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 8.5. Cockroach holds a 3.6% 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

2,809 Views
1,932 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

MySQL

Read 148 MySQL reviews

7,825 Views
6,096 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: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CockroachDB vs. MySQL

March 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 March 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of CockroachDB is 3.6%, up from 2.4% 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 product has valuable security features."

"The initial setup and deployment are simple."

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

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

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

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

More CockroachDB pros

"The product is flexible and easy to use."

"I am totally satisfied with MySQL."

"I like MySQL's feature that helps to automate things."

"It is a stable solution."

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

"I use MySQL for employee service in an OLTP database."

"My main reason for using MySQL for this small customer database company and for some kinds of scientific projects was that I had to do the installation myself. I didn't have a database administration team behind me. Therefore, I was looking for something very easy to handle. MySQL is easy to install, connect, and do all such things."

"MySQL is easy to integrate. It works with just about every language."

More MySQL pros

Cons

"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 initial setup and pricing could be improved."

"The platform could be more extensible."

"We are looking for more features to support distributed high availability and geo-partitioning."

"I find the serverless offer a bit confusing."

"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."

"CockroachDB needs to improve store processes."

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

More CockroachDB cons

"Scalability could be improved."

"When I run into issues, I really have to research how to fix them."

"I feel that some tools which make it easier to create queries or make it easier for other functions would be really interesting to see."

"It could be a little bit simpler to use."

"I would like to have the ability to cancel a query in SQL Developer."

"Improvements to MySQL depend on the specific use case. For example, in my scenario, I frequently need to maintain and store data, which can then be utilized to generate reports. On the other hand, others may suggest incorporating a feature that allows for easier visualization of the data, such as what is available in Power BI or other similar tools."

"We have encountered some performance issues, and the solution takes time for performing complex queries."

"While utilizing a comparable algorithm, is noted to be sensitive, especially when configuring the inner device."

More MySQL cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

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

"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."

"For the on-premise version, no license is required."

"I would rate the solution’s pricing a six out of ten. The solution is not cheap but it’s a fair value. The pricing depends on the use cases of our customers. Some of our customers use the community edition which is license free and a good fit for their use cases. However, we encourage our bigger customers to sign up because of the scalability issues. The paid versions get direct technical support from Oracle."

"MySQL is a cheap solution."

"The price of the solution is good because we have a good partner."

"It's cheaper than other solutions."

"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."

"It has a community version."

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

More MySQL pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

38%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

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

Citus Data vs CockroachDB

Compared 18% of the time

Neon vs CockroachDB

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle Database vs CockroachDB

Compared 12% of the time

YugabyteDB vs CockroachDB

Compared 10% 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 16% of the time

SAP HANA vs MySQL

Compared 9% 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

March 2025

Download CockroachDB product report

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

March 2025

Free Report: CockroachDB vs. MySQL

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