Why Microsoft Access Still Lives On: Lessons from a 30‑Year‑Old Database

Anyone who has ever touched a database has likely encountered Microsoft Access. Compared with complex professional databases, it is simple and ready to use without much setup, yet it is extremely limited, and expanding its scope quickly reveals many problems.

Matthew MacDonald explores why Access remains alive in a competitive market. He describes a Halloween‑style story where a company stores valuable data in Access, only to face mysterious failures as the user base grows, lacking security models, data integrity, and open standards.

Despite not being free, Access persists like a zombie—its usage neither grows nor shrinks. Microsoft has tried repeatedly to retire it, but the user community fights to keep it alive, even as other legacy products like FrontPage and Visual Basic 6 have been abandoned.

Access’s popularity is surprising: about 140,000 companies still use it, roughly half the number using SQL Server, and DB‑Engines ranks it as the ninth most popular database worldwide. However, these figures likely overstate its reach, as most firms use multiple databases and Access typically handles small, non‑critical workloads.

How Popular Is Access?

Access is not dead and will not die, defying conventional expectations for database software.

Research firms report that while few companies use Access, those that do are very loyal. HG Insights notes 140,000 companies use Access, about half the number using SQL Server, and DB‑Engines places Access among the top ten databases globally.

Attempting to Kill a Program (and Failing)

Microsoft has a history of discontinuing its own products, yet when it targeted Access, it hesitated. Instead of a clean cut, Microsoft tried to make Access irrelevant by ignoring it and removing features such as dBASE import, pivot tables, and the SQL Server front‑end wizard.

The company also attempted to provide web‑based migration paths, creating several frameworks (Access Web Database, Access Web Apps) based on SharePoint and SQL Server, none of which succeeded, and Access 2019 became the first version in a decade without any web functionality.

Lessons from Access’s Tenacious Existence

Old technology persisting isn’t unusual—consider COBOL—but Access’s resilience is notable because its creator never fully embraced it.

Three key reasons explain its longevity:

1. The Super‑User Gap Access serves a special audience of non‑professional developers who need to automate small tasks without writing code. These “super users” value a low‑code environment that empowers them while avoiding the complexity of professional tools.

2. Power Comes from Empowerment Access succeeds by making users feel capable, offering a simple way to build tables, queries, and reports without extensive programming.

3. Never Overestimate “It Just Works” Compared to setting up a professional database like SQL Server Express—installing the server, management studio, creating databases, configuring permissions—Access requires minimal effort to start and maintain, making it attractive for quick, low‑risk solutions.

Ultimately, Access survives because it fills a niche for ordinary users who need a straightforward, low‑code database solution, and no alternative currently offers the same combination of simplicity and empowerment.