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Google Cloud SQL vs MariaDB comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Google Cloud SQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (12th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Google Cloud SQL is 1.3%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 3.2%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MariaDB3.2%
Google Cloud SQL1.3%
Other95.5%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

RituRaj - PeerSpot reviewer
SDE 2 at Virtusa
Drag and drop workflows have simplified data mapping and currently improve my cloud database work
The IPaaS Connector, which I have found most valuable, is part of Google Cloud SQL. Google Cloud's user interface is really good, which improves efficiency in my database operations. The UI is excellent, making it easier to understand what we are doing. Currently, I am working on IPaaS Connector, so it is really just a clickable interface without writing any code. I simply use drag and drop and connecting lines, and it is working. Google Cloud SQL's global infrastructure improves our database's latency metrics because we are using Gemini in our project. Since both are products of Google, it makes our product faster.
AB
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Has supported web application data needs but requires design adjustments to manage complex queries efficiently
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 certain data and complex queries, we see performance issues. We tried the advanced replication feature between different regions, replicating data specifically residing on MariaDB to two different regions of MariaDB data, and there were some technical snags in terms of slowness and longer processing time. Point-in-time recovery in MariaDB is good for small databases. When data volume increases beyond 5 GB or 10 GB per day or runs into double-digit GBs, we found some performance issues. For data below 10 GB, it works fine. Performance is the primary focus area for MariaDB, particularly during transactions or complex query jobs where slow performance is observed. MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's all built into the web browser, so any operating system will work."
"From a database management perspective, it provides services without the need for me to worry about backups, scaling, or other operational issues."
"I found its storage and security to be the most valuable. It was a good experience. It is also very stable and scalable, and its support is perfect."
"It supports different databases, like Postgres and MySQL."
"What I like the most about Google Cloud SQL is that it handles the management, which allows us to concentrate on our applications."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Ease of management and the ability to oversee the statistics of your SQL."
"Google Cloud SQL enhances our AI-driven projects by providing features like query optimization and scalability for efficiently processing large datasets."
"Great monitoring and performance stability."
"It is a stable solution."
"It's open source."
"Installation is straightforward."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is an open-source product and offers its users great online community support."
"A valuable feature is that we can use it for quite a few things, all the things you'd expect from a server—along the lines of Linux's Lightweight Directory."
"The solution's features have effectively met our operational requirements as a standard SQL database."
"We have seen a return on investment because we are going to save a lot of revenue from not having to use Oracle licenses."
 

Cons

"Google Cloud SQL still needs better connectivity to outside, existing data sources."
"I would appreciate more flexibility with specific extensions applicable to engines like PostgreSQL. This would enhance the capabilities of Google Cloud SQL."
"Better integration with other tools could improve this solution."
"It is hard to do logging with the solution."
"The overall documentation and the connectors need improvement."
"They could improve documentation and dashboard stability for efficient user experience and database management."
"The only thing that could be better is the pricing."
"We see latency issues, so we were forced to introduce an in-memory store."
"The performance could be a bit better."
"I’m not sure if it can scale, so I’m not sure how it would fare for significant companies."
"The customer service and support are okay. But the response time is slow. Moreover, the material is not available freely."
"It would be good if they can maybe improve the mass import in the database."
"While MariaDB is a good relational database, it can be inflexible for complex use cases."
"The maintenance and performance could be a bit better."
"I'd like to see improved materialized views, like the ability to save select queries. This feature is missing in MariaDB compared to other relational databases like Oracle and SQL Server."
"It would be helpful if I could specify multiple drives for the database storage."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While the platform’s pricing may be higher, it aligns with industry standards, considering the quality of service and features provided."
"It's really cheap. It wouldn't be more than, I believe it's around 50 euro per month for running a cloud SQL."
"You need to pay extra costs for backup and replication."
"It is not expensive, especially considering the significant reduction in database management time."
"The pricing is very much an important factor as to why we use this solution."
"From a financial perspective, Google Cloud SQL is on the cheaper side."
"The solution is affordable."
"This is an open-source product, which can be used free of charge."
"I used the open-source version, which is available free of charge."
"It is free of charge."
"The cost is quite good. You can have the open source, free version, which has adequate capacity."
"The price could be less expensive."
"My company uses the free version of the solution."
"The licensing cost is approximately $4000.00 per year and the licensing is based on the software and the number of posts that you make."
"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud SQL?
We have set up automated patch management for Google Cloud SQL, and it does on a daily basis what needs to be done, so it is pretty good overall for maintaining our database security.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud SQL?
I would to improve a few glitches in Google Cloud SQL that I have recently noticed. There are a few UI glitches that I have noticed recently, specifically something called data mapping in IPaaS Con...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud SQL?
I am not working with Oracle; everything I am working on is on Google. I would like to improve a few glitches in Google Cloud SQL that I have recently noticed. There are a few UI glitches that I ha...
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?
The key area where MariaDB could be improved is its native GUI tooling; while the command-line interface works perfectly fine, the built-in visual tools for administration, management, and query de...
What is your primary use case for MariaDB?
My main use case for MariaDB was web applications, and I have been using MariaDB for just about a year now as I was in the development team. A specific web application where I used MariaDB is a hea...
 

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Sample Customers

BeDataDriven, CodeFutures, Daffodil, GenieConnect, KiSSFLOW, LiveHive, SulAm_rica, Zync
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud SQL vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.