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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers cost savings, efficiency, and flexibility, reducing operational costs and management time with a pay-as-you-go model.
Sentiment score
6.3
MariaDB users experience varied ROI, with savings and efficiency gains, plus benefits like support, flexibility, and open-source enhancements.
It offers at least 25 percent cost savings compared to maintaining on-premises databases.
Principle azure architect at Intercept
Now, we use embedded PostgreSQL vectors, which will undoubtedly reduce the TCO by using a much more cost-effective solution.
Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS
We've reduced our total ownership cost because we are not spending on expensive SQL server licenses.
Admin (hands on user) at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.4
Azure Database for PostgreSQL support experiences vary, praised for responsiveness but criticized for inconsistency and contentious licensing issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
MariaDB offers responsive support, but users often rely on in-house teams and community resources due to strong documentation.
Once we open a support case, we have people engaged within about 20 minutes, especially for a Sev 1 issue.
Financial Advisor at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
On a scale from one to ten, I rate customer service and technical support a nine because they are quick in responding and in working with me to rectify any issues we come across.
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The documentation and training we've received through Microsoft Learn on how to migrate, deploy, and manage the solution is exceptional.
Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS
They came and tuned our queries with one-to-one assistance.
Architect at LTIMindtree
Compared to MongoDB, there are some platform deficiencies, but the support team shouldn't bear that burden.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.6
Azure Database for PostgreSQL scales efficiently, supporting complex applications with features like FlexServer and recent redundancy and auto-scaling improvements.
Sentiment score
6.9
MariaDB is scalable, reliable for various applications, but may require configuration and enhancements for large datasets and cloud integration.
We do not have to buy everything and build it. It is already there.
Systems Engineer II at ICW Group
However, we can see how well it scales after we deploy it for some large enterprise customers or big government organizations.
Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS
The scaling options with FlexServer provide us with the flexibility we need based on application complexity.
Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Azure Database for PostgreSQL is praised for stability, reliable uptime, and Microsoft’s swift resolution of occasional performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
MariaDB is highly rated for stability, handling thousands without downtime, needing minimal maintenance but precise tuning for large instances.
It is the go-to database if seeking performance and capacity.
Director at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues; it has been very stable.
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
There is a stability issue where, if the database usage peaks quickly, it may crash and require intervention to restore functionality.
Principle azure architect at Intercept
We haven't found issues with the stability of MariaDB.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Database for PostgreSQL needs enhancements in scalability, reliability, monitoring, integrations, user management, and disaster recovery features.
MariaDB needs better integration, scalability, UI, stability, support, replication, compatibility, and cost-effective licensing to enhance enterprise functionality.
It does not presently support knowledge graph functionalities as Neo4j does.
Product manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Azure Database for PostgreSQL can be improved by allowing quicker scaling without blips.
Principle azure architect at Intercept
I believe there could be improvements in the mirroring part and Change Data Capture (CDC).
Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Oracle is very advanced compared to MariaDB, and those advanced features are not available in MariaDB.
Architect at LTIMindtree
 

Setup Cost

Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers cost-effective scalability with pay-as-you-go pricing, despite higher costs than on-premises solutions.
Enterprise buyers praise MariaDB for its cost-effectiveness and flexibility, often choosing the free version to avoid licensing fees.
We've reduced costs by 60 percent compared to maintaining on-premises solutions.
Director, Alliances & Engineering at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We chose it because it is more cost-effective than Microsoft SQL.
Cloud Solutions Architect at Measurement Incorporated
Once you are comfortable and ready to make some commitments, you get about 30 percent saving if you are going with one-year or three-year reservation cost.
Staff Data Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
 

Valuable Features

Azure Database for PostgreSQL offers simplicity, performance, security, scalability, and AI integration, enhancing cloud strategy through robust features.
MariaDB is a reliable, scalable open-source database excelling in performance, compatibility, and support for diverse environments and analytics.
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.
Head of cloud, data, and AI at BJSS
The query analyzers help me find out what's happening in each of the queries.
IT Director at Infosys
If a database has any task that has been interrupted or any connection issue, it will alert LogicMonitor, and we have a centralized panel for all the alerts.
System Engineer II at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Encryption is available in MariaDB, so we are secure for transmitting data without concern about moving over networks.
Architect at LTIMindtree
Configuration, setup, and schema design are good features in MariaDB.
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (5th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Open Source Databases
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Azure Database for PostgreSQL is 0.9%. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.5%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Azure Database for PostgreSQL0.9%
MariaDB6.5%
Other92.6%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Sathish Palanisamy - PeerSpot reviewer
Staff Data Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Improves database performance, supports AI integration, and accelerates customer-focused innovation
Azure Database for PostgreSQL can be improved in the area of elastic capabilities. One of the things we were actively looking for is the elastic feature, which was made a GA at this Ignite event. I am really happy that finally in Azure, we have a product which we can use for elastic clusters. If you are bound with a single server, then you have a vertical limit. Now you do not have any limits. As long as your use case grows, we can grow. The only thing I would maybe be thinking about is we should also allow customers to pick different node sizes for every node inside the elastic eventually. Some nodes do not need that big capacity. So that may be a nice-to-have feature, though it is not a must-have at this point.
AB
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Has supported web application data needs but requires design adjustments to manage complex queries efficiently
Complex queries in MariaDB where the query needs to parse thousands of lines or data values face some performance issues. For small and medium-size volume, it is pretty good. If it goes beyond certain data and complex queries, we see performance issues. We tried the advanced replication feature between different regions, replicating data specifically residing on MariaDB to two different regions of MariaDB data, and there were some technical snags in terms of slowness and longer processing time. Point-in-time recovery in MariaDB is good for small databases. When data volume increases beyond 5 GB or 10 GB per day or runs into double-digit GBs, we found some performance issues. For data below 10 GB, it works fine. Performance is the primary focus area for MariaDB, particularly during transactions or complex query jobs where slow performance is observed. MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Azure Database for PostgreSQL is positive; I appreciate it all. The pricing is very cost-effective and stable given that we have many data...
What needs improvement with Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
Azure Database for PostgreSQL can be improved in ways I'm very curious to explore with Horizon. I'm interested in seeing how the fully enterprise-hardened features change things and where that blur...
What is your primary use case for Azure Database for PostgreSQL?
My main use cases for Azure Database for PostgreSQL came from a personal project to scratch an itch, and it was the easiest one to go grab. I appreciate how easy PostgreSQL is to get running locall...
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data. The cost depends on the volume of data and different features enabled during configuration, such as backup ...
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
Complex queries in MariaDB where the query needs to parse thousands of lines or data values face some performance issues. For small and medium-size volume, it is pretty good. If it goes beyond cert...
 

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.