title: SQL Server 2008: performance cost for a single sql statement
body: <p>I have 2 stored procedures which I want to compare and identify which of them requires less resources and performs better. The second procedure is a modification of the first procedure and it contains slightly changed sql statements of the first procedure. My goal is to understand the impact of the changes in terms of query cost.</p>
  
  <p>In order to do so, I execute each procedure separately with an option "Include actual execution plan" and analyse both execution plans. My problem is that I cannot say which sql query performs better in a simple manner. </p>
  
  <p>For example consider the following execution plan of the query of the first stored procedure:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ROyxk.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>The plan shows that the query cost is <em>0% relative to the batch</em> and <em>Clustered Index Seek</em> operator is 100% relative to the query. I have the same numbers for the corresponding query of the second procedure Unfortunately this is  not enough to understand which query has the minimal cost. </p>
  
  <p>Therefore, my question: is there a way to determine the cost of the whole query. The best would be the table with a query and its particular cost, e.g. CPU cost or I/O cost.</p>