MariaDB vs Oracle Database comparison

MariaDB and Oracle are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. MariaDB is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9, while Oracle is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. MariaDB holds a 6.3% mindshare in SQL, compared to Oracle’s 12.8% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of MariaDB users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

MariaDB

Read 59 MariaDB reviews

7,230 Views
4,627 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Oracle Database

Read 290 Oracle Database reviews

9,437 Views
8,871 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

MariaDB

Oracle Database

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Oracle Database and MariaDB are key players in the database management system industry, each catering to different market needs. Oracle Database generally holds the upper hand with its extensive feature set and robust performance, making it suitable for large enterprises requiring stability and scalability.

Features: Oracle Database offers highly secure isolated transactions, massive scalability, and advanced diagnostic infrastructure, ideal for large organizations managing substantial data. MariaDB is favored for its open-source nature, cost-effectiveness, and the basic functionality it offers for users prioritizing affordability.

Room for Improvement: Oracle’s system can be resource-intensive, costly, and complex in terms of licensing. It also needs enhancements in text indexing and innovative features. For MariaDB, improvement areas include scalability advancements, clustering, support for more complex workloads, and better replication and technical support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both databases support on-premises deployment. Oracle supports hybrid and private clouds extensively but requires expert management due to its system complexity, while offering robust yet sometimes slow support. MariaDB’s open-source nature simplifies deployment and management, although users note a need for more mature features and better support.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle Database’s high cost is justified by its comprehensive features and performance, appealing to enterprises in need of stability and scalability, albeit with complex licensing. MariaDB, being open-source, presents a more economical solution, reducing total ownership cost and appealing to budget-conscious users.

To learn more, read our detailed MariaDB vs. Oracle Database Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. Oracle Database

July 2025

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Helped 863,901 peers since 2012

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

MariaDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (4th)

Oracle Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

290

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 6.3%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database is 12.8%, down from 15.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

KumarManish

Senior Technical Manager at Johnson Controls, Inc.

Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products

We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Ismail Aboulezz

Chief Executive Officer at LeaseWeb

Continuous updates improve performance and add valuable features to meet workload demands

Oracle Database ( /products/oracle-database-reviews ) is easy to install, customize, troubleshoot, and maintain. Its data management capabilities include data quality, data integration, data architecture, modeling, and data security, which are very important for data-driven companies. Furthermore, Oracle Database's performance and scalability features meet workload demands, and its continuous updates improve performance and add valuable features.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is very easy to implement."

"The product has been stable and reliable."

"MariaDB has a straightforward initial setup with easy-to-understand documentation."

"MariaDB is stable and the initial setup is straightforward."

"The documentation is quite straightforward."

"We use MariaDB for identity provider services. Most of the things that we are doing are deployed in the container mode. All such solutions require a database, and MariaDB is easier to use for these kinds of deployments."

"One of the great features of MariaDB is its scalability. It's easy to handle even with large databases."

"Visual Studio offers unit testing integration and extensive searching capabilities."

More MariaDB pros

"It is user-friendly. It didn't take me much time to learn it."

"We use the relational databases for government contracts."

"The scalability is very good, and it is stable."

"One of the most valuable features is the stability."

"A really large and very useful language to process data."

"I like the enterprise features as well as the stability."

"It stores a lot of data in a short time."

"The solution can scale well."

More Oracle Database pros

Cons

"The dashboard and pricing need improvement."

"Integration with AWS could be improved."

"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."

"The maintenance and performance could be a bit better."

"MariaDB can improve by adding more features. There are a lot of features, which are available in Oracle, and which are not available in MariaDB. We hope they will introduce the features soon."

"In the next release, I would like to see improvements in the scalability and redundancy features."

"It should work across all fields like SQLite, as it is the basis of any application, even apps for phones and the like."

"Document caching is an area of concern in the product, where improvements are required to help MariaDB improve on the previous queries as they are retained, and you can roll back to them."

More MariaDB cons

"The licensing cost could be better."

"The integration with other vendor solutions needs improvement. It is difficult to connect to other hardware."

"Cost is always a concern."

"Technical support quality has dropped recently. They aren't as helpful or responsive as they used to be."

"The adaptability to various APIs is something that needs to be improved."

"The pricing needs to be improved."

"I have been looking for a virtualization database engine from Oracle. They have third-party vendors that can do it but if Oracle comes with its own virtual engine, it would be helpful. Additionally, the solution could be more user-friendly and improve the Transparent Data Encryption."

"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

More Oracle Database cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"MariaDB is open-source and self-hosted."

"The tool is open-source."

"The product is not expensive."

"The cost is quite good. You can have the open source, free version, which has adequate capacity."

"It is an open-source solution."

"It's an open-source solution."

"We pay for a yearly license."

"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."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

"You buy it when you need it, and then you pay the maintenance. We bought the licenses over 10 years ago. We haven't changed our licenses. We are not buying new licenses, and we are not looking at other devices. So, it is difficult to say whether it is cheap or expensive. There is nothing to compare to."

"The price of Oracle Database is too expensive and especially for individual environments. The pricing model is not clear, if I want to run it on a virtual environment, I still need to license the whole physical box."

"We pay for a yearly licensing subscription. Funds permitting, we have plans to increase usage for Oracle Database in the new year."

"The licensing and support pricing for Oracle Database is a bit expensive, as it is a top-of-the-line product. We'd like for its price to be lower."

"I rate Oracle Database's pricing a four out of ten."

"They are pricing themselves out of the market."

"The tool's price is high. The price is very high in the Asia-Pacific region. The European and US regions don't find the tool's prices high."

"Be prepared to pay for consulting services, and do not underestimate the time required to find and hire good quality database administrators."

More Oracle Database pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MariaDB?

The integration with other products is seamless.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?

I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.

See all answers

What needs improvement with MariaDB?

The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.

See all answers

How do you run Oracle Database at your organization and why?

My company has been using Oracle Exadata Database Service for some years now, and we are happy with it. I will allow myself to answer your questions about why and what benefits it provides us with ...

See all answers

Do you know of any disadvantages of Oracle Database?

Undoubtedly, Oracle Database is a top product in its category. But it does have its disadvantages, and for me and my organization, that has been the limitations of the product. When it comes to Ora...

See all answers

What is the best use for Oracle Database?

Oracle Database is flexible and can be used for many things. My company's main use case for this product is for storing data. We benefit from its high level of security as well as from the fact tha...

See all answers

Comparisons

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 23% of the time

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 23% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MariaDB

Compared 13% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

Percona Server vs MariaDB

Compared 5% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

SAP HANA vs Oracle Database

Compared 21% of the time

SQL Server vs Oracle Database

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs Oracle Database

Compared 10% of the time

Tibero vs Oracle Database

Compared 9% of the time

MySQL vs Oracle Database

Compared 6% of the time

More Oracle Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB

July 2025

Download MariaDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database

March 2025

Download Oracle Database product report

Also Known As

No data available

Oracle 12c, RDBMS

Overview

MariaDB is an open source relational database created by the original founders of MySQL. It is considered one of the most popular and trusted database servers throughout the world. MariaDB is a valued component found in most cloud offerings and is the default in many Linux tools. It is also widely used by Wikipedia, WordPress, and Google, among other well-known sites. Maria DB easily melds data into concise information from a vast array of applications, such as banking, online shopping, websites, and more.

MariaDB was originally created to improve MySQL performance. It is the most widely chosen database server due to the solution being super fast, robust, user-friendly, and easily scalable. MariaDB also offers a substantial ecosystem of plugins, storage engines, and numerous other valuable tools that make it very attractive for a significant offering of use cases.

The solution’s newest functionalities include compatibility with Oracle Database and Temporal Data Tables, and advanced clustering with Galera Cluster 4, which make it easier for users to research data history from any point in the past. Additionally, the most recent versions include JSON and GIS features. MariaDB is committed to staying an open source solution.

MariaDB Features

More storage: MariaDB works with more storage engines than MySQL and most other database servers available. Some storage options include, but are not limited to ARCHIVE, MERGE, CSV, MEMORY, BLACKHOLE, MyISAM, ColumnStore, MyRocks, and Cassandra.
Super fast: MariaDB offers faster authentication checks. The FlushSSL permits SSL certificates to be reloaded without a server restart, resulting in huge time savings.
Improved testing: MariaDB offers an extending testing suite that runs faster and can test more than ever before. Bugs can be easily fixed and invalid tests removed.
Genuinely open source: Every code in MariaDB is GPL, LGPL, or BSD. Client libraries [for Windows (ODBC), Java (JDBC), or C] allow linking to closed source software. All fixed bug cases and development plans are completely public. MariaDB is a community-developed solution representing the true spirit of open source products.

Reviews from Real Users

Faustine C., Engineering Supervisor- Corporate Data Solutions and Services at TZ Telecoms Corporation, shares, “The software provides a lot of information on what is happening inside the database. For most performance parameters it is easy to know if something is not right in the configuration or optimization which helps engineers take remedial fine-tuning measures. For example, if the database is underperforming it is easy to know which performance parameter can be adjusted to handle the workload. It is difficult to troubleshoot database issues if many performance parameters can not be monitored or debugged which is the case with some database management systems. It provides great monitoring of data storage, processing, and performance stability which is really important for real-time data storage and processing. It's a user-friendly product.”

A PeerSpot user who is a Senior Engineer at a tech services company relates, “ The solution's high availability is its most valuable aspect. We have found the product to be stable and the initial setup is pretty simple. I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. I'm very happy with it overall. I would recommend the solution to others. It's easy to find details about the product online and to learn about it.”

MariaDB

Oracle Database is a top-ranking multi-model database management system by Oracle Corporation. Through Oracle database services and products, clients receive cost-optimized and high-performing versions of Oracle Database, as well as in-memory, NoSQL, and MySQL databases. The solution is available by several service providers on premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid installation. It can be run on vendor servers as well as on Oracle hardware, including Exadata on-premise, Oracle Cloud, or Cloud at Customer.

Users can select from various types of Oracle Database solutions, depending on what they aim to do with this product. Based on their specific needs, they can choose among options that include:

Autonomously managed Oracle databases: This type of database eliminates the complexity of operating and securing Oracle Database, while simultaneously ensuring high levels of performance, scalability, and availability for users.
Oracle Database on Exadata: Users who seek particularly fast platforms can select this type of running solution. Exadata is a computing platform that is optimized for running Oracle Databases and it serves as the fastest platform for Oracle Database.
Oracle Database on-premises deployment: The product allows for deployment on-premises for clients who have data residency and network latency concerns. This option also offers customers the benefit of updated Oracle Cloud technology, including Exadata and Autonomous Database.
Oracle Database in the cloud: Organizations can use a specific version of this tool in the cloud, benefiting from complete control over the versions they run and when these versions change.

Part of this product is a fully automated database service called Oracle Autonomous Database, which facilitates the development and deployment of application workloads for organizations. It is built on Oracle Database as well as on Oracle Exadata. This service supports various data types and simplifies application development and deployment from modeling and coding to extract, transform, load process (ETL), data analysis, and database optimization. The service achieves high results in:

Performance
Availability
Security for online transaction processing (OLTP)
Analytics
Batch
Internet of Things (IoT) workloads

Oracle Database Features

Oracle Database has various features which users can utilize in their work with the solution. Among these features are the following:

Backup and recovery: Oracle Database ensures the integrity of users' data in system failure situations. This feature utilizes a tool named Recovery Manager (RMAN), which allows administrators to perform cold, hot, and incremental database backups, as well as point-in-time recoveries.
Clustering: This feature enables high availability of systems in order to run without interruption of services on occasions when one or more servers in a cluster fail. Included is a tool called Oracle Real Application Clusters.
Data dictionary: Through this set of internal tables and views, Oracle Database can be administered more efficiently.
Logical data structure: Through its feature for logical data structure, Oracle Database stores data in a way that allows users to interact with the database without knowing where the physical storage of the data is located.
Memory catching: Through the memory caching architecture feature, users can scale up very large databases and still perform at a considerably high speed.
Partitioning: This feature allows users to divide large tables into different pieces and store the pieces across storage devices.

Oracle Database Benefits

Oracle Database offers its users various benefits. Some of these include:

The solution decreases costs for organizations and provides a high return on investment (ROI) through the multiple services and features it offers.
Oracle Database has high-security protection which includes encryption, key management, data masking, and activity monitoring, that secures organizations' data within the tool.
The tool offers users the ability to use a single database for all data types, simplifying the process for them.
Oracle Database can be deployed in multiple places, including data centers and public and private clouds, which allows great flexibility for users.
The product allows applications from different platforms to communicate with the database through its networking stack.
Oracle Database is ACID-compliant, which helps maintain data reliability and integrity.

Reviews from Real Users

Paul S., president at Advance Consulting Enterprise, likes Oracle Database because it gets the job done, doesn't fail, and suitable for massively scalable applications.

An Oracle DBA at a computer software company describes Oracle Database as reliable with good performance and very good stability.

Oracle

Sample Customers

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities

Agncia Nacional de guas, Anbima, Aria Systems, Asiana Airlines, Astelit LLC, Australian Finance Group, Banco Occidental de Descuento, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, BT, Caja de Seguros S.A., Casas GEO S.A.B. de C.V., Comic Relief UK, Corsair Components Inc., CSAM Health AS, CSOB Group, Datacraft Solutions, DenizBank A.S., Department of Treasury and Finance WA, Office of State Revenue, Deutsche B_rse AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Messe AG, Digicel Haiti, DPR COSEA, Essar Group, Essatto Software Pty Ltd, Farmšcia e Drogaria Nissei Ltda., Fomento Econ‹mico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA), FundaÊo Petrobras de Seguridade Social, Future Group, GFKL Financial Services AG, Grupo Posadas S.A.B. de C.V., Grupo Sinosserra, Guerra S.A. Implementos Rodovišrios, Hanatour International Service, Hays plc, Henan Mobile Co. Ltd, Hochschule Hof, Hong Kong and China Technology (Wuhan) Co. Ltd (Towngas Technology), Industries Corpa_al C.A., Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica, Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, Kcell, LinkShare Corporation, MercadoLibre Inc., MetLife Inc., Nextgen Distribution, €BB-IKT GmbH, Octagon Research Solutions, Pacific Lutheran University, Paragon Data GmbH, Ping ltd., PJSC Trustbank, Prodaub _ Processamento de Dados de Uberl_ndia, Purdue University, Redknee Inc., Robi Axiata Limited, Shanghai Infoservice Technology Co. Ltd, Shanghai Sihua Technologies Co. Ltd, Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de M_xico, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Suddenlink Communications, Suprajit Engineering Limited, Tallink Grupp, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., Therap Services LLC, Think Passenger Inc., Trafigura, Transmed S.A.L Lebanon, ValeShop, VelQuest Corporation, Vodafone Group plc, West Virginia Network, WIND Hellas Telecommunications S.A

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. Oracle Database

July 2025

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