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Firebird SQL vs MariaDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 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

Firebird SQL
Ranking in Open Source Databases
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (1st)
MariaDB
Ranking in Open Source Databases
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 18.7%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.7%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Ruben Conti - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance for up to a hundred end users, open source and easy to setup
Firebird can compete with well-known names like Oracle and SQL Server when you don't have more than a few hundred thousand users. It's a level below SQL Server, and the application of SQL is a kind of database you can rely on for situations where you don't have too much information to deal with. For example, you can use it for the internet or national projects, but when you have millions of users, then it's not possible for other services.
KumarManish - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products
We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."
"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"I like that we don't have to pay external fees to migrate this data. So, we are looking to relocate from Postgres or EDB."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"The most valuable feature of Firebird SQL is the creation of databases."
"This solution is user-friendly."
"The solution is very easy to implement."
"It delivers fast processing times, particularly for frequent select queries and insert/update operations."
"Great monitoring and performance stability."
"For non-production purposes. I'm just using it for my personal project, so it works quite well. I haven't faced any errors yet."
"Installation is straightforward."
"MariaDB is scalable."
"Visual Studio offers unit testing integration and extensive searching capabilities."
 

Cons

"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption. It is not at the higher level of database solution but it could be with some upgrades."
"Technical support and performance could be better. We have some problems with this solution, but we don't know if the problem is with the database or the configuration. For example, sometimes, the users can't access the database."
"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"I don't think the solution is very scalable, because the scalability of the performance when using more than one process is not very good."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"Database sharing is a capability that Firebird SQL lacks."
"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper."
"It doesn't have the same level of maturity metrics as Postgres."
"The GUI could be improved a bit. The user interface needs to be improved."
"The scaling for database online transactions needs improvement."
"The difficult part related to the product stems not from the tool itself but is related to learning how to implement the product in the right way without creating any wrong configuration that could cause security issues or performance issues."
"The license should be cheaper and closer to that offered by MySQL, Oracle and other products."
"MariaDB should provide HA and archive logging... I haven't had the opportunity to use the features provided by the solution since I don't know how to see them."
"A well-known issue for a lot of different users is associated with write-intensive applications."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
"The tool is open source."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"It's open-source and free."
"It is okay."
"When it comes to MariaDB, it should have a more cost-effective license."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"The cost is quite good. You can have the open source, free version, which has adequate capacity."
"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price since there are some support costs involved, even though it isn't an open-source solution."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"The licensing cost is approximately $4000.00 per year and the licensing is based on the software and the number of posts that you make."
"We pay for a yearly license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit yo...
What do you like most about Firebird SQL?
Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.