[Disclosure: I work for Microsoft] One thing to keep in mind for Azure SQL: you are getting a guaranteed SLA [1], business continuity and full point-in-time ba

[Disclosure: I work for Microsoft] One thing to keep in mind for Azure SQL: you are getting a guaranteed SLA [1], business continuity and full point-in-time backups (up to 30 days) [2] for that price. To compare effectively you would need to price out a comparable Always-On cluster, domain controllers, SAN storage (for replication), and backup solution + storage. [1]: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/sql-database/v1_1/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/sql-data... [2]: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-business-continuity/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql...