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MySQL vs SAP SQL Anywhere 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

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)
SAP SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
31st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MySQL is 5.8%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 1.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
MySQL5.8%
SAP SQL Anywhere1.2%
Other93.0%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Crewmem67 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at College Notre Dame de Nazareth
Reliable and able to expand but needs to be more secure
It is not as good as a SQL Server. I prefer to work with the SQL Server for Microsoft or Oracle. These are better as there are some comments on SQL Anywhere that makes me feel that I'm blocked. We'd like to have them update to a new version. They should update more often. I find I can't move to a new version without running tests as there are chances of bugs that can get into my system. The initial setup is not simple or straightforward, and it took a while to deploy. It is not as secure as it could be. This is an aspect they need to improve. There needs to be more encryption.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"MySQL is a scalable tool. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten."
"What I've been most pleased with is the cost point, performance, and ease of use."
"I find MySQL's relational data storage format very useful for data management. Our structure is well-defined and easy for end users and business stakeholders to read. I appreciate the tool's simplicity and ability to integrate with our backend tools."
"Setup is easy. MySQL of various flavours has community editions to easily test, deploy, and run.​"
"Table partitioning is most valuable. It is easy to use."
"MySQL is the best option for the Laravel PHP framework."
"This product is a good teaching tool for students who want to learn about networked databases."
"It was easy to install."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
"It works well in general."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
 

Cons

"Scalability could be improved."
"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."
"I would like to have the ability to cancel a query in SQL Developer."
"In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release, one thing that's always missing is dash boarding. There's no real BI tool for MySQL, like there is in Yellowfin and all the different tools that you get. They all have MySQL connectors, but there's no specific BI tool for MySQL. These open source projects have sprung up, but they're more general purpose."
"The workbench could be improved. In particular, error messages can be improved, which are horrific and completely unhelpful. I'd like to see improved parsing of errors. When you write SQL and it crashes, it usually is something completely irrelevant and not helpful. I've started to use GPT 3.5 for finding out how to do things. I got to do something a bit different, and that I found to be very useful. If there was some way to tie it into one of the new AI tools, that would probably be a good idea."
"While utilizing a comparable algorithm, is noted to be sensitive, especially when configuring the inner device."
"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."
"I am looking for the Temporal SQL feature, which basically means that there is complete history for each table. This feature is currently available in MariaDB. PostgreSQL has something called a foreign-data wrapper, which is another way to access external data from inside. MySQL could have a similar feature."
"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
"We have had some stability issues with SAP SQL Anywhere, but I am not sure if it is an application or network issue. We sometimes have a large amount of data being queried and it cannot handle it."
"It is not as secure as it could be."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I use the open-source free community version."
"I don't pay for a license."
"It is an open source platform."
"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."
"It's cheaper than other solutions."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"We pay a yearly subscription fee."
"MySQL is a cheap solution."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise62
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Ask a question
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase SQL Anywhere
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
AOK Bundesverband, Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, Molson Coors Brewing Company, City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International, Wªrth Group, Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba, RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association, TALLY WEiJL
Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.