MariaDB vs SAP IQ comparison

MariaDB and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. MariaDB is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9, while SAP is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.0. MariaDB holds a 6.6% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of MariaDB users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of SAP users who would recommend it.

MariaDB

Read 59 MariaDB reviews

5,110 Views
3,797 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

SAP IQ

Read 21 SAP IQ reviews

378 Views
147 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

MariaDB

SAP IQ

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP IQ and MariaDB are key players in the database domain, focusing on business intelligence and cloud applications respectively. SAP IQ appears stronger for enterprise-level data warehousing with its advanced column-based technology, while MariaDB's strengths in ease of use and cost-efficiency make it a popular choice for cloud deployments.

Features: SAP IQ leverages its column-based architecture, offering high compression and rapid query performance, essential for business intelligence tasks and large-scale data environments. With advanced indices and patented technologies, it stands out in performance management. On the other hand, MariaDB is valued for its open-source nature, ease of use, and reliable replication modes, making it suitable for flexible cloud and application development environments.

Room for Improvement: SAP IQ can enhance its marketing and documentation to boost visibility and adoption while improving backup and Hadoop integration. Its enterprise integration could also be matured. MariaDB would benefit from better complex query support, replication, and scaling capabilities. Enhanced automated optimization and integration with BI tools could yield additional value.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP IQ traditionally favors on-premises deployment with some public cloud support, and customer service has mixed reviews with noted gaps in technical expertise. MariaDB offers versatile deployment options across on-premises, public, and hybrid clouds, with generally satisfactory customer support driven by a strong open-source community, although response time improvements are desirable.

Pricing and ROI: SAP IQ is perceived as having a high upfront cost with valuable features offering substantial returns for large-scale operations, aided by hardware savings. Its pricing structure can be intricate, requiring careful review. In contrast, MariaDB presents a cost-effective, open-source model appealing to budget-conscious organizations with no licensing fees, resulting in a favorable ROI supported by active community engagement.

To learn more, read our detailed MariaDB vs. SAP IQ Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. SAP IQ

June 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 Relational Databases Tools

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (4th)

SAP IQ

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

27th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 6.6%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP IQ is 0.8%, up from 0.3% 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.

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Tejas Raj

Manager at Capgemini

Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation

I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.

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

"I would say that for most use cases it works fine."

"It is very simple to install, and the commands are exactly the same as MySQL."

"We like the easy way that we can collect data from other databases."

"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the replication mode."

"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."

"The product has been stable and reliable."

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

"For non-production purposes. I'm just using it for my personal project, so it works quite well. I haven't faced any errors yet."

More MariaDB pros

"It is very robust for ad hoc DW queries and its columnar compression is unique and valuable."

"Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance."

"Valuable features for us include the compression, speed, fast response time, and easy object maintenance."

"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."

"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."

"The initial setup is easy."

"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."

"The product is easy to learn."

More SAP IQ pros

Cons

"The dashboard and pricing need improvement."

"The stability could always continue to be improved upon."

"There is not much support available."

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

"It's not very stable. It needs improvement."

"MariaDB could improve by adding support for non-relational structures and new data types."

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

"I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex."

More MariaDB cons

"I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set."

"The tool gets stuck sometimes."

"The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future."

"The solution works best when combined with other SAP solutions. If the environment has other systems other options might be better."

"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."

"The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru."

"There is very little documentation available."

"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."

More SAP IQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I used the open-source version, which is available free of charge."

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

"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."

"The product is not expensive."

"MariaDB is available for free."

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

"It's an open-source solution."

"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

"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."

"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."

"Negotiate based on the features required."

"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."

"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."

"Negotiation is very important."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

42%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

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

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?

IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP IQ?

The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?

I worked on implementing new databases, migration data in production, and developer environments with SAP IQ.

See all answers

Comparisons

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 23% of the time

Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 23% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MariaDB

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Database vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

Snowflake vs SAP IQ

Compared 25% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP IQ

Compared 16% of the time

SQL Server vs SAP IQ

Compared 11% of the time

Apache Hadoop vs SAP IQ

Compared 8% of the time

OpenText Analytics Database (Vertica) vs SAP IQ

Compared 8% of the time

More SAP IQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB

June 2025

Download MariaDB product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP IQ

May 2025

Download SAP IQ product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sybase IQ

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

SAP® IQ software delivers speed and power for extreme-scale enterprise data warehousing and analytics. Its column-oriented, grid-based massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture and patented data compression and indexing technologies enable companies to exploit the value of huge amounts of data at the speed of business.

SAP

Sample Customers

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

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

MariaDB vs. SAP IQ

June 2025

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