20251208 decision tree (#36118)

* 20251218 decision tree

* 20251218 decision tree

* 20251218 decision tree

Author: WilliamDAssafMSFT

azure-sql/azure-sql-decision-tree.md

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+---
+title: "Azure SQL Decision Tree"
+description: "Explore a decision tree of different options within the Azure SQL family of services: Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure VM."
+author: WilliamDAssafMSFT
+ms.author: wiassaf
+ms.reviewer: ivujic
+ms.date: 12/18/2025
+ms.service: azure-sql
+ms.subservice: service-overview
+ms.topic: article
+monikerRange: "=azuresql||=azuresql-db||=azuresql-mi"
+# http://aka.ms/AzureSQLdecisionTree
+---
+# Azure SQL decision tree
+
+[!INCLUDE [appliesto-sqldb-sqlmi-sqlvm](includes/appliesto-sqldb-sqlmi-sqlvm.md)]
+
+The Azure portal includes a decision tree in the [Azure SQL hub at aka.ms/azuresqlhub](https://aka.ms/azuresqlhub) to help you **Find the right option** for your application architecture in Azure SQL.
+
+## Decision tree diagram
+
+The following decision tree diagram shows each high-level decision step. 
+
+:::image type="content" source="media/azure-sql-decision-tree/azure-sql-decision-tree.svg" alt-text="Decision tree diagram for Azure SQL. Each decision point is explained in this article." lightbox="media/azure-sql-decision-tree/azure-sql-decision-tree.png":::
+
+### Decision tree explained
+
+The following explanation covers each high-level decision point. Your application architecture might involve other factors and decision points.
+
+#### Are you building a new application?
+
+   - **Yes:** Consider Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Database Hyperscale.
+
+      - **If you're building a new SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution for hundreds of customers or more**, consider Azure SQL Database, using elastic pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many distinct customer databases.
+
+      - **If you're building other types of applications,** consider Azure SQL Database Hyperscale. You could also consider Azure SQL Database Hyperscale elastic pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many databases.
+
+   - **No:** The best platform choice depends on other factors, like whether you're migrating an existing workload and other features. Keep reading.
+
+#### Are you migrating an existing database?
+
+   - **No:** Consider Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Database Hyperscale.
+
+      - **If you're building a new SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution for hundreds of customers or more**, consider Azure SQL Database, using elastic pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many distinct customer databases.
+
+      - **If you're building other types of applications,** consider Azure SQL Database Hyperscale. You could also consider Azure SQL Database Hyperscale elastic pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many databases.
+
+   - **Yes:** Consider what system requirements you have from the existing database platform. Keep reading.
+
+#### Do you need operating system-level control, file system access, or a specific SQL Server version?
+
+   - **Yes:** The best solution for on-premises migrations that require operating system-level and file system access, perhaps for integration with other applications that must be installed locally to the SQL Server instance, is SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines. 
+   
+      If you must run a specific version of SQL Server that isn't the latest version and won't be automatically kept up to date, use SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines.
+
+   - **No:** Consider what feature requirements you have from the existing database platform. A platform as a service (PaaS) database that manages the SQL Server instance and operating system patching for you is easier and simpler to operate. Keep reading for more options.
+
+#### Does your workload require transactional replication, .NET CLR, SQL Agent, cross-database queries, or linked server?
+
+   - **Yes:** Choose Azure SQL Managed Instance. These SQL Server and Windows features are available with Azure SQL Managed Instance, even as other aspects of the instance and operating system are managed for you, such as patching, high availability, and backups.
+
+   - **No:** If you don't need those features, other Azure SQL options are available that simplify your database administration. Keep reading.
+
+#### Do you need, or does company policy require, the ability to move the database back to on-premises or cross-cloud?
+
+   - **Yes:** Choose Azure SQL Managed Instance, which provides migration and reverse migration, as well as on-prem-to-cloud synchronization through availability groups.
+
+   - **No:** Other options remain available for your scenario. Keep reading.
+
+#### Do you expect the database to stay under 4 TB?
+
+   - **Yes:** Choose Azure SQL Database. Further, if you're considering a new SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution for hundreds of customers or more, configure Azure SQL Database with elastic pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many distinct customer databases. You could consider a database architecture that separates each customer into its own database using elastic pools, each expected to stay under 4 TB.
+
+   - **No:** Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database Hyperscale provide much higher total database size limitations. Keep reading.
+
+#### Do you expect your database to stay under 32 TB?
+
+Both Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database Hyperscale could work for your solution, but Azure SQL Managed Instance has a current cap of 32 TB. Azure SQL Database Hyperscale has a current cap of 128 TB.
+
+   - **If you're building a new SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution for hundreds of customers or more**, consider Azure SQL Database Hyperscale elastic pools or Azure SQL Managed Instance pools to provide cost-effective and predictable resource costs to many distinct customer databases.
+
+## Related content
+
+- [Migrate to Azure SQL](migration-guides/index.yml)
+- [What is Azure SQL Database?](database/sql-database-paas-overview.md)
+- [What is Azure SQL Managed Instance?](managed-instance/sql-managed-instance-paas-overview.md)
+- [What is SQL Server on Azure Windows Virtual Machines?](virtual-machines/windows/sql-server-on-azure-vm-iaas-what-is-overview.md)

azure-sql/azure-sql-iaas-vs-paas-what-is-overview.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: "Learn about the different options within the Azure SQL family of s
 author: WilliamDAssafMSFT
 ms.author: wiassaf
 ms.reviewer: mathoma
-ms.date: 08/07/2025
+ms.date: 12/18/2025
 ms.service: azure-sql
 ms.subservice: service-overview
 ms.topic: overview
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ Azure SQL is a family of managed, secure, and intelligent products that use the
 
 The three products in the Azure SQL family are:
 
-- **[Azure SQL Database](database/sql-database-paas-overview.md)**: Support modern cloud applications on an intelligent, managed database service that includes serverless compute.
+- **[Azure SQL Database](database/sql-database-paas-overview.md)**: Support modern cloud applications on an intelligent, managed database service that includes serverless compute, elastic pools, and elastic job automation.
+    - **[Azure SQL Database Hyperscale](database/service-tier-hyperscale.md)**: A [different architecture](database/hyperscale-architecture.md) for the Azure SQL Database engine that emphasizes highly scalable and separate storage and compute tiers, suitable for many workloads, and with similar features including Hyperscale elastic pools.
 - **[Azure SQL Managed Instance](managed-instance/sql-managed-instance-paas-overview.md)**: Modernize your existing SQL Server applications at scale with an intelligent fully managed instance as a service, with almost 100% feature parity with the SQL Server database engine. Best for most migrations to the cloud.
 - **[SQL Server on Azure VMs](virtual-machines/windows/sql-server-on-azure-vm-iaas-what-is-overview.md)**: Lift-and-shift your SQL Server workloads with ease and maintain 100% SQL Server compatibility and operating system-level access.
 
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ If you're new to Azure SQL, check out the *What is Azure SQL* video from our in-
 
 > [!VIDEO https://learn.microsoft.com/shows/Azure-SQL-for-Beginners/What-is-Azure-SQL-3-of-61/player]
 
+> [!TIP]
+> The Azure portal includes a decision tree in the [Azure SQL hub at aka.ms/azuresqlhub](https://aka.ms/azuresqlhub) to help you **Find the right option** for your application architecture in Azure SQL. For an explanation of the decision tree and its choices, see [Azure SQL decision tree](azure-sql-decision-tree.md).
+
+
 ## Overview
 
 In today's data-driven world, driving digital transformation increasingly depends on our ability to manage massive amounts of data and harness its potential. But today's data estates are increasingly complex, with data hosted on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge of the network. Developers who are building intelligent and immersive applications can find themselves constrained by limitations that can ultimately impact their experience. Limitations arising from incompatible platforms, inadequate data security, insufficient resources, and price-performance barriers create complexity that can inhibit app modernization and development.
@@ -108,6 +113,8 @@ Azure SQL Database offers the following deployment options:
 
 Differences between Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure VMs are listed in the following table, but *both SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance are optimized to reduce overall management costs to a minimum for provisioning and managing many databases.* Ongoing administration costs are reduced since you don't have to manage any virtual machines, operating system, or database software. You don't have to manage upgrades, high availability, or [backups](database/automated-backups-overview.md).
 
+The Azure portal includes a decision tree in the [Azure SQL hub at aka.ms/azuresqlhub](https://aka.ms/azuresqlhub) to help you **Find the right option** for your application architecture in Azure SQL. For an explanation of the decision tree and its choices, see [Azure SQL decision tree](azure-sql-decision-tree.md).
+
 In general, SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance can dramatically increase the number of databases managed by a single IT or development resource. [Elastic pools for SQL Database](database/elastic-pool-overview.md) also support SaaS multitenant application architectures with features including tenant isolation and the ability to scale to reduce costs by sharing resources across databases. [SQL Managed Instance](managed-instance/sql-managed-instance-paas-overview.md) provides support for instance-scoped features enabling easy migration of existing applications, as well as sharing resources among databases. Whereas [SQL Server on Azure VMs](virtual-machines/windows/sql-server-on-azure-vm-iaas-what-is-overview.md) provide DBAs with an experience most similar to the on-premises environment they're familiar with.
 
 | Azure SQL Database | Azure SQL Managed Instance | SQL Server on Azure VMs |