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Read 140 MySQL reviews
11,756 views|9,542 comparisons
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13,969 views|11,367 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared PostgreSQL and MySQL based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

PostgreSQL is known for its robustness, scalability, and efficiency, with excellent customer service. However, it requires improvements in performance optimization and installation processes. On the other hand, MySQL is valued for its data management efficiency and security measures, with outstanding customer support. Areas for enhancement include query execution speed and documentation.

Features: PostgreSQL users appreciate its robustness, scalability, advanced SQL functionality, extensive community support, and compatibility with multiple operating systems. Meanwhile, MySQL shines with its efficient data handling, flexibility, ease of use, and strong security measures.

Pricing and ROI: PostgreSQL offers a manageable setup cost and fair licensing terms, catering to various budgets. On the other hand, MySQL is praised for its affordable setup cost and flexible licensing options, making it a reasonable choice for users., PostgreSQL offers excellent scalability, security features, and integration with other systems, delivering reliable results. MySQL is praised for its reliability, cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and ability to handle large databases.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL has room for improvement in enhancing overall performance, addressing difficulties during installation and configuration, improving documentation, and enhancing the user interface. On the other hand, MySQL needs enhancement in performance, documentation, support channels, scalability, compatibility, and security features.

Deployment and customer support: Users of PostgreSQL reported that the deployment and setup of a new tech solution took either 3 months for deployment and an additional week for setup or 1 week for both phases. On the other hand, users of MySQL reported longer deployment durations, ranging from several months to 1 week for both deployment and setup., PostgreSQL's customer service and support have been praised for their responsiveness, helpfulness, and effectiveness. Users appreciate the prompt and knowledgeable assistance provided by the team. In comparison, MySQL's customer service and support are highly praised. Users appreciate the prompt and helpful assistance they receive when facing any issues or inquiries. The support team is described as knowledgeable and reliable.

The summary above is based on 35 interviews we conducted recently with PostgreSQL and MySQL users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed MySQL vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"For starters, it's free, which is always nice, and it's also pretty straightforward to use. It's a nice conventional database.""I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures.""MySQL is easy and convenient for me. I don't need to rely on anyone. I can write the code and extract the information. It is fast if you know how to use it. The solution is not expensive, and most of the developers know how to use it. It is easy to create tables. The solution is stable and has good performance. The connection with AWS gives regular updates, which is manual otherwise and a nightmare.""The solution is very stable.""Compared to other databases, MySQL is cheaper and we were using the community edition which was free of cost. ML is fully integrated with the database in HeatWave. It has also many other features. MySQL is a far better solution in terms of pricing.""It is easy to use.""We use the basic features of MySQL. The interface that allows us to see the parameters of the server is good.""Support for enterprise-grade features like clustering, master-slave replication, even Sharding (to some extent) which is an advanced feature."

More MySQL Pros →

"I like that you can move any relational database from Oracle to PostgreSQL. I also like that it's pretty stable.""We managed to reduce the storage space needed to 10% of the original size, without affecting data integrity, and we significantly improved the performance.""The solution is open-source and free to use.""It is easy to use.""With the database, you can provide a multi-component at the same service with the same performance, scalability, or all those things.""The solution has many valuable features such as it easy to use and the interface is intuitive.""The product is very similar to the SQL Server.""PostgreSQL has complete SQL dialects and is useful for writing sophisticated and complex queries. We have experience with Oracle database. My partner is experienced in DDA and he writes sophisticated SQL queries. The solution helps to get the job done in the best possible way. In today’s age, most developers do not have strong SQL knowledge or language command. They find it difficult to write even a SQL statement. These developers write cool queries which perform badly on the database end. As DBAs, we constantly urge the developers not to write bad queries, help them learn more, and write placebo commands."

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Cons
"In an upcoming release, there should be something added similar to EPL. For example, when using the flow diagram, we can create a schema. We have two useful features to add or create the table, but there should be some UI features to allow us to drag and drop to create other schemas. This would be very helpful.""At times, the autoscaling does not happen when there is a surge in load.""Oracle should start putting in some of the enterprise features in the standard feature. There are some key features that should be part of the standard.""It could be a little bit simpler to use.""MySQL tutorials and guides could be improved. Often they are too complex for someone with no database experience to understand.""MySQL doesn't have the auto-clustering and database clustering features that other competitors provide. They can include these features.""It can have better monitoring. In addition, the enterprise manager should be able to cater to more than one virtual machine. Currently, you need one license per server. It seems a bit too much to get one license for one enterprise manager. I hope the enterprise manager for MySQL can accommodate more virtual machines for MySQL.""It does not stand out regarding scalability. When the company size increases, the user base having actual experience with (very) large MySQL solutions is reduced."

More MySQL Cons →

"We often find the solution's datetime datatype challenging.""When you get a large number of records in a database and start doing various queries, it can adversely impact the performance of the live running systems. That's an area we continue to look at and mean to improve, but it is not only because of PostgreSQL. It is also because of the way the schemas are put together, and certain events are triggered. So, it is because of both parties.""There are some products out there that have a slightly different method of implementation for the SQL language. Some of those are slightly better in some areas, and PostgreSQL is slightly better in some areas. I would probably like to match all of those products together. It is just down to the functionality. For example, Oracle has a number of options within SQL that are outside of what you would class as the SQL standard. PostgreSQL misses some of those, but PostgreSQL does other things that are better than what Oracle does. I would like to merge those two products so that there is a certain amount of functionality in a single product.""It could be improved by using parallelization. You want basically, distributed computing.""The performance of PostgreSQL could improve.""If it was free to use, it would be the perfect solution.""PostgreSQL could improve by being more user-friendly. In SQL Server they have a studio where you can easily do management but not in this solution.""It still needs to be more mature and have some backup feature. We are normally dealing with Oracle's data, and we have very strong online tools to back up the data and do other things. PostgreSQL still needs to do more in this area as well as in the high availability area. There are many external tools that you can use for PostgreSQL's high availability, but there is no embedded tool within PostgreSQL for high availability. It could have a feature similar to Oracle for working on a distributed system. It can have some scripts to improve the monitoring and some tools to do performance analysis. We have a workaround for most of such requirements except for the support for a distributed system, which is very difficult to have. This area should be included in the core of the database itself."

More PostgreSQL Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "When you know the setup will continue to grow, make sure you have the paid support."
  • "​Enterprise editions and support are definitely needed for the heavy users who need direct support. ​"
  • "MySQL Enterprise Support is not cheap, though might still be cheaper than Oracle or SQL Server. They may not have local support depending on where you’re based, but there are many smaller agencies out there that will readily provide support. You’ll need to spend some time looking around."
  • "Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."
  • "I am using the Community Edition, which is available free of charge."
  • "This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."
  • "It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
  • "Microsoft licensing for SQL Server is probably ten times more expensive. I used to work for the government, and I remember when we were looking into upgrading to the enterprise version of SQL Server 2019, the licensing was going to cost 350,000. To get the equivalent in the cloud, it was going to be about four grand to get the same processing power and everything else. With MySQL, it was going to be about 300 for the same licensing. Cost-wise, for sure, there is a huge difference. Would you prefer to pay 300 a month or 3,000 to have the same amount of data resources? You might lose a few options that you need, but it isn't worth the price difference."
  • More MySQL Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Affordable solution."
  • "It is free. There is no license on it."
  • "It is also open-source so it is free."
  • "PostgreSQL is a free and open-source database."
  • "It is free, but if you need support, you can go for the commercial version called EnterpriseDB. They provide paid support, and they can even do hosting for you if you want standby and support."
  • "It is open-source. If you use it on-premise, it is free. It also has enterprise or commercial versions. If you go for the cloud version, there will be a cost, but it is lower than Oracle or Microsoft."
  • "The solution requires a license."
  • "We do not pay for licensing."
  • More PostgreSQL Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:MySQL encrypts connections to protect your data and the biggest benefit from this is that nobody can corrupt it. If you move information over a network without encryption, you are endangering it… more »
    Top Answer:I may be considered a MySQL veteran since I have been using it since before Oracle bought it and created paid versions. So back in my day, it was all free, it was open-source and the best among… more »
    Top Answer:One thing I would improve related to MySQL is not within the product itself, but with the guides to it. Before, when it was free, everyone was on their own, seeking tutorials and how-to videos online… more »
    Top Answer:PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit your… more »
    Top Answer:We often use PostgreSQL for operations monitoring because we are a manufacturing company.
    Ranking
    1st
    Views
    11,756
    Comparisons
    9,542
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    423
    Rating
    8.5
    2nd
    Views
    13,969
    Comparisons
    11,367
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    391
    Rating
    8.6
    Comparisons
    Firebird SQL logo
    Compared 25% of the time.
    MariaDB logo
    Compared 10% of the time.
    Teradata logo
    Compared 7% of the time.
    SQL Server logo
    Compared 7% of the time.
    Oracle Database logo
    Compared 7% of the time.
    Firebird SQL logo
    Compared 35% of the time.
    MariaDB logo
    Compared 17% of the time.
    SQLite logo
    Compared 3% of the time.
    YugabyteDB logo
    Compared 2% of the time.
    Learn More
    PostgreSQL
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    Overview

    MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) owned by Oracle. Before Oracle acquired the product, it was completely free for users. After the merge, the solution started offering paid services with more features, alongside a free version. MySQL can easily integrate with a wide variety of programming languages, which makes it one of the most flexible and reliable products among its competitors. This cost-effective solution helps users deliver high-performance and scalable database applications through several products. They include:

    • MySQL HeatWave: This is an in-memory query accelerator for MySQL. It is a parallel, columnar, hybrid query-processing engine with algorithms for distributed query processing. This database service is used for transactions, analytics, and machine learning (ML). It offers simplified, secure real-time analytics. It can be deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Amazon AWS, Azure, and users' data centers.

    • My SQL Enterprise Edition: This edition of the solution includes the most comprehensive set of advanced features, technical support, and management tools. The combination functions achieves security, scalability, reliability, and uptime, while reducing risk, cost, and complexity, in managing MySQL applications.

    • MySQL Standard Edition: This edition utilizes industrial-strength performance and reliability to help users deliver high-performance and scalable Open Transaction Processing (OLTP) applications.

    • MySQL Classic Edition: This is an embedded database for independent software vendors (ISVs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and value-added resellers (VARs), that are developing applications using the MyISAM storage engine.

    • MySQL Community Edition: This is the free version of the product, which is supported by a large active community of open-source developers.

    • MySQL Cluster CGE: This is a distributed database that combines linear scalability and high availability. It offers in-memory real-time access across partitioned and distributed databases.

    • MySQL Embedded: This product offers MySQL as an embedded database and is most widely used by ISVs, OEMs, and VARs. It is utilized for making applications, hardware, and appliances more competitive by bringing them to market faster while lowering their cost of goods sold (COGs).

    My SQL Features

    The characteristics of each MySQL edition differ depending on what it offers and what clients it is catered towards. But the main features of the product include the following:

    • Internals and portability: These capabilities allow MySQL to work on multiple platforms and provide transactional and non-transactional storage engines. This set of features is tested with Purify, Vilgrind, and a broad range of different compilers.

    • Data types: Due to the flexibility of the data types feature of MySQL, the product is compatible with a very wide variety of data types, including fixed-length and variable-length string types.

    • Statements and functions: This feature allows MySQL full operator and function support. It supports a wide variety of functions and allows users to refer to tables from different databases in the same statement.

    • Security: The security features of MySQL provide users with a flexible privileged password system that enables host-based verification. The product offers encryption of all password traffic when users connect to a server.

    • Scalability and limits: MySQL supports large databases with up to approximately 50 million records and up to 64 indexes per table.

    • Connectivity: The connectivity features of the product allow clients to connect to MySQL using several protocols, providing them with freedom of choice in terms of which ones to use.

    • Localization: Through this feature, the product offers availability to users in many languages. The server time zone can be changed dynamically and allows clients to specify their own time zone for their convenience.

    • Clients and tools: The product includes several client and utility programs among its capabilities.

    MySQL Benefits

    MySQL brings many benefits to organizations that use it for their data. The most common ones include:

    • Due to its initial open-source nature, MySQL is an easy to understand and beginner-friendly product.

    • The solution still supports an open-source version as well, which means users can download, use, and modify it based on their requirements.

    • MySQL ensures the consistency of data by storing it efficiently and minimizing redundancy.

    • This is considered one of the fastest solutions on the market, a fact which is backed by many benchmark tests.

    • MySQL is very flexible and supports a large number of embedded applications.

    • The solution is compatible with many operating systems.

    • This product offers clients the option to roll back transactions, as well as commit, and crash recovery.

    Reviews from Real Users

    According to a database engineer at a retailer with more than 10,000 employees, MySQL is a great open-source product that offers great scalability and compatibility.

    Yong S., a solutions specialist, system integration, appreciates this product because it has different licensing options and is easy to set up.

    PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases. 

    It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable. 

    Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

    Sample Customers
    Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
    1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company21%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    University10%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    University8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise37%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise59%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise60%
    Buyer's Guide
    MySQL vs. PostgreSQL
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    MySQL is ranked 1st in Open Source Databases with 140 reviews while PostgreSQL is ranked 2nd in Open Source Databases with 119 reviews. MySQL is rated 8.2, while PostgreSQL is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of MySQL writes "Good beginner base but it should have better support for backups". On the other hand, the top reviewer of PostgreSQL writes " A scalable and stable database for transactional purposes". MySQL is most compared with Firebird SQL, MariaDB, Teradata, SQL Server and Oracle Database, whereas PostgreSQL is most compared with Firebird SQL, EDB Postgres Advanced Server, MariaDB, SQLite and YugabyteDB. See our MySQL vs. PostgreSQL report.

    See our list of best Open Source Databases vendors.

    We monitor all Open Source Databases reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.