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MySQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

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
ProductMarket Share (%)
MySQL9.2%
PostgreSQL16.8%
Other74.0%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Prabir Kumar Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
PavithrarajShetty - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

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 most valuable feature of MySQL is auto-scaling."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The solution is free to use, which is its most valuable aspect."
"MySQL solution is overall stable."
"The installation process for the most scalable solution is remarkably quick, taking only a short amount of time."
"We use it as a data store and from that perspective, we get everything we need."
"SKIP LOCKED is a valuable feature."
"The product is quite flexible."
"We often use PostgreSQL for operations monitoring because we are a manufacturing company."
"Clustering will be the number 1 feature. It is also open-source so it is free. It can also be clustered, to allow fault tolerance."
"What I like is that it's quite powerful in terms of performance."
"It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping."
"The database has excellent performance."
"The solution is quite stable."
"I like that you can move any relational database from Oracle to PostgreSQL. I also like that it's pretty stable."
 

Cons

"At times, the autoscaling does not happen when there is a surge in load."
"I would like to improve the solution’s pricing for licenses."
"Its performance should be better. When we use big data, it is slow in performance. We should be able to use mirroring for improved performance."
"The workbench could be improved. In particular, error messages can be improved, which are horrific and completely unhelpful. I'd like to see improved parsing of errors. When you write SQL and it crashes, it usually is something completely irrelevant and not helpful. I've started to use GPT 3.5 for finding out how to do things. I got to do something a bit different, and that I found to be very useful. If there was some way to tie it into one of the new AI tools, that would probably be a good idea."
"MySQL lacks a feature akin to Oracle's Real Application Clusters, which ensures continuous database availability within the same data center or nearby data centers."
"MySQL could introduce more indexing strategies."
"I would like to see some improvements in the solution’s integration aspects."
"There are some issues with compatibility with Java environments that need to be improved. When Oracle bought this solution there were some driver changes that caused some issues with operations."
"PostgreSQL could improve by being more user-friendly. In SQL Server they have a studio where you can easily do management but not in this solution."
"It would be good to have machine learning functionality in this solution, similar to Microsoft SQL Server and other solutions. Machine learning capability for a basic level or a common user would be useful. It can also have good reporting capabilities."
"The search option is not very good."
"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."
"The interface climate could be better."
"I'd like to see better memory management. I think that that's one of the few areas that Postgres does not handle as well as MySQL does or did."
"They need to improve the user experience of the management."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is good because we have a good partner."
"We are using the free version of MySQL. We prefer paying for a yearly license."
"We are using the free community edition of MySQL."
"We've never bought a commercial license. We just use the open-source community edition."
"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."
"We pay a yearly subscription fee."
"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."
"There is a licensing cost because we are going for a proprietary product. There are some other versions for which there is no licensing cost."
"The community version of Postgre is basically free."
"PostgreSQL is open-source, so if capable admins are available then the setup cost can be $0."
"Our company pays for it. There are free versions available, but for advanced features, you obviously have to pay."
"The need for our customers to pay for licences is contingent on their projects and budgets."
"We do not pay for licensing."
"There is an annual license."
"It is an open-source platform."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business73
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise61
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business58
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise45
 

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.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.