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Firebird SQL vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (2nd)
MySQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 17.2%, down from 20.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 9.7%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Nicolae Ancuta - PeerSpot reviewer
Strong event capabilities, allowing raising and displaying events in applications
On large databases, we have some difficulties. It is one of the areas of improvement. For example, under one gigabyte, it works perfectly. Between one and five gigabytes, you might experience some slight performance issues, but they are not significant. Beyond that, you have to index it, tier it, and perform some restore operations to free up space. It requires some effort, but it's manageable. It's quite challenging for the customer. Moreover, migrating from one firewall solution to another was a little bit difficult regarding the backup and restoring the other one. Since we have many databases, we didn't go forward with the latest versions.
Muzzamil  Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Native encryption ensures secure data management with a simple deployment
The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities. By default, we can provide encryption, and this feature in MySQL is why we prefer it over other databases. The native encryption in MySQL encourages us to use this database model more frequently compared to Oracle and other databases. With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment. It perfectly supports our ROI, and we have no issues with its functionality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that we don't have to pay external fees to migrate this data. So, we are looking to relocate from Postgres or EDB."
"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."
"The product was easy to use."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"The most valuable feature of Firebird SQL is the creation of databases."
"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."
"It's a good tool, a good database platform."
"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."
"MySQL gives us a very user-friendly workspace in which to query the database."
"The solution is easy to use."
"​The most valuable feature of MySQL is the informative error outputs of command line interface.​"
"The easy access to the data and the ability to sort the data with multiple methods are very valuable features."
"Compared to other databases, MySQL is cheaper and we were using the community edition which was free of cost. ML is fully integrated with the database in HeatWave. It has also many other features. MySQL is a far better solution in terms of pricing."
"The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities."
 

Cons

"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"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."
"The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption. It is not at the higher level of database solution but it could be with some upgrades."
"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."
"The main feature I expect is to be able to work with different databases at the same time because that's a wishlist item for me."
"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"They should come up with a better solution than the NDB cluster for better scaling. If they could come up with a better solution for write scaling, apart from the NDB cluster, which is supported by all open source communities, that would be great. Although the NDB cluster, I believe, is an open-source tool, it's not widely supported as a solution."
"Even for the best database, we always want the database to perform much better, so we wish MySQL would be much better, in terms of performance."
"MySQL's performance needs to be improved for enterprise-level applications compared to Oracle and Postgres."
"The performance issues in the product can be considered as an area where improvements are required."
"I would like to see the automatic backup feature in the solution as well. Data is very important and we need to preserve it in a safe place. It would be good if MySQL can back up the data automatically."
"Some problems with big table operations, and a struggle to keep the servers responding in peak situations."
"The full-text search feature must be improved."
"The performance, stability, and security are areas with shortcomings in MySQL, where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"The tool is open source."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"It's open-source and free."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"It is okay."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"We are using the free version of MySQL. We prefer paying for a yearly license."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"MySQL is very cheap. It could be free. It also has a yearly licensing option."
"It is free. It is an open-source platform."
"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."
"I use the open-source free community version."
"The solution’s pricing depends on customer requirements. A license is not required for the community edition."
"I don't pay for a license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
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

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
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 Firebird SQL vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.