Azure SQL Database vs Azure SQL on VM

Question

We are finding Azure SQL Database very slow. Its probably about 10x slower than the same spend on a SQL on an Azure VM.

However a VM based solution requires maintenance and backups and im concerned I'll loose the VM and data if something horrible goes wrong.

Thus the SQL Azure solution seems safer to me. So I have two specific questions.

1. Are you seeing this speed difference and if so is there a solution
2. Is there any nice solution for ensure the SQL on VM is backed up automatically and offsite.

Answer 1

Azure SQL database is slightly slower than SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine. However, we didn't find it as slow as 10X. May be you should try Premium tier, which delivers more powerful and predictable performance, in case your database is in some other tier.

Regarding SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine, there is support available for automated backup and patching. Please visit the below link for more details.

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/01/29/automated-everything-with-sql-server-on-iaas-vms/