database has cut down the operational and licensing costs. Also, it let you size your cloud for everyday terms.
• Highly reliable and Secure: Oracle Autonomous Database’s electronic identity is hard to reproduce. Thus, provides better identity management and user controls.
• Quick Backup and recovery: Oracle Autonomous Database provide quick backup and recovery not only in case of disasters but also in case of incorrectly deleted or lost data due to its flashback technology.
• Superior Scalability: Oracle Autonomous Database has a multitenant option to handle and consolidate multiple small databases under a single roof and thus improving scalability.

3.  SAP HANA Cloud

SAP HANA Cloud is an in-memory and column-oriented Relational Database Management System by SAP SE.

What are the benefits of SAP HANA Cloud?

• Both cloud and Hybrid deployment: SAP HANA provides the edge of deployment both in on-premises and in the cloud environment.
• A single place to store and access multi-model data: Just like Oracle Autonomous Database, the SAP HANA database also provides a single place to store and access multi-model data.
• Real-time data processing: Unlike others, SAP HANA Cloud allows real-time enterprise data processing.
• Fully automated and managed: Like AWS and GCP, SAP HANA Cloud has also automated all the database managerial and administrative tasks. Thus, reducing the workload on DBAs.

4.  Microsoft Azure SQL Database

Microsoft Azure SQL, also known as SQL Azure, is a fully managed relational Database provided as DbaaS as a part of the Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure Platform by Microsoft Azure.

What are the benefits of Azure SQL Database?

• Same usability as SQL Server: It is easy to use and administer as with SQL server.
• Support both relation and non-relational data: Azure SQL provides variety in support for both relational and non-relational data structures.
• High Performance, Availability, and Scalability: Azure SQL only goes down when the whole Azure cloud is down and provides high-performance data storage with high-speed connectivity. Also, it provides flexibility in upgrading the plans and adding up further services and storage as the business grows without any hassle.
• Easy accessibility and no data loss: Azure SQL is easily accessible from multiple devices. It also stores and manages data in multiple data centres which leads to no data loss even in case of disasters.

5.  Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a complete suite of cloud computing services by Google. It runs on the same cloud infrastructure as used by Google itself. GCP provides a groundbreaking platform of database services. Thus, providing flexibility in choice depending on your requirements like type and size of data, latency, throughput, scalability, and IOPs.

Available Google Cloud Databases

Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Bare Metal Solution for Oracle, Cloud Bigtable, FireStore, and Memorystore.

What are the benefits of GCP Databases?

• Purpose Built Databases: Like AWS, GCP databases are also purpose-built. That is to say, they are designed to support diverse data models, which include relational, document, in-memory, key-value, and non-relational Databases.
• Fully automated and managed: Just like others, GCP has also automated all the database managerial and administrative tasks. Thus, reducing the workload on DBAs.
• Hybrid deployment: With some data on Google Cloud and some on-premises, it becomes easy when you have applications in the cloud that need to access on-premises databases or vice versa.

Cloud Database Comparison

To make it easier for you, let’s compare and summarise the whole in one table.