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Firebird SQL vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (3rd)
MySQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
152
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 11.0%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 10.3%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MySQL10.3%
Firebird SQL11.0%
Other78.7%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Nicolae Ancuta - PeerSpot reviewer
Retail Solution & BI Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Strong event capabilities, allowing raising and displaying events in applications
On large databases, we have some difficulties. It is one of the areas of improvement. For example, under one gigabyte, it works perfectly. Between one and five gigabytes, you might experience some slight performance issues, but they are not significant. Beyond that, you have to index it, tier it, and perform some restore operations to free up space. It requires some effort, but it's manageable. It's quite challenging for the customer. Moreover, migrating from one firewall solution to another was a little bit difficult regarding the backup and restoring the other one. Since we have many databases, we didn't go forward with the latest versions.
Prabir Kumar Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The documentation is very well written."
"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"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."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"We are satisfied with Firebird SQL, and we will keep on using it."
"The product is flexible and easy to use."
"The solution has been very easy to scale so far."
"I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures."
"Setup is easy. MySQL of various flavours has community editions to easily test, deploy, and run.​"
"One of the most valuable features is MySQL's ability to run our email system. We use a system called Colab."
"I am totally satisfied with MySQL."
"We plan to continue using this product; it's good, and I can recommend it to others."
"The main advantage is the very large user base. This enables users to fix about any issue by answering any question."
 

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."
"The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption."
"It would be interesting if they added functionality with redundancy, reputation, and variability."
"The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption. It is not at the higher level of database solution but it could be with some upgrades."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"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."
"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"Its performance should be better. When we use big data, it is slow in performance. We should be able to use mirroring for improved performance."
"The work bench has some bugs that are mostly GUI related."
"​MySQL is not easily scalable on cost effective consumer grade hardware.​"
"Sometimes, not because the version is not the latest version, there are some issues with it."
"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."
"The analytics features are in need of improvement."
"I haven't really looked into the security of it, but it should be good. It could be more secure."
"Improvements are required in character set support, scalability, and big data sets."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is open source."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"It is okay."
"There is a licensing cost because we are going for a proprietary product. There are some other versions for which there is no licensing cost."
"When you know the setup will continue to grow, make sure you have the paid support."
"The tool is open source."
"The tool is open source."
"It has a community version."
"I use the open-source free community version."
"I think that MySQL is a premium product."
"I don't pay for a license."
report
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886,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise61
 

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 needs improvement with Firebird SQL?
We would like to improve the management of very large databases. We have databases up to three or four terabytes, and it's not so easy to manage such large databases.
What is your primary use case for Firebird SQL?
We are working on monitoring software that involves making a lot of measurements with sensors. We store all the data in Firebird, which is why we use It primarily for data storage.
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 you move information over a network without encryption, you are endangering it, m...
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 versions. So back in my day, it was all free, it was open-source and the best among sim...
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 it was free, everyone was on their own, seeking tutorials and how-to videos onli...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.