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Google Cloud SQL vs MariaDB comparison

 

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
19th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (9th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Google Cloud SQL is 1.0%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 4.2%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MariaDB4.2%
Google Cloud SQL1.0%
Other94.8%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Prathap Sankar - PeerSpot reviewer
Analytics Delivery Manager at Tredence Inc.
Gain control and flexibility with customizable tools but has slower performance
I am majorly working in Google Cloud SQL for building my applications Google Cloud SQL provides complete customization options, along with a dashboarding tool and a comprehensive suite of tools that can be used to customize and build any application needed. The deployment model allows for…
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

"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 directly provides robust data safety. It also offers various other storage options, such as Google Cloud Storage. These services ensure data security and redundancy. Furthermore, it includes different storage classes, allowing flexible data management tailored to specific needs."
"The speed is very good, it's useful in terms of the simplicity of doing backups, you can have redundant databases for reports or posts, it's SQL which is easy to learn if you know something about databases, I like the cloud aspect, the pricing of the solution seems reasonable, and the solution is stable."
"What I like the most about Google Cloud SQL is that it handles the management, which allows us to concentrate on our applications."
"It supports different databases, like Postgres and MySQL."
"This is a stable solution and offers good performance."
"The product is scalable."
"Its most valuable feature is that it's scalable; I can start off with a base of a lot of data and move as much as I want without a lot of infrastructure changes, so I can run a release model experiment on a thousand people and, if that experiment is a success, run it on a million people without any changes while keeping it much more cost-sensitive for me to do it."
"What I like best about MariaDB is that it is open-source and reliable."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the power it provides."
"One of the great features of MariaDB is its scalability. It's easy to handle even with large databases."
"This solution is user-friendly."
"MariaDB is easy to install and is stable and scalable."
"It has worked very well for us so far."
"You get the performance, you get the security, and you get monitoring and disaster recovery."
"It is an absolutely stable solution."
 

Cons

"In my opinion the most vulnerable problem with Google SQL is each SQL node is provided with a public IP address."
"To create a seamless data integration, the title integration of these databases with the data integration platforms is essential."
"They could improve documentation and dashboard stability for efficient user experience and database management."
"The purging of the data could be better."
"For data analysis, the AI area of the product has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"I would appreciate more flexibility with specific extensions applicable to engines like PostgreSQL. This would enhance the capabilities of Google Cloud SQL."
"The only thing that could be better is the pricing."
"We see latency issues, so we were forced to introduce an in-memory store."
"Maria DB has to improve from a management perspective."
"It should work across all fields like SQLite, as it is the basis of any application, even apps for phones and the like."
"The performance could be a bit better."
"Master-master replication is something that needs to be simplified."
"The license should be cheaper and closer to that offered by MySQL, Oracle and other products."
"An improvement would be scaling it up to the levels of Oracle, especially when it comes to resilience, so that we can do higher transactions for two databases or power our operation."
"MariaDB has to improve from a management perspective."
"The GUI could be improved a bit. The user interface needs to be improved."
 

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."
"The pricing is very much an important factor as to why we use this solution."
"The solution is affordable."
"You need to pay extra costs for backup and replication."
"From a financial perspective, Google Cloud SQL is on the cheaper side."
"It is not expensive, especially considering the significant reduction in database management time."
"It's really cheap. It wouldn't be more than, I believe it's around 50 euro per month for running a cloud SQL."
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price since there are some support costs involved, even though it isn't an open-source solution."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"The product is not expensive."
"MariaDB is open-source and self-hosted."
"I used the open-source version, which is available free of charge."
"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."
"It is free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
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?
Sometimes the sharing with third parties or configuring that in Google Cloud SQL is not the most intuitive. From a user perspective, if Google Cloud SQL integrated AI directly into the query so tha...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud SQL?
I have been using Google Cloud SQL for two or three years since I started.
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
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?
Sometimes, complex queries that were supported in Oracle are not available in MariaDB. Advanced indexing is not available. Oracle is very advanced compared to MariaDB, and those advanced features a...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

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: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.