# Azure Cosmos DB

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Azure Cosmos DB and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A cloud-only database that suits some workloads; critics say it is expensive per request, slow, and has had serious security flaws.

## Why people recommend it

- Fits some specific needs (1 comments): "when cosmosdb might fit their needs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50249345))

## What people warn about

- Costly, request-based pricing (4 comments): "CosmosDb NoSql is expensive (RU based) and the SDK is horrible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46749382)) "CosmosDB doesn’t even have a local install edition. Conversely the cloud hosted offering is slower than cold molasses and costs most of your body parts… per month." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48419223)) "Not great when you are paying per transaction." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50249929))
- Serious security flaws and footguns (4 comments): "A critical vulnerability chain in Azure Cosmos DB enabled full read and write access to every Cosmos DB database." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108964)) "a shock that anyone is trusting Microsoft, Azure or in particular Cosmos DB with anything mission critical" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49109852)) ""Cosmos Master Key"... I can see why that would have been convenient, but talk about a footgun." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49109782))
- Slow performance for the price (3 comments): "CosmosDB doesn’t even have a local install edition. Conversely the cloud hosted offering is slower than cold molasses and costs most of your body parts… per month." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48419223)) "the best performance I have ever managed to squeeze out of it could be generously classified as "glacial"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626114)) "They spent hundreds of thousands on cosmosDB, for less performance than a raspberry pi running Postgres." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47624021))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Amazon RDS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-rds.md): 50 recommend
- [Neon Postgres](https://hackerapproved.com/p/neon.md): 48 recommend
- [DynamoDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-dynamodb.md): 46 recommend
- [Cloudflare D1](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-d1.md): 36 recommend
- [PlanetScale](https://hackerapproved.com/p/planetscale.md): 33 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/cosmos-db)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Azure Cosmos DB", https://hackerapproved.com/p/azure-cosmos-db/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).