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Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs MariaDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (7th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Open Source Databases
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Daniel Amini - PeerSpot reviewer
An incredibly powerful industry leader that enabled us to build critical pieces of national infrastructure
Azure Database is simple and easy to use. We followed the prescribed training and upskilled 10 engineers. They think it's straightforward. They've already got PostgreSQL skills to optimize the solution, so they know what to do. It was easy to get started quickly and become effective. My team speaks highly of the platform's observability and monitoring features. It's as efficient as an enterprise needs it to be and. has all of the tooling and telemetry necessary to run an enterprise database. We take security seriously. The team has looked at the security features, and nothing has been flagged to us. My takeaway as a CTO is that they're comfortable with the security posture, the features, the observability, alerts, and now it integrates into the rest of the Azure landscape. The OpenAI integration and extensions have massively simplified integrating AI into a database. PostgreSQL's native vector capabilities are also incredibly powerful.
KumarManish - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products
We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"PostgresSQL is acknowledged as an incredibly powerful industry leader. We've built critical pieces of national infrastructure in the UK that rely on Postgres. A version of Postgres on Azure that's easy to adopt enables us to innovate. The addition of AI extensions is even more exciting. It's a significant opportunity for us."
"We use PostgreSQL to speed up application development. Our applications are ready sooner because we don't need to depend on other database teams."
"The operational efficiency of Azure Database for PostgreSQL is good."
"It is easy to use and optimize. It is very easy for us to understand how a chopped chunk can be translated into embedding."
"The most valuable features of Azure Database for PostgreSQL are its networking capabilities, which allow for integration with other Azure services."
"Overall, Azure Database for PostgreSQL has been good for us."
"In terms of integration, we already have SharePoint online, and we're starting to explore PowerApps and PowerFlow. It's all seamless. The ease of integrating SQL and licensing purposes plays a significant role, making it a comfortable choice for the organization."
"I rate Azure Database for PostgreSQL 10 out of 10."
"I haven't faced any technical issues with the product, and it works fine."
"MariaDB can solve things better than MySQL. Maria DB has better performance than MySQL."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is that it is open-source and we can easily migrate from other databases, such as Oracle to MariaDB."
"The integration with other products is seamless."
"The stability of MariaDB is good, it has high availability."
"From the user's perspective, the performance of the columnar queries is very good in terms of the database when comparing it to the Oracle, and MySQL."
"MariaDB is a fast and flexible tool."
"I am editing."
 

Cons

"There aren't any notable areas for improvement that I could see. PostgreSQL was self-sufficient with no need for additional database knowledge to maintain it."
"The critical service is the Azure OpenAI service. It would help to make it simpler and easier to integrate with that or cognitive services."
"Support can certainly get better."
"Perhaps a minor improvement could be made in simplifying user additions, allowing for an easier process rather than scripting it out. However, scripting is not a significant issue."
"Performance is one area that has constraints for our customers. I believe there could be improvements in the mirroring part and Change Data Capture (CDC)."
"They can offer more RAG extensions. Currently, it only has the vector search."
"Performance is one area that has constraints for our customers. I believe there could be improvements in the mirroring part and Change Data Capture (CDC)."
"Perhaps a minor improvement could be made in simplifying user additions, allowing for an easier process rather than scripting it out. However, scripting is not a significant issue."
"Data continuity could be improved."
"A well-known issue for a lot of different users is associated with write-intensive applications."
"I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex."
"When we have had issues with accidental computer shutdown or a power outage, our MariaDB database was corrupted."
"An improvement would be scaling it up to the levels of Oracle, especially when it comes to resilience, so that we can do higher transactions for two databases or power our operation."
"It's not very stable. It needs improvement."
"There is room for improvement in terms of security."
"Replication could be better, and it's not so simple. It would be better if they had a replication server. It would make things a lot easier. You need to have that replication server, but not in the same server farm. Then there will be a bit of latency between both because you should have one in one city and another one in a different city. That kind of solution should be more baked into every single database today. Mirroring the database in a live environment where any record written on the production server replicates instantly across the fiber on the other server wasn't easy. Many people don't even bother with that, and they just run one server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There aren't any notable areas for improvement that I could see. PostgreSQL was self-sufficient with no need for additional database knowledge to maintain it."
"The pricing experience is positive. Azure Database for PostgreSQL reduces the need for hardware investments, and the pay-as-you-go pricing model positively affects database-related costs by allowing us to start small and scale as needed."
"The pay-as-you-go pricing model plays a critical role in managing database-related costs and resource allocation. We build using Infrastructure as Code (IAC) and maintain a focus on FinOps to control Azure service costs. Some clients are pushy on price. It's critical to automate it, so we're just using it when appropriate and switching it off in certain scenarios."
"We do not pay for a full-year subscription because our usage is still at the beginning phase and not much. The pay-as-you-go model works well for us."
"MariaDB is available for free."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price since there are some support costs involved, even though it isn't an open-source solution."
"This is an open-source product, which can be used free of charge."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"We pay for a yearly license."
"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."
"It's an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
20%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
Pricing is affordable for us. PostgreSQL is good and affordable for our needs.
What needs improvement with Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
While the flexibility of the server for financial reasons is understandable, better switching between primary and backup would make transitions smoother. I noticed an issue where the primary refuse...
What is your primary use case for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
We started using Azure Database for PostgreSQL ( /products/azure-database-for-postgresql-reviews ) about five to six years ago. Initially, we were doing an on-premises Kubernetes ( /products/kubern...
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Database for PostgreSQL vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.