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Firebird SQL vs MariaDB 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

Firebird SQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (4th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Open Source Databases
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 15.2%, down from 20.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.7%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Firebird SQL15.2%
MariaDB6.7%
Other78.1%
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Ruben Conti - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance for up to a hundred end users, open source and easy to setup
Firebird can compete with well-known names like Oracle and SQL Server when you don't have more than a few hundred thousand users. It's a level below SQL Server, and the application of SQL is a kind of database you can rely on for situations where you don't have too much information to deal with. For example, you can use it for the internet or national projects, but when you have millions of users, then it's not possible for other services.
KumarManish - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products
We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"I appreciate the fact that, once the database is embedded, it doesn't need to be administered, and removes the requirement for a specific server."
"The product was easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is reliable, offers good performance, and is easy to use."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"The most valuable feature of Firebird SQL is the creation of databases."
"The documentation is very well written."
"The solution is very useful for stock management."
"The speed and functionality are the most valuable features."
"MariaDB can solve things better than MySQL. Maria DB has better performance than MySQL."
"From the user's perspective, the performance of the columnar queries is very good in terms of the database when comparing it to the Oracle, and MySQL."
"It is a stable solution."
"I like the global transaction IDs (GTIDs) feature. It's quite reliable for replication between a master and a replica server, and it's a feature that MySQL also has but implemented differently."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the replication mode."
"The solution's features have effectively met our operational requirements as a standard SQL database."
"Easy to use and available in most environments."
 

Cons

"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product."
"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"I don't think the solution is very scalable, because the scalability of the performance when using more than one process is not very good."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"It would be interesting if they added functionality with redundancy, reputation, and variability."
"Technical support and performance could be better. We have some problems with this solution, but we don't know if the problem is with the database or the configuration. For example, sometimes, the users can't access the database."
"We'd like more data intelligence."
"The features available are very basic."
"The ability to create stored procedures in MariaDB is an area where the tool lacks a bit."
"MariaDB can improve by adding more features. There are a lot of features, which are available in Oracle, and which are not available in MariaDB. We hope they will introduce the features soon."
"The solution is not scalable."
"The scaling for database online transactions needs improvement."
"With respect to clustering and the master-slave configuration, sometimes the slave goes out of synch."
"An improvement would be scaling it up to the levels of Oracle, especially when it comes to resilience, so that we can do higher transactions for two databases or power our operation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"It's open-source and free."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"It is okay."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"The tool is open source."
"This is an open source solution with no licensing fees."
"My company uses the free version of the solution."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"We use the solution's free version."
"It's an open-source solution."
"The price could be less expensive."
"The product is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

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 Firebird SQL?
Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.