Thoughts about the Azure Data Studio retirement announcement

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In this post I want to share my thoughts about the Azure Data Studio retirement announcement.

For those who missed it, this week Microsoft announced that Azure Data Studio will be retired on February 28th 2026. So that Microsoft can focus on consolidating their efforts into Visual Studio Code.

Personal thoughts about the retirement announcement

For me the news is a bit like saying goodbye to an old friend. Because for many years I have shown Azure Data Studio in many sessions and blog posts. In fact, you could say that over the years I have been an advocate for Azure Data Studio.

I made a conscious decision to do this many years ago. Because there were a lot of demos and posts out there showing how to work with database projects in Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise.

So, for me it felt like it had been a bit overdone and I wanted to show a different way to work with database projects. In order to make my material more unique. Plus, it provided me with an alternative way to zoom in and out during sessions.

Do not take me out of context here. Because there is a lot of really good content by others out there who do some outstanding things with database projects in Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise.

Anyway, I have a lot of fond memories with Azure Data Studio. Including the many Duet sessions that Sander Stad and I did during lockdown. Plus, as of late I have been using it for my Microsoft Fabric and Azure DevOps related sessions.

In addition, I have used it in a lot of blog posts over the years. Eighty-three blog posts to be more exact. Including a post where I want into great depth about database projects for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouses.

The move to Visual Studio Code

With that being said, I do understand why Microsoft made this decision. After all, Azure Data Studio was based on Visual Studio Code and both support the SQL Database Projects extension. Plus, there are way more extensions available in Visual Studio Code.

One thing I do want to stress is that is extremely easy to translate my old material based on Azure Data Studio to Visual Studio Code. In fact, all the material based on database projects is pretty much the same.

To highlight this, below are two screenshots showing a database project based on SQL database in Fabric. One working with the extension in Azure Data Studio and the other one working with the extension in Visual Studio Code.

As you can see, they are exactly the same. With this in mind, I hope you all understand why after next February I will not be updating eighty-three blog posts.

For those wondering, Microsoft provides further recommended alternatives for SQL Server capabilities in Azure Data Studio. Which will help those who worked a lot with Azure Data Studio solutions over the years.

Final words about the Azure Data Studio retirement announcement

So there are my thoughts about the Azure Data Studio retirement announcement.

Like I said it is a bit like saying goodbye to an old friend. However, time moves on and it provides me with a chance to provide some amazing Microsoft Fabric content ongoing. Due to the fact I can show more of the Visual Studio Code capabilities during my sessions.

So you can expect some new demos from me in the future. Of course, if you have any comments or queries about this post feel free to reach out me.