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Firebird SQL vs MySQL 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
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (2nd)
MySQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 16.5%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 9.4%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Doug Meuross - PeerSpot reviewer
A reliable tool that offers good performance and is easy to use
I have had no issues with the stability of the product since it has always been a 100 percent reliable product and much better than the other databases available in the market. The multi-platform part is not good, especially when locked into things like Windows. You can judge your platform with Linux or Unix or whatever since they are good.
Muzzamil  Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Native encryption ensures secure data management with a simple deployment
The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities. By default, we can provide encryption, and this feature in MySQL is why we prefer it over other databases. The native encryption in MySQL encourages us to use this database model more frequently compared to Oracle and other databases. With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment. It perfectly supports our ROI, and we have no issues with its functionality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I appreciate the fact that, once the database is embedded, it doesn't need to be administered, and removes the requirement for a specific server."
"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 and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"The solution is very useful for stock management."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"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."
"The product was easy to use."
"The ML modules in MySQL are advantageous since they make data handling easy and quick at MNQM."
"MySQL has cross-platform support for multiple operating systems. The backups on a Linux machine can be restored on a Windows machine, and vice versa."
"MySQL is open-source. There are a lot of open-source communities trying to come up with their own patches, and to come up with their own features, which help MySQL develop faster than traditional databases like Oracle, which is closed source."
"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."
"The most valuable features are that it's free and the documentation is good."
"The initial setup was pretty straightforward. I would have worked with our IT team in terms of the initial setup."
"I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures."
"MySQL is an open-source product and has good community support. If you encounter any problem, you can easily ask other members of the community to help. They help you a lot. On top of being free, MySQL is a cross-platform database, meaning it can work on both Windows and Linux. It is very good for us."
 

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."
"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"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."
"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"Since we upgraded from 8.0.12 to 8.0.22, it has had some slowness-related issues. Some of the queries that were fast previously are quite slow now. I did some research, and I found many people complaining about it."
"Clusters are hard to perform so we use no SQL alternates like MongoDB."
"We want high availability and replication features, which are currently missing in this solution. It would be great if they can provide an in-built replication feature, similar to Oracle RAC, in MySQL."
"I would like to see more integrations of the solution with other platforms and improve the support on different data types."
"Sometimes, I get lost in the toggles and buttons, and a better visual design would be nice. The layout is not user-friendly or efficient."
"The GUI could improve to make MySQL better."
"Sometimes, not because the version is not the latest version, there are some issues with it. Sometimes there's an issue with the server which creates 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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"It is okay."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"The tool is open source."
"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."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"I think that MySQL is a premium product."
"We've never bought a commercial license. We just use the open-source community edition."
"The pricing falls within the moderate range."
"The solution does not come with a licensing fee."
"We are using the free community version of the solution."
"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."
"MySQL is a free and open-source solution."
"The pricing is not much expensive, it's cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
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: July 2025.
865,140 professionals have used our research since 2012.