MariaDB vs Percona Server vs PostgreSQL comparison

MariaDB and Percona are both solutions in the Open Source Databases category. MariaDB is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8, while Percona is ranked #17. MariaDB holds a 6.8% mindshare in OSD, compared to Percona’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of MariaDB users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Percona users who would recommend it.

MariaDB

Read 59 MariaDB reviews

6,264 Views
2,819 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Percona Server

Read 2 Percona Server reviews

812 Views
812 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

PostgreSQL

Read 125 PostgreSQL reviews

7,558 Views
6,878 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

MariaDB

Percona Server

PostgreSQL

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between MariaDB, Percona Server, and PostgreSQL based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle, PostgreSQL, Firebird and others in Open Source Databases.

To learn more, read our detailed Open Source Databases Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Open Source Databases

August 2025

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Helped 867,826 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 6.8%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Percona Server is 1.9%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 16.8%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
PostgreSQL	16.8%
MariaDB	6.8%
Percona Server	1.9%
Other	74.5%

Open Source Databases

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

Umair Hassan

Database Administrator at Systems Limited

Open-source and free to use with a good community

I would love to see the flashback in Percona MySQL or even in Percona PostgreSQL. It's available in Oracle, the flashback. In Oracle, there's the utility of a flashback. It stores all the information in the tables for a few days. That way, if I accidentally delete my records from the table or I need to check the value of a column or row two days back, I can. If Percona had flashback capabilities, it would be ideal. I would love to see training be easier to find. I had some complications finding the training that Percona provides. It is not displayed on the website. For example, if I want to train myself via a Percona expert through virtual files or through recorded videos or something like that, it's really difficult to find any sort of course. You have to email them first, and they will ask you whether it is for yourself or it is for the corporate sector. The course content should just be readily available and not hidden.

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PavithrarajShetty

Software Architect at Tetherfi

Offers simplicity and is cheaply priced

I haven't gone through the scalability aspect since I was using MySQL Server. I haven't worked to a high level in PostgreSQL, but with MySQL Server, I have managed clustering and partitioning. I think I haven't put much focus on PostgreSQL, so I am not sure how it behaves or how it works.

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

"There is the need for a robust IDE for MongoDB. The existing PHP admin console doesn't meet the client's requirements effectively."

"MariaDB is easy to install and is stable and scalable."

"The integration with other products is seamless."

"The solution's high availability is its most valuable aspect."

"The speed and functionality are the most valuable features."

"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."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is a relational database, which is fairly reliable...It is a stable solution."

"The most valuable feature is that it uses multiple cores, which is better than some of the other databases."

More MariaDB pros

"We find the product mostly stable."

"I like that you can move any relational database from Oracle to PostgreSQL. I also like that it's pretty stable."

"The product is very similar to the SQL Server."

"The initial setup is quick and easy."

"The system can perform faster analysis by providing it with a lot of memory. Speed is crucial for analytics. Currently, the main reason we haven't adopted Elasticsearch is that we lack the necessary expertise to manage it."

"What I like is that it's quite powerful in terms of performance."

"It's quite scalable."

"The solution is open-source and free to use."

"The product is easy to use and works fast for relational databases."

Cons

"I’m not sure if it can scale."

"The customer service and support are okay. But the response time is slow. Moreover, the material is not available freely."

"The configuration could be improved. It should be easier."

"In future releases, mainly the addition of security features would be beneficial for MariaDB."

"The ability to create stored procedures in MariaDB is an area where the tool lacks a bit."

"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."

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

"While MariaDB is a good relational database, it can be inflexible for complex use cases."

More MariaDB cons

"If Percona had flashback capabilities, it would be ideal."

"There are some products out there that have a slightly different method of implementation for the SQL language. Some of those are slightly better in some areas, and PostgreSQL is slightly better in some areas. I would probably like to match all of those products together. It is just down to the functionality. For example, Oracle has a number of options within SQL that are outside of what you would class as the SQL standard. PostgreSQL misses some of those, but PostgreSQL does other things that are better than what Oracle does. I would like to merge those two products so that there is a certain amount of functionality in a single product."

"It could be more secure."

"There could be a plugin to distribute the data on servers for the product."

"Instead of the installation agent downloading all the packages for the install, it should allow the user to download the packages separately on their own to do the install."

"The price could be better."

"PostgreSQL doesn't have a feature for temporal SQL, which is useful for gathering versions of data. This feature should be included in PostgreSQL. This feature is available in MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle Database, and DB2."

"PostgreSQL’s performance could be improved."

"They need to have a better graphical interface. There is a tool called pgAdmin 4 that they use, which is free. It is written in Java, and it is slow. They need to have a better product that is similar to Toad for Oracle, but, of course, it is hard to get something that's really great and free. Other than that, it is great."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."

"This is an open-source product, which can be used free of charge."

"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."

"When it comes to MariaDB, it should have a more cost-effective license."

"The tool is open-source."

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

"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."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"It is free. There is no license on it."

"It is also open-source so it is free."

"It is open source. There is no licensing."

"We use the open-source version of PostgreSQL and not the enterprise edition."

"The tool is cheaply priced compared to other RDBMS providers in the market."

"It is free, but if you need support, you can go for the commercial version called EnterpriseDB. They provide paid support, and they can even do hosting for you if you want standby and support."

"The need for our customers to pay for licences is contingent on their projects and budgets."

"The licensing model is good."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

University

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	25

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	58
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	45

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 pref...

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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...

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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 c...

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What do you like most about PostgreSQL?

It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PostgreSQL?

The tool is free of cost. For now, it's not about making money. But once we perfect it, we can offer it to customers ...

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Comparisons

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 24% of the time

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 22% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

ClickHouse vs MariaDB

Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 25% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs Percona Server

Compared 13% of the time

More Percona Server Competitors

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Compared 32% of the time

MySQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 12% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs PostgreSQL

Compared 9% of the time

Chroma vs PostgreSQL

Compared 7% of the time

InfluxDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 2% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB

September 2025

Download MariaDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Open Source Databases

August 2025

Download Percona Server product report

Buyer's Guide

PostgreSQL

September 2025

Download PostgreSQL product report

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

Percona Server for MySQL is a free, fully compatible, enhanced, open source drop-in replacement for MySQL that provides good performance, scalability and instrumentation. With over 3,000,000 downloads, Percona Server for MySQL's self-tuning algorithms and support for extremely high-performance hardware delivers excellent performance and reliability.

Percona

PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases.

It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable.

Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

PostgreSQL

Sample Customers

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

Pricefalls Marketplace, Micpoint, Rent the Runway, Transmart, Wattpad, Singular Group, Invoca, 3E

1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg

Buyer's Guide

Open Source Databases

August 2025

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