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Firebird SQL vs MariaDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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

Firebird SQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (3rd)
MariaDB
Ranking in Open Source Databases
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 14.6%, down from 20.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.7%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Firebird SQL14.6%
MariaDB6.7%
Other78.7%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Ruben Conti - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance for up to a hundred end users, open source and easy to setup
Firebird can compete with well-known names like Oracle and SQL Server when you don't have more than a few hundred thousand users. It's a level below SQL Server, and the application of SQL is a kind of database you can rely on for situations where you don't have too much information to deal with. For example, you can use it for the internet or national projects, but when you have millions of users, then it's not possible for other services.
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

"I like that we don't have to pay external fees to migrate this data. So, we are looking to relocate from Postgres or EDB."
"The documentation is very well written."
"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."
"It helps us in detecting all kinds of problems in the code, such as bad quality, unclear code, or any violation in the code or best practices."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"The most valuable feature of Firebird SQL is the creation of databases."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"The solution is very stable. It was originally built under MySQL. It has a similar level of stability."
"The solution runs very quickly. It's not slow at all."
"It is very simple to install, and the commands are exactly the same as MySQL."
"It is a scalable solution. It easily scales up and scales down."
"The initial setup of MariaDB is simple enough."
"I am editing."
"The product has good documentation and you can find many examples online."
"It delivers fast processing times, particularly for frequent select queries and insert/update operations."
 

Cons

"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"The main feature I expect is to be able to work with different databases at the same time because that's a wishlist item for me."
"It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"Master-master replication is something that needs to be simplified."
"MariaDB could be improved by adding more automation."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in terms of security."
"While MariaDB is a good relational database, it can be inflexible for complex use cases."
"The ability to create stored procedures in MariaDB is an area where the tool lacks a bit."
"It would be good if they can maybe improve the mass import in the database. Currently, for importing a large number of data, we create a CSV file and upload all the things in the system. The system does not activate them by default. We have to do this manually. This may be due to the version we are using, but this is something we would like to see improved."
"The performance could be a bit better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is okay."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"It's open-source and free."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"The tool is open source."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"We use the solution's free version."
"MariaDB is open-source and self-hosted."
"It's an open-source solution."
"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."
"I used the open-source version, which is available free of charge."
"MariaDB is available for free."
"The solution is free, but if you want the enterprise version you will need to pay for some licenses but the cost is less than other solutions, such as Oracle."
"My company uses the free version of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?
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 yo...
What do you like most about Firebird SQL?
Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
872,869 professionals have used our research since 2012.