Citus Data vs MariaDB comparison

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Citus Data

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

MariaDB and Citus Data are competitive products in the realm of database solutions. MariaDB stands out due to its robust feature set and attractive pricing, offering significant versatility with advanced security options and wide compatibility across platforms. Conversely, Citus Data offers superior scalability and performance, making it particularly appealing for environments requiring distributed database solutions.

Features: MariaDB provides high compatibility with MySQL, integrates advanced security protocols, and supports hybrid cloud environments. Citus Data delivers horizontal scalability, distributed transaction capabilities, and seamless integration with PostgreSQL. These features underscore MariaDB's emphasis on adaptability and security, contrasting with Citus Data's focus on large-scale data management and PostgreSQL integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MariaDB ensures straightforward deployment with hybrid cloud support and robust customer service. Citus Data targets large-scale, distributed settings with consultative support tailored to optimize its architecture, focusing on ensuring efficient deployment in complex environments. This highlights MariaDB's dedication to flexibility and comprehensive support, while Citus Data's approach suits extensive, distributed applications.

Pricing and ROI: MariaDB offers competitive initial costs with appealing ROI, attributed to its inclusive feature set and flexible deployment. Citus Data, although incurring higher initial costs, provides considerable ROI through enhanced scalability and performance, particularly in distributed database settings. The comparative analysis indicates MariaDB's cost-effectiveness with moderate ROI, whereas Citus Data delivers substantial ROI potential in scalable deployments despite higher upfront investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Citus Data vs. MariaDB Report (Updated: March 2026).

Citus Data vs. MariaDB

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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

Citus Data

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

27th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

MariaDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Citus Data is 2.4%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 4.2%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
MariaDB	4.2%
Citus Data	2.4%
Other	93.4%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Arucy Lionel

Co-Founder at Afriziki

Efficiently handles high-traffic scenarios and compatible with PostgreSQL extensions, offering flexibility in database management

There are many areas of improvement , especially in terms of DDL query routing. Even though it's masterless, DDL queries need to be sent to the coordinator node. Also, setting up a multi-node environment could be more straightforward. Currently, setting up a multi-node environment is challenging. It's a bit tricky. Installation on each PostgreSQL node can lead to communication issues between nodes. An automatic rebalancing feature would be a significant improvement. Currently, I have to manually command the rebalance. It would be more convenient if it was rebalanced automatically. The dashboard and monitoring capabilities are good, but it would be helpful to have an integrated availability dashboard.

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Anand Bandi

Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd

Has supported web application data needs but requires design adjustments to manage complex queries efficiently

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 certain data and complex queries, we see performance issues. We tried the advanced replication feature between different regions, replicating data specifically residing on MariaDB to two different regions of MariaDB data, and there were some technical snags in terms of slowness and longer processing time. Point-in-time recovery in MariaDB is good for small databases. When data volume increases beyond 5 GB or 10 GB per day or runs into double-digit GBs, we found some performance issues. For data below 10 GB, it works fine. Performance is the primary focus area for MariaDB, particularly during transactions or complex query jobs where slow performance is observed. MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.

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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

"You can use Citus Data to write complex scripts. I like its version upgrades and disaster recovery as well."

"Its distributed processing capabilities are a standout feature. It requires minimal changes to get up and running if you already have a system on PostgreSQL. Citus can run in its natural state."

"It's very straightforward to implement the solution. It took us two days to set up everything."

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

"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."

"Great monitoring and performance stability."

"If you want a reliable, easy to maintain database solution, I think that MariaDB on RedHat/CentOS is an option that every DBA should consider."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the query speed it offers."

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

"The performance is very good."

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

More MariaDB pros

Cons

"Citus Data needs to improve its stability. Do not consider this product if you have the budget. It is still developing and has a lot of issues."

"There are many areas of improvement , especially in terms of DDL query routing. Even though it's masterless, DDL queries need to be sent to the coordinator node. Also, setting up a multi-node environment could be more straightforward."

"More features in monitoring and the reporting could make it better."

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

"There could be a command-line prompt for repairing the database and fixing indexes, similar to what was available in the old MyISAM storage engine."

"Replication could be better, and it's not so simple. It would be better if they had a replication server. It would make things a lot easier. You need to have that replication server, but not in the same server farm. Then there will be a bit of latency between both because you should have one in one city and another one in a different city. That kind of solution should be more baked into every single database today. Mirroring the database in a live environment where any record written on the production server replicates instantly across the fiber on the other server wasn't easy. Many people don't even bother with that, and they just run one server."

"The price could be less expensive."

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

"MariaDB could be improved by adding more automation."

"It would be good if they can maybe improve the mass import in the database. Currently, for importing a large number of data, we create a CSV file and upload all the things in the system. The system does not activate them by default. We have to do this manually. This may be due to the version we are using, but this is something we would like to see improved."

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

More MariaDB cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Citus Data is an open-source product."

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

"It is an open-source solution."

"The product is not expensive."

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

"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."

"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."

"The price could be less expensive."

"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."

More MariaDB pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Consumer Goods Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

University

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	27
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	26

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about MariaDB?

The integration with other products is seamless.

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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 ...

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What needs improvement with MariaDB?

Sometimes, complex queries that were supported in Oracle are not available in MariaDB. Advanced indexing is not available. Oracle is very advanced compared to MariaDB, and those advanced features a...

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Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Neon vs Citus Data

Compared 12% of the time

MySQL vs Citus Data

Compared 3% of the time

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Firebird SQL vs MariaDB

Compared 16% of the time

SQL Server vs MariaDB

Compared 13% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MariaDB

Compared 11% of the time

MySQL vs MariaDB

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Database vs MariaDB

Compared 6% of the time

More MariaDB Competitors

Product Reports

Relational Databases Tools

Download Citus Data product report

Download MariaDB product report

Overview

Citus is a distributed database that extends PostgreSQL, allowing you to continue using all the powerful Postgres features while still scaling.

Whether you're running into a ceiling on a single node, or need more performance for real-time analytical queries Citus can help.

Citus Data

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.”

Sample Customers

Cloud Flare, Agari, Mix Rank, Heap

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

Citus Data vs. MariaDB