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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
6th
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
152
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 9.8%, down from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 11.4%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MySQL11.4%
Firebird SQL9.8%
Other78.8%
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…
Varuns Ug - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Developer at NIT
Reliable transactions have supported secure payments, refunds, and bookings at high volumes
Regarding MySQL improvements, a pain point is horizontal scalability. MySQL scales very well vertically and can support read replicas, but as a system grows significantly, sharding and distributed data management can become complex compared to databases that are designed to scale horizontally from the beginning. This is one of the areas where I think MySQL should work more. Another area is handling very large analytic workloads. MySQL is excellent for transactional systems, but for large-scale analytics or reporting, specialized analytic databases may sometimes be a better fit. Apart from that, one area is performance troubleshooting. As the database grows, diagnosing things such as slow queries, lock contention, and deadlocks becomes complex.

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."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"The documentation is very well written."
"The solution has worked perfectly; I've never run into issues or had to reach out to technical support for troubleshooting."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"I like Firebird because it's very lightweight; it's very light and powerful, and I can do everything that I can with MS SQL Server and Oracle with Firebird, with very easy deployment on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows and great integration capabilities."
"We have found MySQL to be a very sturdy and strong database."
"The solution is stable."
"The performance is great, as this is a lightweight product that is not demanding on the resources, which is what I think gives it the edge."
"The solution is good for applications of small scope or for IT."
"As a developer I have used many database engines but MySQL is by far the best known and most popular Open Source database engine."
"MySQL is a very useful database which is used by a lot of companies, so it should be really good."
"I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures."
"The solution helps us perform with our databases and extract data."
 

Cons

"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"They need to be more reactive and fast. Sometimes, they take too long to resolve some tickets."
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"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."
"Database sharing is a capability that Firebird SQL lacks."
"It is not easy to integrate the tool with Visual Studio."
"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"The GUI could improve in MySQL."
"I would like to see some improvements in the solution’s integration aspects."
"It has a lot of options to interact with. Sometimes it is hard to find the appropriate options quickly."
"Maybe the way to build clusters needs to be improved."
"Security is a concern. MySQL could have better security features."
"The only service which could be improved is its usability. The entire user experience needs to be revamped to meet the 2018 design standards."
"I did the implementation of the solution myself and I used community support. The support from the vendor costs money."
"The replication needs improvement. It's becoming a native cloud product like Oracle DB or Cockroach DB."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"The tool is open source."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"It is okay."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"It's open-source and free."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"It's cheaper than other solutions."
"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten. The solution is not cheap but it’s a fair value. The pricing depends on the use cases of our customers. Some of our customers use the community edition which is license free and a good fit for their use cases. However, we encourage our bigger customers to sign up because of the scalability issues. The paid versions get direct technical support from Oracle."
"The solution’s pricing depends on customer requirements. A license is not required for the community edition."
"When you know the setup will continue to grow, make sure you have the paid support."
"There is no licensing fee."
"I rate the solution's pricing as four out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. For our basic needs, it's quite affordable. However, the cost increases when we need to scale up or require high availability. Our developer team of about 600 people uses MySQL without much issue. The pricing becomes more of a concern on the business side, as we have more end users and need constant database availability and scaling. In those cases, the solution gets a bit more expensive, even though it provides good value for the business."
"The pricing falls within the moderate range."
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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
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software 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.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.