Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 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 (4th)
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 October 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 15.2%, down from 20.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.7%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Firebird SQL15.2%
MariaDB6.7%
Other78.1%
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."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"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."
"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is reliable, offers good performance, and is easy to use."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"We use MariaDB for identity provider services. Most of the things that we are doing are deployed in the container mode. All such solutions require a database, and MariaDB is easier to use for these kinds of deployments."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the power it provides. It is a powerful solution."
"The integration with other products is seamless."
"The stability of MariaDB is good, it has high availability."
"The solution has PL/SQL compatibility."
"The documentation is quite straightforward."
"Configuration, setup, and schema design are good features in MariaDB, and typical database features we have used include backup, configuration, recovery, archiving, and ETL."
"From a customer perspective, MariaDB is a good choice for cluster configuration. It's also easy to operate and cheap."
 

Cons

"I don't think the solution is very scalable, because the scalability of the performance when using more than one process is not very good."
"Database sharing is a capability that Firebird SQL lacks."
"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"Technical support and performance could be better. We have some problems with this solution, but we don't know if the problem is with the database or the configuration. For example, sometimes, the users can't access the database."
"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."
"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"In the next release, I would like to see improvements in the scalability and redundancy features."
"The price could be less expensive."
"The license should be cheaper and closer to that offered by MySQL, Oracle and other products."
"The PL/SQL performance is slow if you have big batch jobs running overnight."
"It does not have tools for debugging procedures and functions."
"Document caching is an area of concern in the product, where improvements are required to help MariaDB improve on the previous queries as they are retained, and you can roll back to them."
"Maria DB has to improve from a management perspective."
"MariaDB could be improved by adding more automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"It's open-source and free."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"The tool is open source."
"It's an open-source solution."
"I used the open-source version, which is available free of charge."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"It is an open-source solution."
"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."
"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Open Source Databases solutions are best for your needs.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
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: September 2025.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.