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LocalDB vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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

LocalDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
32nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
152
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of LocalDB is 1.4%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 6.2%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MySQL6.2%
LocalDB1.4%
Other92.4%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Srini-Dhanaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & CEO at imfine.club
The database always has structured data, like rows, columns, and bases
LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good. Any startup can use a local database to start. Once they grow beyond its limits, they can migrate to a MS SQL server that's also available on-premises. I rate it ten out of ten.
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

"LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good."
"The solution has powerful reporting features that are very valuable."
"The initial setup was simple."
"The solution is fast."
"This tool help us build apps quicker and faster."
"The initial setup is very straightforward. The guidelines are very easy to follow. Maintenance is very easy and requires very little manpower."
"The most valuable feature of LocalDB is the connection between the application and DB."
"The memory footprint is the smallest in its category of products, and I think Microsoft did a very good job squeezing as many features as possible in such a tiny executable."
"MySQL solution is overall stable."
"The deployment process is pretty fast."
"What I've been most pleased with is the cost point, performance, and ease of use."
"MySQL is a good database; we are using it, and we'll continue to use it."
"​The most valuable feature of MySQL is the informative error outputs of command line interface.​"
"My main reason for using MySQL for this small customer database company and for some kinds of scientific projects was that I had to do the installation myself. I didn't have a database administration team behind me. Therefore, I was looking for something very easy to handle. MySQL is easy to install, connect, and do all such things."
"The solution has been very easy to scale so far."
"MySQL is a scalable tool. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is complex and requires a skilled person."
"The internal connection features of LocalDB could improve."
"It is only for a small amount of data. Local DB is made for the purpose of small-volume optics."
"The solution needs to create a management tool. Right now, the solution has tools for creating a local installation, but it's too simplistic. We need something that's a bit more complex so that we can extend the tools with our scripts."
"The ALM features can be improved, but the database by itself is reliable."
"The storage limit is about 10GB, so for medium to big databases it is not applicable."
"The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side."
"The licensing cost of the solution is expensive, which MySQL needs to consider improving."
"The performance, stability, and security are areas with shortcomings in MySQL, where improvements are required."
"You probably wouldn't use it for heavy-duty installation."
"Improvements are required in character set support, scalability, and big data sets."
"I would like to see more integrations of the solution with other platforms and improve the support on different data types."
"Its performance should be better. When we use big data, it is slow in performance. We should be able to use mirroring for improved performance."
"I think that the stored procedures and the development tools to write and debug large queries could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The fees are fair."
"The licensing cost is too high for LocalDB."
"MySQL is free."
"The tool is open source."
"I don't pay for a license."
"MySQL is a cheap solution."
"It is open-source."
"The pricing falls within the moderate range."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"This product has a good price point."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise64
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with LocalDB?
Technically speaking, you don't need to get any updates because it's not online. It's on-premise. So once it is installed, then you get a desktop-grade version. But the purpose of LocalDB is not th...
What is your primary use case for LocalDB?
There were multiple systems, some planned, like the mainframe, the gold database, a website, and a manual Excel spreadsheet. These were the various data sources, and we wanted to bring everything i...
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

AstraZeneca, Kienzle Automotive GmbH, Kodak Alaris, Unilever, Floatel International and Kongsberg Maritime, MyHero
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 LocalDB vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.