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Citus Data vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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

Citus Data
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Citus Data is 2.5%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 5.8%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
MySQL5.8%
Citus Data2.5%
Other91.7%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Arucy Lionel - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Pranay Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior software developer at Simplifyvms
Robust relational data foundation has supported rapid growth and improved user data management
MySQL can be improved in several ways. It has connectivity errors and administration troubles that sometimes occur, though not consistently. MySQL has slow queries; sometimes when I run a query, it scans the whole table, and if the data is very large, it takes too much time to retrieve the data. There can be resource bottlenecks with RAM and CPU usage being a little lower than ideal. Monitoring system metrics is crucial because we need to identify and address these types of issues. Schema designing is another area for improvement, as a poorly designed schema can lead to data redundancy in the future. If I haven't initially planned for a 20 lakh user database and am only working with a 1,000 user case, it will be very problematic because in the future, it will affect the whole table structure, and we will need to change everything. Thorough thinking is necessary before even creating the table. MySQL documentation could be better. Sometimes when I need to find something related to MySQL, the documentation is not very comprehensive. If I have a problem with it, I have to go to Stack Overflow or something similar to get the full detail. Additionally, sometimes when we are connecting to local MySQL, it says we cannot connect to SQL, and I don't know the reason. The error messages are not very helpful, so we have to investigate those cases manually. There are multiple instances of this occurring. Documentation can be better overall. The integration capabilities could be improved slightly. Whatever I have used is working fine for me currently, but it could be a little better. The UI of MySQL Workbench, which I use, is not appealing to me, so it could be improved. MySQL overall is very good, and the foundation is very strong. We can develop features around it and different types of things inside it, which will make it better in the future.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very straightforward to implement the solution. It took us two days to set up everything."
"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."
"You can use Citus Data to write complex scripts. I like its version upgrades and disaster recovery as well."
"The most valuable feature of MySQL is auto-scaling."
"As an RDBMS, MySQL provides us great capability, and for a product growing to large scale like ours, where we currently have around 10 lakh users but will grow to 20, 30, 40 million or more, having a strong database foundation is essential and MySQL provides that."
"It is a very stable solution. I deployed the product six years ago, and it still works fine."
"MySQL has cross-platform support for multiple operating systems. The backups on a Linux machine can be restored on a Windows machine, and vice versa."
"MySQL is a very useful database which is used by a lot of companies, so it should be really good."
"One of the most valuable features is MySQL's ability to run our email system. We use a system called Colab."
"MySQL is easy and convenient for me. I don't need to rely on anyone. I can write the code and extract the information. It is fast if you know how to use it. The solution is not expensive, and most of the developers know how to use it. It is easy to create tables. The solution is stable and has good performance. The connection with AWS gives regular updates, which is manual otherwise and a nightmare."
"However, it is easy to scale MySQL using the functions provided with the product."
 

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."
"The solution is expensive."
"The user interface could be more user friendly. Mainly because most of the times we see black and white digital lines. Something like Python."
"The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side."
"It does not stand out regarding scalability. When the company size increases, the user base having actual experience with (very) large MySQL solutions is reduced."
"Some problems with big table operations, and a struggle to keep the servers responding in peak situations."
"There should be an arrangement for end-users to get trained to use the tool...Improvement-wise, a graphical interface could be added for new users, eliminating the need to memorize the complex syntax."
"Could use some additional JSON query support in the solution."
"The manuals or documentation could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Citus Data is an open-source product."
"I am not paying, but I am not sure about the exact licensing requirements."
"There is no cost involved, no licensing fees."
"The tool is open source."
"It has a community version."
"MySQL is free."
"I use the open-source free community version."
"MySQL is a cheap solution."
"I rate the solution's pricing as four out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. For our basic needs, it's quite affordable. However, the cost increases when we need to scale up or require high availability. Our developer team of about 600 people uses MySQL without much issue. The pricing becomes more of a concern on the business side, as we have more end users and need constant database availability and scaling. In those cases, the solution gets a bit more expensive, even though it provides good value for the business."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Consumer Goods Company
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
 

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Find out what your peers are saying about Citus Data vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.