MySQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

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MySQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

PostgreSQL and MySQL are both prominent contenders in the open-source database management system category. While PostgreSQL often has an edge due to its advanced functionality and compliance with standards, MySQL attracts users with its speed and ease of deployment.

Features: PostgreSQL is known for comprehensive SQL standard support, robustness, and advanced functionality, ideal for feature-rich applications. It handles complex queries and data integrity well. MySQL excels in speed and reliability for web applications, integrates well with programming languages, and is known for fast transaction handling and web integration.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL lacks MySQL's broad compatibility with open-source applications, struggles with read-only queries, and does not support some SQL operations like 'INSERT IGNORE'. It also has challenges in user-friendliness and documentation complexity. MySQL faces limitations in standard SQL compliance, complex features like clustering, and lacks advanced replication features available in premium offerings.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PostgreSQL offers a wide deployment range, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, supported by a strong community but lacking formal technical support. MySQL provides similar deployment flexibility, enhanced by extensive community and enterprise-level support options from Oracle.

Pricing and ROI: Both PostgreSQL and MySQL are open-source with a low total cost of ownership. PostgreSQL's costs are mainly in training and implementation, with support available through consultancy. MySQL offers a free community version and a commercial enterprise edition with advanced features and support, delivering high ROI due to its functionality and cost-effectiveness.

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

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MySQL vs. PostgreSQL

July 2025

Helped 866,483 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

MySQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

150

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 September 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of MySQL is 9.2%, down from 15.2% 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 (%)
MySQL	9.2%
PostgreSQL	16.8%
Other	74.0%

Open Source Databases

Featured Reviews

Prabir Kumar Kundu

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.

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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.

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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

"The solution is a small application and is very easy to deploy."

"The deployment process is pretty fast."

"While MySQL offers strong basic functionality."

"Table partitioning is most valuable. It is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."

"I would use MySQL for a medium project, with around 1,00,000 hundred thousand users, because of the indexing and stored procedures."

"This is a lightweight product that is not demanding on the resources, which is what I think gives it the edge."

"I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten since it has been running flawlessly."

More MySQL pros

"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."

"The community support and the open-source community for it are good."

"The solution provides complete support in terms of the SQL dialect and behaves nicely when it comes to transactions."

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

"The solution has many valuable features such as it easy to use and the interface is intuitive."

"PostgreSQL is very easy to use. I have experience in Oracle SQL and PostgreSQL uses the same syntax which makes it is easy for me to develop."

"It is very simple to manage."

"The product is quite flexible."

Cons

"The product is a little bit complex and it is difficult to find sufficient documentation."

"It should provide better customer experiences."

"Rather than going in-depth about the technical features, which a technical person can directly tell, I would say that MySQL should be able to adapt to the next framework. The 5G framework means an unstructured framework. So if MySQL becomes smoother and more adaptable, it'll be easier."

"When I run into issues, I really have to research how to fix them."

"The solution could be more secure."

"MySQL could be improved by adding more automation."

"It can have better monitoring. In addition, the enterprise manager should be able to cater to more than one virtual machine. Currently, you need one license per server. It seems a bit too much to get one license for one enterprise manager. I hope the enterprise manager for MySQL can accommodate more virtual machines for MySQL."

"MySQL doesn't have the auto-clustering and database clustering features that other competitors provide. They can include these features."

More MySQL cons

"The scalability is limited."

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

"I have noticed that user and access management should be improved."

"It could be more secure."

"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 user interface could be a bit better."

"I had some issues when I integrated with the Jupyter Notebook."

"Sometimes, the views create problems. If you don't have the view, sometimes what happens is you need to have the drivers properly set up for PostgreSQL."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a yearly subscription fee."

"We are using the free community version of the solution."

"The tool is open source."

"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."

"I use a free version at present."

"It has a community version."

"There is no cost involved, no licensing fees."

"For the on-premise version, no license is required."

More MySQL pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"It is an open-source platform."

"Our company pays for it. There are free versions available, but for advanced features, you obviously have to pay."

"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."

"This solution can offer a cheaper choice for customers since it is open-source."

"There is an annual license."

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

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	73
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	61

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

Questions from the Community

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...

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...

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.

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.

Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL

Comparisons

Firebird SQL vs MySQL

Compared 23% of the time

SAP HANA vs MySQL

Compared 8% of the time

MariaDB vs MySQL

Compared 6% of the time

SQL Server vs MySQL

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle Database vs MySQL

Compared 5% of the time

More MySQL Competitors

Compared 32% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs PostgreSQL

Compared 9% of the time

MariaDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 8% of the time

Chroma vs PostgreSQL

Compared 7% of the time

LanceDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 4% of the time

Product Reports

Download MySQL product report

MySQL

August 2025

Download PostgreSQL product report

August 2025

Overview

MySQL is a cost-efficient and scalable relational database management system widely used in web, mobile applications, and academic projects.

MySQL is utilized for backend operations, data analysis, reporting, financial transactions, and ERP databases. It supports deployment on local servers, Cloud, and Kubernetes. Its free, open-source nature along with strong community support make it popular among companies. MySQL's compatibility with multiple platforms and programming languages enhances its appeal. While it remains stable and easy to use, areas such as replication, clustering, and backup require improvement to better serve enterprise applications. Enhanced security, error messages, and monitoring tools are also desired for a better user experience.

What are the most important features of MySQL?

Free and Open-Source: No licensing costs, perfect for budget-conscious projects.
Compatibility: Works with multiple platforms and programming languages.
High Performance: Efficient performance across large datasets.
Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business needs.
Clustering and Replication: Ensures data availability and redundancy.
Easy Installation: Quick setup process on various operating systems.
Community Support: Extensive resources and community assistance.
Cross-Platform: Operates seamlessly on different operating systems.
Data Management Interface: Simplifies data handling and manipulation.

What are the benefits of using MySQL?

Cost Efficiency: Reduce expenses with a free, open-source database.
Scalability: Adapt to increasing data demands effortlessly.
Performance: Handle large datasets with ease and speed.
Community Support: Access a vast pool of knowledge and resources.
Flexibility: Integrate with various platforms and languages for diverse use cases.
Data Reliability: Clustering and replication for high data availability.

In multiple industries, MySQL supports internal applications, billing systems, academic teaching purposes, and ERP databases. Companies leverage MySQL for Cloud and local deployments, ensuring effective data manipulation and backend operations in diverse projects. Its role in financial transactions and reporting further emphasizes its versatility.

Oracle

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.

Sample Customers

Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.

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