Kenneth Fisher shows the downside cost of non-clustered indexes:
I want to make a couple of final points. I realize 99 indexes is a lot. It’s to emphasize the differences. However they were also fairly small indexes and this is a single table where a normal database might easily have hundreds. So take these results as an example. They aren’t going to match real life but will hopefully show you how all of this can play out.
Indexes are awesome but you want to be smart about adding them. My personal rule of thumb, with no scientific evidence behind it, is 5 indexes or less and I’m pretty easy. 5-10 indexes and you’ll have to convince me. I’m going to be reviewing the existing indexes and see what I can get rid of, or maybe I can combine something. Past 10 indexes and it had best be for a query that’s running a 100+ times a minute or something for the CEO.
Read on for demo code and specific results.