Azure SQL’s Native JSON Type: Optimized for Performance

Azure SQL now offers a native JSON binary data type, improving upon its previous text-based JSON storage. This new format stores JSON in an optimized binary representation, leading to faster reads, efficient updates, and more compact storage. Previously, JSON was stored as nvarchar or varchar, requiring expensive parsing for every query. The native binary type eliminates this overhead, offering performance closer to structured columns. Testing demonstrated significant improvements after migrating from text-based JSON to the native binary type. This migration resulted in an approximately 82% reduction in database size. Performance metrics showed remarkable gains, with query durations reduced by 2.5x to 4x. Throughput increased by 20x to 40x, and logical reads decreased by about 80%. These benefits are attributed to eliminating repeated JSON parsing and reducing storage costs. The native JSON type is particularly beneficial for workloads involving frequent reading or updating of large or deeply nested JSON documents. By adopting this new type, Azure SQL aligns better with modern application design while maintaining relational engine stability.