Which tool? SQL Server Management Studio or Azure Data Studio
SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) is the free tool provided by Microsoft to manage your on-premise and Azure SQL databases. It's a powerful console that allows you to manage all parts of your database, including tables, views, stored procedures and more. SSMS used to be part of the SQL Server install, but it now needs to be installed separately. It can be used for managing and administering databases on your local machine or remotely. SSMS is backward compatible; supported from SQL 2008 to SQL 2019.
OS requirements: Windows
Azure Data Studio (AD Studio) is a tool created by Microsoft that allows you to manage your Azure databases and cloud resources. It is a free, cross-platform SQL Server and Azure integrated development environment (IDE) that enables you to work with data on the go. It provides a full set of tools for database development, debugging, and deployment.
OS requirements: Windows, Linux, Mac
Which one should you use?
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and Azure Data Studio are both powerful tools for managing SQL Server instances. They are similar in many ways, but there are also some key differences that help differentiate them from one another when you’re choosing which one to use.
If you are looking for a free alternative to SQL Server Management Studio or some of its features, you may want to check out Azure Data Studio.
Here are some of the most important considerations:
Usability: Both tools have excellent usability. However, Azure Data Studio has more options for connecting to your database instances and can connect to multiple instances simultaneously. It also has better support for working with schemas, tables, views and other objects in your database.
Performance: In general, SQL Server Management Studio is a faster tool than Azure Data Studio because it doesn’t require any additional services to run (Azure Data Studio requires the Azure Data Sync service). If performance is important to you and you don’t need all of the features offered by Azure Data Studio (such as database design), then SSSM is probably the right choice for you.
How do you get them?
Both are available for download from the Microsoft website.
