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Firebird SQL vs Progress OpenEdge RDBMS 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

Firebird SQL
Ranking in Embedded Database
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (3rd)
Progress OpenEdge RDBMS
Ranking in Embedded Database
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Embedded Database category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 17.8%, down from 24.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Progress OpenEdge RDBMS is 3.9%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded Database Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Firebird SQL17.8%
Progress OpenEdge RDBMS3.9%
Other78.3%
Embedded Database
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1991775 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chapter Lead at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
An open-source database to hold customer data, but its performance should be improved
Firebird SQL significantly improved our data management in many parts of our self-developed ERP system. I rate the solution's performance and speed a six out of ten. Two or three database administrators are needed to maintain the solution. A few years ago, migrating data to or from Firebird SQL was a little bit difficult because the identifier names for tables or stored procedures were limited to 20 to 30 characters. Transferring the structure to Firebird SQL was difficult, but they fixed it in version 3, which was much easier. We are developing software with Delphi, and Delphi is also by Embarcadero. Using InterBase or Firebird SQL databases is very common, and you have some good tools for developing with Firebird SQL. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
reviewer1648848 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Strategic Development at a hospitality company with 1-10 employees
Customizable, intelligent, and reacts in real-time
There aren't any areas of improvement. We have a very long relationship with their R&D group. They're fairly dynamic there, however, it's not the relationships I manage. The only big hurdle for us is that most customers aren't familiar with it, so it's scary. If you're in commercial environments, everybody knows SQL, everybody knows Oracle, or whatever. It doesn't really matter due to the fact that it's embedded, however, they're paying those licenses. The only drawback is you can't just say, "Hey, provide us three Enterprise SQL licenses," and they just go reach into their Microsoft licensing deal and plug them in and go. Instead, it's plugging a new product into the mix that they otherwise would take care of on their own. The apparent cost is higher, however, in the end, it's really not.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The documentation is very well written."
"The product was easy to use."
"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"The solution is very useful for stock management."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"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 reliability and ease of management are very valuable."
"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."
"The product can be scaled in any direction and a very nice feature is that you can logically split the database by the value of the data, which is great."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."
"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."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"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."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"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."
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."
"The only big hurdle for us is that most customers aren't familiar with it, so it's scary. If you're in commercial environments, everybody knows SQL, everybody knows Oracle, or whatever."
"Advanced security would be a good additional feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"It's open-source and free."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"It is okay."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Legal Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
No data available
 

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.
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Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
OpenEdge RDBMS, Progress OpenEdge
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
Apero Solutions, Heath Village, International Energy Services, Exact Software, PepsiCo Russia, Pero, SVK, FreshERP
Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. Progress OpenEdge RDBMS and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.