CockroachDB vs MySQL comparison

Cockroach and Oracle are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Cockroach is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while Oracle is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. Cockroach holds a 3.7% mindshare in SQL, compared to Oracle’s 8.5% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Cockroach users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

CockroachDB

Read 12 CockroachDB reviews

2,677 Views
1,856 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

MySQL

Read 148 MySQL reviews

7,193 Views
5,585 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

CockroachDB

MySQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

MySQL and CockroachDB are both prominent contenders in the database solutions category. MySQL stands out for its platform support and ease of use in small to medium applications, while CockroachDB showcases its strength in distributed architecture and multi-region deployment resilience.

Features: MySQL's features include multi-threaded architecture, exceptional support for replication, and cross-platform compatibility that makes it appealing for small to medium applications. CockroachDB offers high fault tolerance, a robust distributed architecture, and valuable geospatial capabilities, specifically beneficial for geo-partitioning and data residency solutions.

Room for Improvement: MySQL needs simplification in InnoDB complexity, better transaction management, and improved active directory integration. Enhancements are also required in scaling and backup processes. CockroachDB should enhance its PostgreSQL compatibility, disaster recovery features, and serverless environment handling. Improvements in enterprise features for MySQL and seamless integrations for CockroachDB are necessary.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MySQL, adaptable across various infrastructures, benefits from a substantial open-source community, although its official support can be costly. It mainly sees on-premises and hybrid implementations. CockroachDB predominantly operates in public cloud environments with solid community backing but requires better official support services. Community support thrives for both platforms, but the budget for technical support varies.

Pricing and ROI: MySQL is cost-effective, especially in its open-source form, offering a high ROI as it is free in most usage scenarios, aside from some enterprise-level features. CockroachDB's pricing, though high, is justified for users prioritizing high availability and distributed systems, offering flexible pricing models. Both databases provide free entry-level options, with more expensive enterprise editions delivering additional benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed CockroachDB vs. MySQL Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB vs. MySQL

April 2025

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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

CockroachDB

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

MySQL

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

148

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of CockroachDB is 3.7%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 8.5%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Antonio Tringali

Software Engineer at a consultancy with self employed

Open source with extensive documentation and a University for training

I am a freelancer. A client of mine wanted a solution that would allow them to scale yet not abandon the familiar PostgreSQL front-end (and rewrite a part of their source code). Scalability aside, CockroachDB is a fine way forward from PostgreSQL and is not changing the client source code part of the system. If you are lucky and you do not use newer features from recent versions of PostgreSQL or PostgreSQL extensions, it's fine. There are nice-to-have features for big organizations like regional tables. At the moment, my client simply does not use these. However, the serverless offer from CockroachDB is reacting well as data grows.

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Muzzamil Hussain

Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan

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.

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

"The best feature of CockroachDB is the ability to keep the nodes in different locations."

"The initial setup and deployment are simple."

"CockroachDB is highly reliable."

"What I like best is its ability to solve data residency issues. The main advantage is auto geo partitioning, built into the product. This means we don't have to spin up separate servers in each region, which would be much more costly."

"The availability and the easy to use feature is the most valuable. The documentation is also good."

"The tool's most valuable feature is node syncing, which takes only 0.54 milliseconds."

"The most valuable feature is that CockroachDB is a distributed database, which can deploy nodes running in different regions."

"The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported."

More CockroachDB pros

"It has a remote access feature to manage the database from a remote location. This enables in-work collaboration."

"The easy access to the data and the ability to sort the data with multiple methods are very valuable features."

"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."

"However, it is easy to scale MySQL using the functions provided with the product."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The feature that I have found most valuable is its ubiquity. MySQL is everywhere, so if I need to find a developer to do things to it that I don't know, it's very easy to find someone who has expertise in it."

"MySQL is a light database. It's not very complex. It's easy to develop, easy to maintain, and easy to back up and restore."

"The product is flexible and easy to use."

More MySQL pros

Cons

"I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations."

"I find the serverless offer a bit confusing."

"The initial setup and pricing could be improved."

"CockroachDB needs to improve store processes."

"The closer they can make CockroachDB to being completely compatible with Postgres, the better. It's almost compatible, but not completely. If it was, it would be nice to just be able to use Postgres libraries without any fiddling."

"I think the engine itself could be improved. If you miss a partition key, it should be able to be modeled. This is where AI could be really helpful. For example, if a user is from Australia, the system should know to look for their data there first instead of searching in the US or another continent."

"The platform could be more extensible."

"Cockroach does not support all types of protocols. I need to improve it myself to support a CouchDB on my network."

More CockroachDB cons

"Rather than going in-depth about the technical features, which a technical person can directly tell, I would say that MySQL should be able to adapt to the next framework. The 5G framework means an unstructured framework. So if MySQL becomes smoother and more adaptable, it'll be easier."

"The GUI interface probably can be improved. Let us say I want to see the relationships in the database. In the query analyzer, I would like to go and drop the tables and create relationships between the tables. I haven't found a feature like that in MySQL. It was a shortcoming even in SQL Server. MySQL can have more performance monitoring tools. I know Google has these tools, but within MySQL, there are not that many tools to monitor things like performance and database locking. They might be in there, and I might not be familiar enough to know where they are. I am a pretty new user of MySQL."

"The manuals or documentation could be better."

"Some problems with big table operations, and a struggle to keep the servers responding in peak situations."

"I would like to see some improvements in the solution’s integration aspects."

"The data masking functionality should be improved as well as the native encryption functionality in the MySQL database."

"MySQL is not easily scalable on cost effective consumer grade hardware."

"I would like to improve the solution’s pricing for licenses."

More MySQL cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I've used CockroachDB at a small scale on the free accounts because we are only testing."

"The pricing is good but can be made cheaper. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The product's price depends on the user's company and the contract model they enter into with CockroachDB. Depending on the contract model one enters into with CockroachDB, the product may or may not be expensive."

"The platform is affordable even for the enterprise version. It provides value for investment in terms of performance."

"The solution's pricing is not cheap. However, the good thing is that customers are willing to pay for it if they want it."

"I use a free version at present."

"MySQL is released under an open-source license, so you have nothing to pay to use it."

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

"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 is free. It is an open-source platform."

"The tool is open source."

"It is an open source platform."

"Enterprise editions and support are definitely needed for the heavy users who need direct support. "

More MySQL pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

37%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about CockroachDB?

The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported.

See all answers

What needs improvement with CockroachDB?

I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for CockroachDB?

I am studying how to deploy CockroachDB and YugaByteDB, and learning some basic information about them. I am testing these databases as part of my school application to find a suitable database for...

See all answers

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

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

Citus Data vs CockroachDB

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle Database vs CockroachDB

Compared 11% of the time

YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB

Compared 11% of the time

SQL Server vs CockroachDB

Compared 8% of the time

More CockroachDB Competitors

Firebird SQL vs MySQL

Compared 28% of the time

PostgreSQL vs MySQL

Compared 15% of the time

SAP HANA vs MySQL

Compared 8% of the time

MariaDB vs MySQL

Compared 6% of the time

SurrealDB vs MySQL

Compared 2% of the time

More MySQL Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

MySQL

March 2025

Download MySQL product report

Overview

CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database built on a transactional and strongly-consistent key-value store. It scales horizontally; survives disk, machine, rack, and even datacenter failures with minimal latency disruption and no manual intervention; supports strongly-consistent ACID transactions; and provides a familiar SQL API for structuring, manipulating, and querying data.

CockroachDB is inspired by Google’s Spanner and F1 technologies, and it’s completely open source.

Cockroach

MySQL is a cost-efficient and scalable relational database management system widely used in web, mobile applications, and academic projects.

MySQL is utilized for backend operations, data analysis, reporting, financial transactions, and ERP databases. It supports deployment on local servers, Cloud, and Kubernetes. Its free, open-source nature along with strong community support make it popular among companies. MySQL's compatibility with multiple platforms and programming languages enhances its appeal. While it remains stable and easy to use, areas such as replication, clustering, and backup require improvement to better serve enterprise applications. Enhanced security, error messages, and monitoring tools are also desired for a better user experience.

What are the most important features of MySQL?

Free and Open-Source: No licensing costs, perfect for budget-conscious projects.
Compatibility: Works with multiple platforms and programming languages.
High Performance: Efficient performance across large datasets.
Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business needs.
Clustering and Replication: Ensures data availability and redundancy.
Easy Installation: Quick setup process on various operating systems.
Community Support: Extensive resources and community assistance.
Cross-Platform: Operates seamlessly on different operating systems.
Data Management Interface: Simplifies data handling and manipulation.

What are the benefits of using MySQL?

Cost Efficiency: Reduce expenses with a free, open-source database.
Scalability: Adapt to increasing data demands effortlessly.
Performance: Handle large datasets with ease and speed.
Community Support: Access a vast pool of knowledge and resources.
Flexibility: Integrate with various platforms and languages for diverse use cases.
Data Reliability: Clustering and replication for high data availability.

In multiple industries, MySQL supports internal applications, billing systems, academic teaching purposes, and ERP databases. Companies leverage MySQL for Cloud and local deployments, ensuring effective data manipulation and backend operations in diverse projects. Its role in financial transactions and reporting further emphasizes its versatility.

Oracle

Sample Customers

Baidu, Kindred, Tierion, Heroic Labs, Gorgias

Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB vs. MySQL

April 2025

Free Report: CockroachDB vs. MySQL

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