MySQL vs SAP SQL Anywhere comparison

Oracle and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Oracle is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3, while SAP is ranked #31. Oracle holds a 5.8% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Oracle users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of SAP users who would recommend it.

MySQL

Read 153 MySQL reviews

8,855 Views
3,985 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SAP SQL Anywhere

Read 6 SAP SQL Anywhere reviews

735 Views
720 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

MySQL

SAP SQL Anywhere

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP SQL Anywhere and MySQL are both database management systems catering to different business needs, with MySQL often seen as superior due to its feature-rich offerings that justify its cost for a broader user base.

Features: SAP SQL Anywhere includes features like synchronization and mobile application support, making it ideal for remote and embedded environments. MySQL offers extensive scalability, data replication, and benefits from a strong community-driven development platform, making it broadly applicable.

Room for Improvement: SAP SQL Anywhere could improve its pricing model to be more competitive and expand its scalability options. It may also enhance community support as it relies on vendor support. MySQL, on the other hand, could simplify its deployment process for smaller setups, improve documentation for niche use cases, and enhance mobile app integration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP SQL Anywhere provides an easier setup for smaller implementations, favoring those in need of lightweight databases. MySQL's complex architecture supports large-scale deployments, benefiting from an extensive community providing abundant resources. SAP offers direct vendor support, which is more tailored.

Pricing and ROI: SAP SQL Anywhere involves higher upfront costs but may offer better ROI for specialized deployments due to tailored support. MySQL, being open-source, usually incurs lower setup costs with its extensive features and scalability, resulting in efficient operations and potentially superior long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere

February 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 881,707 peers since 2012

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

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
Product	Market Share (%)
MySQL	5.8%
SAP SQL Anywhere	1.2%
Other	93.0%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Pranay Jain

Software engineer 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.

Read full review

Crewmem67

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A good traditional database that supports JSON."

"As an RDBMS, MySQL provides us great capability, and for a product growing to large scale like ours, where we currently have around 10 lakh users but will grow to 20, 30, 40 million or more, having a strong database foundation is essential and MySQL provides that."

"The most valuable features are that it's free and the documentation is good."

"The IO segregation in CGE is valuable."

"MySQL is a popular database platform for businesses because it is extremely easy to use."

"It's a good tool, a good database platform."

"It is easy to use. It is simple to implement, which makes it suitable for our projects because we have deadlines. MySQL is also open-source, which is another plus point."

"The ML modules in MySQL are advantageous since they make data handling easy and quick at MNQM."

More MySQL pros

"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."

"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."

"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."

"It works well in general."

Cons

"Sometimes, not because the version is not the latest version, there are some issues with it. Sometimes there's an issue with the server which creates issues with it."

"The only service which could be improved is its usability. The entire user experience needs to be revamped to meet the 2018 design standards."

"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."

"MySQL could introduce more indexing strategies."

"The availability of tools could be improved in the MySQL open-source platform. They can provide more analytical tools. I haven't had any particularly difficult issues to troubleshoot on MySQL, but in the past, on Microsoft SQL Server, I had to troubleshoot some difficult issues, and better tools were in place to see what was going on in real-time on the server. So, that's the bit that is lacking on the MySQL open-source platform."

"When working with a cluster wide, I have to use the MySQL cluster version."

"We require more ease of use, scalability, and high availability. These are some of the critical features that we use and look for in a product. It should be easier to manage clusters. Scalability is very important for us because our projects and concurrency requirements are quite big. We also require high availability of the server, application, and other things. It should also have more performance-based features or enhancements from the performance point of view. When we divide a database, it should be able to handle the queries very fast."

"The tool needs to improve table visualization."

More MySQL cons

"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."

"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."

"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14."

"It is not as secure as it could be."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."

"MySQL is a free and open-source solution."

"MySQL is cheaper than Microsoft SQL Server."

"MySQL is free."

"The tool is open source."

"I use the open-source free community version."

"MySQL is a cheap solution."

"The pricing is not much expensive, it's cheap."

More MySQL pricing and cost advice

"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."

"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

University

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	75
Midsize Enterprise	32
Large Enterprise	62

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Firebird SQL vs MySQL

Compared 23% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MySQL

Compared 10% of the time

SQL Server vs MySQL

Compared 6% of the time

MariaDB vs MySQL

Compared 5% of the time

SAP HANA vs MySQL

Compared 4% of the time

More MySQL Competitors

SQL Server vs SAP SQL Anywhere

Compared 28% of the time

Oracle Database vs SAP SQL Anywhere

Compared 20% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP SQL Anywhere

Compared 17% of the time

SAP IQ vs SAP SQL Anywhere

Compared 8% of the time

MariaDB vs SAP SQL Anywhere

Compared 8% of the time

More SAP SQL Anywhere Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

MySQL

January 2026

Download MySQL product report

Buyer's Guide

Relational Databases Tools

January 2026

Download SAP SQL Anywhere product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sybase SQL Anywhere

Overview

MySQL is an open-source database known for its ease of use and high performance. It offers features like replication and clustering, making it ideal for diverse applications. Its cost-effectiveness and LAMP integration are key advantages for businesses.

MySQL supports a variety of languages and platforms, providing reliable, scalable data management. Its graphical interface and LAMP architecture integration enhance its usability, while community support further strengthens its appeal. Challenges include scalability issues with large databases, lack of advanced clustering, and limited high-availability features. Complex queries may affect performance, and integration can pose difficulties. The outdated interface and insufficient documentation are also concerns, along with replication and backup reliability issues.

What are MySQL's key features?

Open-source nature: Freely available and customizable.
Cross-platform compatibility: Supports multiple operating systems.
Scalability: Capable of handling large volumes of data.
Replication and clustering: Ensure data redundancy and load balancing.
Full-text search: Provides powerful search capabilities.
LAMP integration: Seamlessly integrates with Linux, Apache, and PHP.

What benefits should users consider?

Cost-effectiveness: Reduces expenses due to its open-source nature.
High performance: Efficiently processes large volumes of data.
Active community support: Access to a wide range of resources and expertise.
Versatile use cases: Suitable for varied applications including web development and IoT.

MySQL is widely implemented in industries such as web development, e-commerce, and finance. It's used for managing dynamic websites, powering e-commerce platforms, and supporting financial applications. Its compatibility with PHP and cost-effectiveness make it suitable for CMS platforms like WordPress. With cloud services integration, MySQL is a backend choice for scalable applications in various sectors.

Oracle

SAP SQL Anywhere enables companies to develop custom mobile and IoT application and rapidly design and deploy embedded database applications. The RDBMS solutions can provide secure, reliable data management and synchronization for thousands of mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, and remote environments. They let business users work uninterrupted, even without a network connection.

SAP

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

Buyer's Guide

MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere

February 2026

Free Report: MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere

Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere report.

See our list of best Relational Databases Tools vendors.

We monitor all Relational Databases Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.