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MariaDB 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

MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (8th)
SAP SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
34th
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 July 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MariaDB is 3.5%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 1.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
MariaDB3.5%
SAP SQL Anywhere1.4%
Other95.1%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AB
Co-Founder at Vsigma IT Labs Pvt Ltd
Has supported web application data needs but requires design adjustments to manage complex queries efficiently
Complex queries in MariaDB where the query needs to parse thousands of lines or data values face some performance issues. For small and medium-size volume, it is pretty good. If it goes beyond certain data and complex queries, we see performance issues. We tried the advanced replication feature between different regions, replicating data specifically residing on MariaDB to two different regions of MariaDB data, and there were some technical snags in terms of slowness and longer processing time. Point-in-time recovery in MariaDB is good for small databases. When data volume increases beyond 5 GB or 10 GB per day or runs into double-digit GBs, we found some performance issues. For data below 10 GB, it works fine. Performance is the primary focus area for MariaDB, particularly during transactions or complex query jobs where slow performance is observed. MariaDB is scalable and easy to scale.
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

"The product is easy to use and not hard to learn, therefore, when someone asks me for a good DB to use, then I tell them about MariaDB."
"The integration with other products is seamless."
"It delivers fast processing times, particularly for frequent select queries and insert/update operations."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the power it provides. It is a powerful solution."
"Great monitoring and performance stability."
"I like the global transaction IDs (GTIDs) feature. It's quite reliable for replication between a master and a replica server, and it's a feature that MySQL also has but implemented differently."
"The stability of MariaDB is good, it has high availability."
"We use MariaDB for identity provider services. Most of the things that we are doing are deployed in the container mode. All such solutions require a database, and MariaDB is easier to use for these kinds of deployments."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
"It's a great product to use if you are already have an integration with SAP's ERP/CRM systems."
"It works well in general."
"SQL Anywhere is easy and it did not cost as much as SQL Microsoft."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
 

Cons

"Sometimes, complex queries that were supported in Oracle are not available in MariaDB."
"It's not very stable. It needs improvement."
"Replication could be better, and it's not so simple. It would be better if they had a replication server. It would make things a lot easier. You need to have that replication server, but not in the same server farm. Then there will be a bit of latency between both because you should have one in one city and another one in a different city. That kind of solution should be more baked into every single database today. Mirroring the database in a live environment where any record written on the production server replicates instantly across the fiber on the other server wasn't easy. Many people don't even bother with that, and they just run one server."
"Integration with AWS could be improved."
"I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex."
"There is room for improvement in terms of security."
"There is not much support available."
"The product needs more features and more functionality. It's imperative that it supports more platforms, and supports more operating systems."
"Performance issues when syncing the MBO packages to the server."
"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."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
"It is not as secure as it could be; there needs to be more encryption and we can find passwords very easily."
"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 there's a problem with the license."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open source solution with no licensing fees."
"MariaDB is available for free."
"It is free of charge."
"MariaDB is a free-to-use solution."
"The price of this solution represents a very good compromise between the cost and what it offers."
"It is an open-source solution."
"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."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
University
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise26
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
MariaDB is in the pricey range, especially for huge databases handling terabytes of data. The cost depends on the volume of data and different features enabled during configuration, such as backup ...
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The key area where MariaDB could be improved is its native GUI tooling; while the command-line interface works perfectly fine, the built-in visual tools for administration, management, and query de...
What is your primary use case for MariaDB?
My main use case for MariaDB was web applications, and I have been using MariaDB for just about a year now as I was in the development team. A specific web application where I used MariaDB is a hea...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase SQL Anywhere
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
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 MariaDB vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,781 professionals have used our research since 2012.