CockroachDB vs MariaDB vs MySQL comparison

Read 59 MariaDB reviews

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3,884 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

MySQL

Read 150 MySQL reviews

9,581 Views
4,599 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

CockroachDB

MySQL

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between CockroachDB, MariaDB, and MySQL based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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To learn more, read our detailed Relational Databases Tools Report (Updated: August 2025).

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of CockroachDB is 4.1%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 5.9%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 7.6%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
MariaDB	5.9%
MySQL	7.6%
CockroachDB	4.1%
Other	82.4%

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Featured Reviews

Antonio Tringali

Software Engineer at a consultancy with self employed

Open source with extensive documentation and a University for training

I am a freelancer. A client of mine wanted a solution that would allow them to scale yet not abandon the familiar PostgreSQL front-end (and rewrite a part of their source code). Scalability aside, CockroachDB is a fine way forward from PostgreSQL and is not changing the client source code part of the system. If you are lucky and you do not use newer features from recent versions of PostgreSQL or PostgreSQL extensions, it's fine. There are nice-to-have features for big organizations like regional tables. At the moment, my client simply does not use these. However, the serverless offer from CockroachDB is reacting well as data grows.

Read full review

KumarManish

Senior Technical Manager at Johnson Controls, Inc.

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.

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Prabir Kumar Kundu

SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd

Offers robust security and availability with impressive replication capabilities

Regarding their documentation and interface, there is room for improvement. Documentation is definitely required when running multiple databases on a cluster system. The load balancer, MySQL LB, which is used to connect to the application, lacks clear documentation. When there are multiple application servers connecting to the MySQL cluster and going through the MySQL load balancer, the documentation is not user-friendly. It's there, but only technical persons with deep knowledge of the MySQL database can implement it. Most of the community users or ISVs who use MySQL don't have many technical persons or DBA experts, so they face some challenges for the high availability of connecting high available databases from high available applications. That documentation should be simplified.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product has valuable security features."

"The tool's most valuable feature is node syncing, which takes only 0.54 milliseconds."

"CockroachDB is excellent for managing relationships in RDBMS with multiple benefits such as the ability to create views and dynamic queries that save data and reduce the use of complex algorithms in code."

"What I like best is its ability to solve data residency issues. The main advantage is auto geo partitioning, built into the product. This means we don't have to spin up separate servers in each region, which would be much more costly."

"CockroachDB is highly reliable."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its resiliency features and the geo-partitioning capabilities."

"I use CockroachDB to test big data samples and to create the best structure for databases. We have four users and required 10 people for deployment and maintenance."

"The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported."

More CockroachDB pros

"The speed and functionality are the most valuable features."

"It is an absolutely stable solution."

"It's open source."

"It's easy to set up."

"The product has good documentation and you can find many examples online."

"The solution runs very quickly. It's not slow at all."

"The integration with other products is seamless."

"I like the global transaction IDs (GTIDs) feature. It's quite reliable for replication between a master and a replica server, and it's a feature that MySQL also has but implemented differently."

More MariaDB pros

"The most valuable feature of MySQL is its reliability and performance."

"While MySQL offers strong basic functionality."

"The product is flexible and easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of MySQL is the informative error outputs of command line interface."

"The feature I found most valuable is activity performance."

"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."

"We are completely comfortable with the database’s performance and it is a mature product. My organization was looking for an open-source database for our smaller customers like the community edition. For bigger customers, we can scale into commercial and supported editions."

"MySQL's clustering features are very strong, and you can automate scripting, so that helps. We wrote a Terraform script and ran it."

More MySQL pros

Cons

"Cockroach does not support all types of protocols. I need to improve it myself to support a CouchDB on my network."

"I find the serverless offer a bit confusing."

"I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations."

"The closer they can make CockroachDB to being completely compatible with Postgres, the better. It's almost compatible, but not completely. If it was, it would be nice to just be able to use Postgres libraries without any fiddling."

"The initial setup and pricing could be improved."

"For multi-region deployment, CockroachDB requires at least three plus replicas across data centers to achieve strong consistency across regions, which increases infrastructure costs including compute, storage, and networking."

"The platform could be more extensible."

"I think the engine itself could be improved. If you miss a partition key, it should be able to be modeled. This is where AI could be really helpful. For example, if a user is from Australia, the system should know to look for their data there first instead of searching in the US or another continent."

More CockroachDB cons

"I'd like to see improved materialized views, like the ability to save select queries. This feature is missing in MariaDB compared to other relational databases like Oracle and SQL Server."

"MariaDB's GUI is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"The product needs more features and more functionality. It's imperative that it supports more platforms, and supports more operating systems."

"I’m not sure if it can scale."

"Lacks time series data and additional driving support would be helpful."

"MariaDB should provide HA and archive logging... I haven't had the opportunity to use the features provided by the solution since I don't know how to see them."

"Data continuity could be improved."

"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."

More MariaDB cons

"If the customer is already using or has already used Oracle for a long time they will know the look and feel and the character of this database that can fit into their business."

"While utilizing a comparable algorithm, is noted to be sensitive, especially when configuring the inner device."

"Security is a concern. MySQL could have better security features."

"The product is a little bit complex and it is difficult to find sufficient documentation."

"There are some issues with compatibility with Java environments that need to be improved. When Oracle bought this solution there were some driver changes that caused some issues with operations."

"We face certain integration issues, especially when we integrate the database with security solutions like IBM QRadar, which affects database performance."

"Even for the best database, we always want the database to perform much better, so we wish MySQL would be much better, in terms of performance."

"MySQL has some unique exchange problems when it comes to migration projects."

More MySQL cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is good but can be made cheaper. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The solution's pricing is not cheap. However, the good thing is that customers are willing to pay for it if they want it."

"The product's price depends on the user's company and the contract model they enter into with CockroachDB. Depending on the contract model one enters into with CockroachDB, the product may or may not be expensive."

"I've used CockroachDB at a small scale on the free accounts because we are only testing."

"The platform is affordable even for the enterprise version. It provides value for investment in terms of performance."

"It's an open-source solution."

"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."

"The product is not expensive."

"It is an open-source solution."

"The licensing cost is approximately $4000.00 per year and the licensing is based on the software and the number of posts that you make."

"We pay for a yearly license."

"This is an open-source product, which can be used free of charge."

"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

"There is a license for this solution. A lot of the time the solution gets bundled with other hardware or software purchases."

"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."

"We're using the open-source version right now, which is free. I do see some value in some of the more enterprise functions. We're using the open-source version right now, and I was interested in the MySQL Enterprise version really for the tools that they provide, but we decided not to make the purchase."

"I am not paying, but I am not sure about the exact licensing requirements."

"When you know the setup will continue to grow, make sure you have the paid support."

"The solution does not come with a licensing fee."

"MySQL is released under an open-source license, so you have nothing to pay to use it."

"It's free."

More MySQL pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

13%

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	73
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	61

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about CockroachDB?

The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported.

What needs improvement with CockroachDB?

I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and techni...

What is your primary use case for CockroachDB?

I am studying how to deploy CockroachDB and YugaByteDB, and learning some basic information about them. I am testing ...

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 pref...

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...

Why are MySQL connections encrypted and what is the biggest benefit of this?

MySQL encrypts connections to protect your data and the biggest benefit from this is that nobody can corrupt it. If y...

Considering that there is a free version of MySQL, would you invest in one of the paid editions?

I may be considered a MySQL veteran since I have been using it since before Oracle bought it and created paid version...

What is one thing you would improve with MySQL?

One thing I would improve related to MySQL is not within the product itself, but with the guides to it. Before, when ...

Citus Data vs CockroachDB

Comparisons

Neon vs CockroachDB

Compared 26% of the time

Compared 15% of the time

YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle Database vs CockroachDB

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs CockroachDB

Compared 4% of the time

More CockroachDB Competitors

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 23% of the time

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 22% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MariaDB

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Database vs MariaDB

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon Aurora vs MariaDB

Compared 2% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

Firebird SQL vs MySQL

Compared 23% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MySQL

Compared 14% of the time

SAP HANA vs MySQL

Compared 8% of the time

SQL Server vs MySQL

Compared 6% of the time

InfluxDB vs MySQL

Compared 2% of the time

More MySQL Competitors

Product Reports

CockroachDB

Download CockroachDB product report

Download MariaDB product report

MySQL

Download MySQL product report

Overview

CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database built on a transactional and strongly-consistent key-value store. It scales horizontally; survives disk, machine, rack, and even datacenter failures with minimal latency disruption and no manual intervention; supports strongly-consistent ACID transactions; and provides a familiar SQL API for structuring, manipulating, and querying data.

CockroachDB is inspired by Google’s Spanner and F1 technologies, and it’s completely open source.

Cockroach

MariaDB is an open source relational database created by the original founders of MySQL. It is considered one of the most popular and trusted database servers throughout the world. MariaDB is a valued component found in most cloud offerings and is the default in many Linux tools. It is also widely used by Wikipedia, WordPress, and Google, among other well-known sites. Maria DB easily melds data into concise information from a vast array of applications, such as banking, online shopping, websites, and more.

MariaDB was originally created to improve MySQL performance. It is the most widely chosen database server due to the solution being super fast, robust, user-friendly, and easily scalable. MariaDB also offers a substantial ecosystem of plugins, storage engines, and numerous other valuable tools that make it very attractive for a significant offering of use cases.

The solution’s newest functionalities include compatibility with Oracle Database and Temporal Data Tables, and advanced clustering with Galera Cluster 4, which make it easier for users to research data history from any point in the past. Additionally, the most recent versions include JSON and GIS features. MariaDB is committed to staying an open source solution.

MariaDB Features

More storage: MariaDB works with more storage engines than MySQL and most other database servers available. Some storage options include, but are not limited to ARCHIVE, MERGE, CSV, MEMORY, BLACKHOLE, MyISAM, ColumnStore, MyRocks, and Cassandra.
Super fast: MariaDB offers faster authentication checks. The FlushSSL permits SSL certificates to be reloaded without a server restart, resulting in huge time savings.
Improved testing: MariaDB offers an extending testing suite that runs faster and can test more than ever before. Bugs can be easily fixed and invalid tests removed.
Genuinely open source: Every code in MariaDB is GPL, LGPL, or BSD. Client libraries [for Windows (ODBC), Java (JDBC), or C] allow linking to closed source software. All fixed bug cases and development plans are completely public. MariaDB is a community-developed solution representing the true spirit of open source products.

Reviews from Real Users

Faustine C., Engineering Supervisor- Corporate Data Solutions and Services at TZ Telecoms Corporation, shares, “The software provides a lot of information on what is happening inside the database. For most performance parameters it is easy to know if something is not right in the configuration or optimization which helps engineers take remedial fine-tuning measures. For example, if the database is underperforming it is easy to know which performance parameter can be adjusted to handle the workload. It is difficult to troubleshoot database issues if many performance parameters can not be monitored or debugged which is the case with some database management systems. It provides great monitoring of data storage, processing, and performance stability which is really important for real-time data storage and processing. It's a user-friendly product.”

A PeerSpot user who is a Senior Engineer at a tech services company relates, “ The solution's high availability is its most valuable aspect. We have found the product to be stable and the initial setup is pretty simple. I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. I'm very happy with it overall. I would recommend the solution to others. It's easy to find details about the product online and to learn about it.”

MySQL is a cost-efficient and scalable relational database management system widely used in web, mobile applications, and academic projects.

MySQL is utilized for backend operations, data analysis, reporting, financial transactions, and ERP databases. It supports deployment on local servers, Cloud, and Kubernetes. Its free, open-source nature along with strong community support make it popular among companies. MySQL's compatibility with multiple platforms and programming languages enhances its appeal. While it remains stable and easy to use, areas such as replication, clustering, and backup require improvement to better serve enterprise applications. Enhanced security, error messages, and monitoring tools are also desired for a better user experience.

What are the most important features of MySQL?

Free and Open-Source: No licensing costs, perfect for budget-conscious projects.
Compatibility: Works with multiple platforms and programming languages.
High Performance: Efficient performance across large datasets.
Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business needs.
Clustering and Replication: Ensures data availability and redundancy.
Easy Installation: Quick setup process on various operating systems.
Community Support: Extensive resources and community assistance.
Cross-Platform: Operates seamlessly on different operating systems.
Data Management Interface: Simplifies data handling and manipulation.

What are the benefits of using MySQL?

Cost Efficiency: Reduce expenses with a free, open-source database.
Scalability: Adapt to increasing data demands effortlessly.
Performance: Handle large datasets with ease and speed.
Community Support: Access a vast pool of knowledge and resources.
Flexibility: Integrate with various platforms and languages for diverse use cases.
Data Reliability: Clustering and replication for high data availability.

In multiple industries, MySQL supports internal applications, billing systems, academic teaching purposes, and ERP databases. Companies leverage MySQL for Cloud and local deployments, ensuring effective data manipulation and backend operations in diverse projects. Its role in financial transactions and reporting further emphasizes its versatility.

Oracle

Sample Customers

Baidu, Kindred, Tierion, Heroic Labs, Gorgias

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities

Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.

Relational Databases Tools