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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
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (4th)
MySQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
151
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 9.6%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 12.3%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MySQL12.3%
Firebird SQL9.6%
Other78.1%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

SS
Research and Development Project Manager at Sixense Monitoring
Efficient data storage with reliable and easy management
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 It's difficult to describe how it has improved our organization because we have been using Firebird for a very long…
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

"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is reliable, offers good performance, and is easy to use."
"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 solution has worked perfectly; I've never run into issues or had to reach out to technical support for troubleshooting."
"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"The documentation is very well written."
"The one interesting thing about this product is that it is open source. It comes from an open source product. MySQL has been positioned as open source, but it also provides support."
"The solution is very simple; it's easy to use, and that's the most important feature."
"The initial setup was pretty straightforward. I would have worked with our IT team in terms of the initial setup."
"Storage and searching quickly on data is no longer an issue facing us using Excel."
"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."
"This specific version of this MySQL has been battle tested for a long time. Any issues are known issues and we pretty much don't have any problems when they're in production. So it's very stable."
"I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures."
"The most valuable feature of MySQL is its reliability and performance."
 

Cons

"It would be interesting if they added functionality with redundancy, reputation, and variability."
"It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product."
"Database sharing is a capability that Firebird SQL lacks."
"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"There aren't a lot of people using this solution — it's not very popular in the marketplace."
"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"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."
"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."
"At times, the autoscaling does not happen when there is a surge in load."
"The online backup needs to improve."
"The performance issues in the product can be considered as an area where improvements are required."
"It is a community driven project, which means that support is sometimes scarce and hard to find."
"I would just say that it could be a little bit simpler to use."
"The replication needs improvement. It's becoming a native cloud product like Oracle DB or Cockroach DB."
"MySQL needs to be more accessible and user-friendly."
"MySQL tutorials and guides could be improved. Often they are too complex for someone with no database experience to understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"It's open-source and free."
"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"The tool is open source."
"It is okay."
"I am using the Community Edition, which is available free of charge."
"It is free. It is an open-source platform."
"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."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"We've never bought a commercial license. We just use the open-source community edition."
"We do have a couple of clients who choose to use the paid, enterprise version of the solution and who take full advantage of it."
"We are using the licensed version of MySQL."
"The pricing is not much expensive, it's cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise63
 

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: June 2026.
907,731 professionals have used our research since 2012.