MariaDB vs PostgreSQL comparison

MariaDB and PostgreSQL are both solutions in the Open Source Databases category. MariaDB is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.9, while PostgreSQL is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. MariaDB holds a 6.7% mindshare in OSD, compared to PostgreSQL’s 16.1% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of MariaDB users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of PostgreSQL users who would recommend it.

MariaDB

Read 60 MariaDB reviews

5,261 Views
2,525 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

PostgreSQL

Read 125 PostgreSQL reviews

7,120 Views
6,408 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

MariaDB

PostgreSQL

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

PostgreSQL and MariaDB compete in the open-source database category. PostgreSQL has the upper hand in offering a wide range of features suitable for complex queries and diverse procedural languages, while MariaDB stands out for its speed and performance in web applications.

Features: PostgreSQL supports advanced SQL standards and complex queries, offers diverse procedural language support, and is fully ACID compliant, making it ideal for write-intensive tasks and scalability. MariaDB is known for its speed, handling high-traffic web applications efficiently, and its robust replication system, performing well with read-heavy workloads.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL could improve in handling large datasets quickly, adding more MySQL-compatible SQL functions, and simplifying its installation and configuration process. MariaDB may struggle with write-intensive applications and complex queries on large datasets, and it can enhance stability during power outages and improve support for advanced analytics and scalability features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PostgreSQL and MariaDB provide versatile deployment options across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. PostgreSQL benefits from strong community support with extensive resources, though commercial support may be necessary for consistent customer service. MariaDB also relies on community support with available commercial support options, and users appreciate the active communities that facilitate troubleshooting.

Pricing and ROI: Both PostgreSQL and MariaDB are open-source, offering cost-effective solutions without licensing fees, which is appealing to startups and smaller enterprises. PostgreSQL is considered to provide significant ROI due to its robust features available at no cost, and MariaDB offers flexibility and reliability, ensuring a favorable return on investment with adequate community support.

To learn more, read our detailed MariaDB vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. PostgreSQL

November 2025

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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 Open Source Databases

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Relational Databases Tools (5th)

PostgreSQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Vector Databases (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 6.7%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 16.1%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
PostgreSQL	16.1%
MariaDB	6.7%
Other	77.2%

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.

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AdityaSharma3

Vice President Business at Techmagnate: Digital Marketing Agency

Transaction processes are fast and good replication capability

Use cases include querying data warehouses and databases to fetch data for clients already working on PostgreSQL. We also use Postgres for building reports It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping. The query speed is fast, and the…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"The solution is very stable. It was originally built under MySQL. It has a similar level of stability."

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

"It is an absolutely stable solution."

"The stability of MariaDB is good, it has high availability."

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

"I haven't faced any technical issues with the product, and it works fine."

"I like the global transaction IDs (GTIDs) feature. It's quite reliable for replication between a master and a replica server, and it's a feature that MySQL also has but implemented differently."

More MariaDB pros

"It is very useful for both structured and unstructured data. You can store unstructured and structured data in PostgreSQL. It is easy to use. You can easily manage things through PostgreSQL Admin. It is cost-effective. Its on-premise version is free. It is agnostic of on-premise or cloud. You can install it on the cloud or on-premises. It is available with all clouds, and you can also install it on desktop or Windows Servers."

"It's a standard reliable database management system."

"With the database, you can provide a multi-component at the same service with the same performance, scalability, or all those things."

"PostgreSQL is stable. It's available, stable, and reliable."

"We often use PostgreSQL for operations monitoring because we are a manufacturing company."

"It is very scalable and comes with a bonus: no licensing issues as you scale with your databases."

"Postgres is rock solid when deployed according to best practices as documented by the PostgreSQL community. When it's installed correctly, PostgreSQL is an enterprise-grade solution."

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

Cons

"We'd like more data intelligence."

"With respect to clustering and the master-slave configuration, sometimes the slave goes out of synch."

"Lacks time series data and additional driving support would be helpful."

"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."

"Master-master replication is something that needs to be simplified."

"The dashboard and pricing need improvement."

"Maria DB has to improve from a management perspective."

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

More MariaDB cons

"It needs more integration."

"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."

"The search option is not very good."

"It could be more secure."

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

"If it was free to use, it would be the perfect solution."

"The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality."

"When you get a large number of records in a database and start doing various queries, it can adversely impact the performance of the live running systems. That's an area we continue to look at and mean to improve, but it is not only because of PostgreSQL. It is also because of the way the schemas are put together, and certain events are triggered. So, it is because of both parties."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."

"It is free of charge."

"This is an open source solution with no licensing fees."

"It is an open-source solution."

"The solution is free, but if you want the enterprise version you will need to pay for some licenses but the cost is less than other solutions, such as Oracle."

"We use the solution's free version."

"It's an open-source solution."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

"We are using the free version of PostgreSQL."

"It could be much cheaper. If you would like to build an application on Amazon today, PostgreSQL is the standard database with Redshift. If you want other databases, you can add them, but PostgreSQL is the basis of everything. It's a question of money, that's it."

"It is open-source. If you use it on-premise, it is free. It also has enterprise or commercial versions. If you go for the cloud version, there will be a cost, but it is lower than Oracle or Microsoft."

"The community version of Postgre is basically free."

"We do not pay for licensing."

"PostgreSQL is open-source, so if capable admins are available then the setup cost can be $0."

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

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

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

University

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	27
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	25

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?

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 ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with MariaDB?

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 cert...

See all answers

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 cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit yo...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 willing to pay for support and other services. Most of my deployments are free.

See all answers

Comparisons

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 24% of the time

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 19% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Database vs MariaDB

Compared 6% of the time

Percona Server vs MariaDB

Compared 6% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 30% of the time

MySQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 11% of the time

Chroma vs PostgreSQL

Compared 6% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs PostgreSQL

Compared 6% of the time

LanceDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 4% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB

October 2025

Download MariaDB product report

Buyer's Guide

PostgreSQL

October 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

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

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

MariaDB vs. PostgreSQL

November 2025

Free Report: MariaDB vs. PostgreSQL

Find out what your peers are saying about MariaDB vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.

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