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CockroachDB 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
CockroachDB's serverless model provides cost-effective, versatile cloud solutions, offering significant savings and operational advantages over separate environments.
Sentiment score
6.2
MySQL offers cost benefits with open-source use, achieving up to 60% ROI, despite challenges in precise financial calculations.
I have seen a return on investment with MySQL, as it allows us to manage with fewer employees, focusing on business logic rather than database management.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
If we want to scale to 30 or 40 lakh people, then it is still possible, covering three to four million users.
Software engineer at Simplifyvms
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
CockroachDB customer service is mixed; technical support quality varies, with users praising the AI chatbot, but responsiveness needs improvement.
Sentiment score
6.8
MySQL users primarily rely on community resources for support, with official Oracle support noted as costly but effective.
The issue was resolved efficiently.
Manager, Software Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the documentation and online support a 10 out of 10.
Student at a university with 10,001+ employees
We have no issues and usually receive timely responses.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
Oracle provides customer support, and we can submit service requests that they solve on a 24/7 basis.
Software engineer at Simplifyvms
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
CockroachDB excels in scalability and resource management, praised for seamless scaling from small to large, supporting diverse needs efficiently.
Sentiment score
6.7
MySQL scalability depends on the specific environment, with challenges arising in larger applications and benefits from cloud solutions.
Meeting scalability requirements through cloud computing is an expensive affair.
Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If the database foundation is very good with well-thought-out table structure and everything, then scalability is easy.
Software engineer at Simplifyvms
MySQL's scalability is currently adequate, as we have increased operations from ten thousand to twelve thousand devices, and it is working fine for us.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
CockroachDB is stable overall, highly rated for reliability but faces challenges with protocol issues and large, complex workloads.
Sentiment score
7.7
MySQL is generally stable and reliable but faces issues with large data operations and server overload, needing regular maintenance.
We face certain integration issues, especially when we integrate the database with security solutions like IBM QRadar.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
The product that I am working on is quite stable because we have been using it for three years, and it hasn't given us any problems.
Software engineer at Simplifyvms
From my experience, MySQL was pretty stable.
Student at a university with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

CockroachDB requires improvements in documentation, compatibility, UI features, disaster recovery, latency optimization, integration, and cost efficiency for global deployment.
MySQL needs improved scalability, performance, integration, replication, user interface, security, monitoring tools, documentation, backup, and clustering.
For multi-region deployment, CockroachDB requires at least three plus replicas across data centers to achieve strong consistency across regions, which increases infrastructure costs including compute, storage, and networking.
Manager, Software Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It could be more beneficial if MySQL can enhance its data masking functionality in the same way it has improved data encryption.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
Oracle could improve on scalability.
Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The load balancer, MySQL LB, which is used to connect to the application, lacks clear documentation.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find CockroachDB affordable and reliable, with flexible pricing options appealing despite some perceiving high costs.
MySQL's free community edition is popular, while the paid Enterprise edition offers advanced features and lower costs than competitors.
Oracle has different components, so if you need security, you have to procure a different license, but here everything is inbuilt and it's not costly.
SR AVP–Presales Cloud & Platform Management Services at Path Infotech ltd
 

Valuable Features

CockroachDB provides easy setup, fault tolerance, scalability, and security, while supporting PostgreSQL compatibility for optimal performance across regions.
MySQL offers fast performance, open-source adaptability, reliability, scalability, and excels in web applications with strong community support.
CockroachDB's geo-distribution feature is superior to traditional databases.
Manager, Software Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment.
Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan
The main feature we utilize in MySQL is the view, and I can say that it is the most valuable feature for our needs.
Software Developer at 8 Gallery India
As an RDBMS, MySQL provides us great capability. 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. MySQL provides that.
Software engineer at Simplifyvms
 

Categories and Ranking

CockroachDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Vector Databases (15th), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (10th)
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 CockroachDB is 4.0%, up from 3.4% 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%
CockroachDB4.0%
Other90.2%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

SC
Manager, Software Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Provides developer-friendly environment with robust security and cost-efficiency
The platform should provide a UI feature where users have the ability to manage it. The CockroachDB platform should have a chatbot where users can inquire about pricing or seek solutions for queries, rather than relying on email support. The current UI only provides SQL playground, which is technical. There should be a UI playground where users with limited technical knowledge can run and update queries, similar to phpMyAdmin or Adminer. Latency optimization could be improved for globally distributed applications, particularly in query routing. For multi-region deployment, CockroachDB requires at least three plus replicas across data centers to achieve strong consistency across regions, which increases infrastructure costs including compute, storage, and networking. The disadvantages include cost-efficiency with multi-region deployment and schema migration speed, which should be faster compared to other drivers. The query optimizer should handle complex queries better through the UI interface.
Pranay Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
Software engineer 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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with CockroachDB?
The platform should provide a UI feature where users have the ability to manage it. The CockroachDB platform should have a chatbot where users can inquire about pricing or seek solutions for querie...
What is your primary use case for CockroachDB?
We have been using CockroachDB for the last two years. From 2023, we started working on a product similar to Google Capture. We decided to work with CockroachDB with Hasura. Hasura is a UI for the ...
What advice do you have for others considering CockroachDB?
The tech support deserves a rating of nine out of ten. My overall rating for CockroachDB is 8 out of 10.
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baidu, Kindred, Tierion, Heroic Labs, Gorgias
Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Find out what your peers are saying about CockroachDB vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.