sp_BlitzCache

Get ChatGPT’s Advice On Your Queries with sp_BlitzCache.

Last Updated December 2, 2025

AI, First Responder Kit Updates, sp_BlitzCache

First off, I understand if you read the headline and you have a knee-jerk reaction. I totally understand that there are a lot of people out there who hate AI, and believe me, I hate most uses of it. Lots of its advice can be misleading at best, and absolute garbage at worst. I watch…

How to Track Performance of Queries That Use RECOMPILE Hints

Last Updated May 26, 2020

Brent Ozar

Parameter Sniffing, Query Store (QDS), sp_BlitzCache

Say we have a stored procedure that has two queries in it – the second query uses a recompile hint, and you might recognize it from my parameter sniffing session: Transact-SQL CREATE OR ALTER PROC dbo.usp_SearchUsers @Reputation INT AS BEGIN /* Query 1, always the same: */ SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.Users; /* Query 2, recompiles…

DBA Training Plan 12: What Query Plans Are In Cache?

Last Updated August 11, 2019

Brent Ozar

DBA Training Plan, Execution Plans, sp_BlitzCache

In the last episode, while talking about the basics of executing queries, I said that SQL Server caches execution plans in memory, reusing them whenever the same query gets executed again. I’ve also talked about the dynamic management views (DMVs) that let you query what’s in SQL Server’s memory. Let’s put those two things together…

How to Do a Free SQL Server Performance Check

Last Updated November 18, 2017

Brent Ozar

First Responder Kit, Processes and Practices, sp_BlitzCache, sp_BlitzFirst

Your client or boss just said, “Find out why this SQL Server is slow.” You’ve already done a free SQL Server health check, and now you wanna investigate deeper. Step 1: Download & run sp_BlitzFirst. Start with wait stats, which tell you what the SQL Server has been waiting on since the service was last…

sp_BlitzCache: Eventual Compatibility With Azure

Last Updated November 16, 2017

Erik Darling

Execution Plans, Microsoft Azure, sp_BlitzCache

Better than nothing Yesterday it was announced that global temp tables were available in public preview for Azure. That means that unmodified versions of sp_BlitzCache (which uses a global temp table to hold a whole bunch of information) will be compatible up there. This is a nice addition for Azure, and an even nicer addition…

sp_BlitzCache Tip: Cutting Through Heavy Dynamic SQL Use

Last Updated November 16, 2017

Erik Darling

First Responder Kit, sp_BlitzCache, T-SQL

It keeps me up at night Out of the box, sp_BlitzCache will give you enough stuff to work on in your server’s plan cache to last a month of leap days. This is great for most people, but if you use a ton of dynamic SQL in stored procedures, it can make things difficult. What’s…

Analyzing Temporary Stored Procedures with sp_BlitzCache

Last Updated November 16, 2017

Erik Darling

First Responder Kit, sp_BlitzCache, TempDB

All the cool kids Know that when you’re trying to figure out why a stored procedure is slow sometimes, you should use a temporary stored procedure instead of pulling the code out and running it ad hoc. We frequently point people to Erland Sommarskog’s “Slow in the Application, Fast in SSMS“, because it’s an excellent…

Silent Demo: The Plan Cache

Last Updated November 16, 2017

Brent Ozar

Execution Plans, sp_BlitzCache, Videos

Shhh, and pay close attention. In 76 seconds, I’ll teach you something intriguing about the way SQL Server caches execution plans:

Learn to Use sp_Blitz, sp_BlitzCache, sp_BlitzFirst, and sp_BlitzIndex with These Tutorial Videos

Last Updated September 22, 2020

Brent Ozar

First Responder Kit, sp_Blitz, sp_BlitzCache, sp_BlitzFirst, sp_BlitzIndex

There have been so many improvements lately to our First Responder Kit scripts that it was time to update our tutorial videos. Each of these is about ten minutes long and shows how to use ’em: How to Use sp_Blitz for a Health Check How to Use sp_BlitzCache to Find Slow Queries How to Use…

Query Tuning Week: How to Run sp_BlitzCache on a Single Query

Last Updated August 29, 2020

Brent Ozar

Execution Plans, Parameter Sniffing, sp_BlitzCache

The most popular way of using sp_BlitzCache® is to just run it – by default, it shows you the top 10 most CPU-intensive queries that have run on your server recently. Plus, it shows you warnings about each of the queries – if they’re missing indexes, experiencing parameter sniffing issues, running long, running frequently, doing…

Memory Grants Added to sp_BlitzCache and sp_BlitzFirst

Last Updated January 8, 2019

Erik Darling

First Responder Kit, Memory Grants, sp_BlitzCache, sp_BlitzFirst

Exciting New Doodads When SP3 for 2012 dropped, we were all super excited by the new query tuning-centric features that were at our disposal. Now all we had to do was get people to install SP3! Great features like this make patching an easier sell. Now with SP2 for 2014 out, a lot of those…

Using sp_BlitzCache™ Advanced Features

Last Updated June 6, 2018

Jeremiah Peschka

sp_BlitzCache

sp_BlitzCache is a fantastic tool for finding the worst queries in your SQL Server. Did you know that it has a number of advanced options available to you? These options can help you dig into your worst queries, slice and dice the data, and get back exactly what you need, without wading through hundreds of results.…