SQLGrease monitors SQL Server performance through a Windows collector service running inside the customer network. It supports SQL Server 2008 through 2025, Azure SQL Database, Azure Managed Instances, and Amazon RDS, and can monitor multiple instances. Diagnostics cover query-level wait events, historical execution plans, response times, CPU, IO, locks, deadlocks, memory, and tempdb usage. Query Store integration maps collected plans to Query Store and generates commands to force or unforce plans. Users can configure events and email notifications for long executions, waits, blocking, plan changes, and exceeded baselines. The maker says data leaves the network over HTTPS, while constants in query, deadlock, and execution-plan data are masked before transmission. Collection permissions include VIEW SERVER STATE and VIEW ANY DEFINITION; Azure SQL Database also needs VIEW DATABASE STATE, and OS counters require sysadmin. Plans start at 79.00 USD per month. A fully functional 30-day trial is available without payment information.
Who it is for
SQLGrease suits teams responsible for SQL Server performance across on-premises or supported cloud databases. It is useful when query diagnostics, execution-plan controls, and configurable alerts are needed.
What is good
- Monitors multiple SQL Server instances
- Tracks waits, plans, locks, deadlocks, CPU, and IO
- Integrates with Query Store force and unforce commands
- Masks constants before data leaves the network
- 30-day trial requires no payment information
What to know first
- No free plan
- Starts at 79.00 USD per month
- Lite stores only two hours of history
- OS performance counters require sysadmin
Verdict
SQLGrease provides detailed SQL Server diagnostics, plan management, and alerting across several supported database environments. Check retention, storage tiers, and required permissions against your monitoring setup.
SQLGrease plans and pricing
All plansCompared on database monitoring
- Free plan
- No
- Paid from
- $79/mo
- Query profiling
- Yes
- Wait and lock analysis
- Yes
- Execution plans
- Yes
- Supported databases
- SQL Server 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025; Azure SQL Database; Azure Managed Instances; Amazon RDS
- Deployment model
- cloud
