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LocalDB 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

LocalDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
17th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
6
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 LocalDB is 1.5%, down from 2.7% 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%
LocalDB1.5%
Other92.7%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Srini-Dhanaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & CEO at imfine.club
The database always has structured data, like rows, columns, and bases
LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good. Any startup can use a local database to start. Once they grow beyond its limits, they can migrate to a MS SQL server that's also available on-premises. I rate it ten out of ten.
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

"The solution is fast."
"The initial setup was simple."
"The most valuable feature of LocalDBis the connection between the application and DB."
"The initial setup is very straightforward. The guidelines are very easy to follow. Maintenance is very easy and requires very little manpower."
"LocalDB is an excellent solution for learners, beginners, and projects of negligible size; it is very good."
"It was easy to install."
"The most valuable feature of MySQL is its reliability and performance."
"I like MySQL because of its community."
"The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities."
"The tool is open-source and there is no cost involved in its use."
"SKIP LOCKED is a valuable feature."
"The solution is very stable."
"For sure, the solution is very stable."
 

Cons

"The ALM features can be improved, but the database by itself is reliable."
"The initial setup is complex and requires a skilled person."
"It is only for a small amount of data. Local DB is made for the purpose of small-volume optics."
"The solution needs to create a management tool. Right now, the solution has tools for creating a local installation, but it's too simplistic. We need something that's a bit more complex so that we can extend the tools with our scripts."
"The internal connection features of LocalDB could improve."
"Sometimes, I get lost in the toggles and buttons, and a better visual design would be nice. The layout is not user-friendly or efficient."
"At times, the autoscaling does not happen when there is a surge in load."
"It isn't as reliable as an SQL Server."
"The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side."
"The performance, stability, and security are areas with shortcomings in MySQL, where improvements are required."
"I would like to see more integrations of the solution with other platforms and improve the support on different data types."
"The auto-tuning and NDB cluster has some limitations regarding foreign keys."
"The solution is expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The fees are fair."
"The licensing cost is too high for LocalDB."
"MySQL Enterprise Support is not cheap, though might still be cheaper than Oracle or SQL Server. They may not have local support depending on where you’re based, but there are many smaller agencies out there that will readily provide support. You’ll need to spend some time looking around."
"There is a license needed for this solution."
"There is not a license required for this solution."
"There is no cost involved, no licensing fees."
"It is open source. We prefer it for POCs because it saves the license cost."
"We are using the free community edition of MySQL."
"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."
"The pricing is not much expensive, it's cheap."
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Top Industries

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

What needs improvement with LocalDB?
Technically speaking, you don't need to get any updates because it's not online. It's on-premise. So once it is installed, then you get a desktop-grade version. But the purpose of LocalDB is not th...
What is your primary use case for LocalDB?
There were multiple systems, some planned, like the mainframe, the gold database, a website, and a manual Excel spreadsheet. These were the various data sources, and we wanted to bring everything i...
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

AstraZeneca, Kienzle Automotive GmbH, Kodak Alaris, Unilever, Floatel International and Kongsberg Maritime, MyHero
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 LocalDB vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.