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MySQL vs SAP SQL Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
148
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (1st)
SAP SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
20th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of MySQL is 8.4%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 0.7%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Naresh Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Lightweight and is available at a friendly price
In terms of our organization's data management strategy, especially if I talk about PLM software, which is about data management and can be regarded as the core data management of the products that we make. When we are designing something, specifically a new product, it is a critical area, especially considering that I am in the energy sector. In the energy sector, when we are building huge turbines and other things, the data might have intellectual property aspects attached to it. Even within the company, one region cannot see other regions to the extent to which the product offers security. In my company, we use PDM and PLM from Teamcenter effectively. MySQL is not a tool my company uses in production. When we create some small demos, we use MySQL. For production, we would use only Oracle because it is the most stable tool in the market. When we install Teamcenter, we don't need to touch the database. We just need to make some references to figure out this is the database, and it automatically creates everything. The basic thing about PDM and PLM systems is that the user should never touch the database because people may corrupt the data model or do anything that will have a very bad impact on the system. Database modifications only have to be made to the PLM system. We are not supposed to interact with the database directly. The tool is very lightweight, less expensive, and sometimes it is free. It is a very usable tool that is preferred by a lot of people. Only for production use, I may ask people not to use it. Integration of MySQL is like how we don't directly integrate PLM with Oracle. We have to use PLM's APIs to talk to the database. As a part of the best practices, we should not directly integrate anything with the PLM database. Feature-wise, the integration capabilities of the product are easy to use. It is like any other tool where if there is a table, there is a property. If you want to map a property using any middleware, then we can easily do that. I recommend the product to others. For medium-sized companies, MySQL is one of the best solutions. Medium-sized companies can choose not to go for Oracle, which is very expensive. In terms of the value or benefits derived by our company from the use of the product, I would say that it is not very expensive and provides performance along with scalability. The product can cater to the needs of customers ranging from 2,00,000 to 6,00,000 to 10,00,000 records. Even 20,00,000 records are fine, but after that, users may get into trouble. It is the best tool for mid-sized companies with a reasonable amount of data. I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Crewmem67 - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"I like the simplistic view of MySQL to build custom queries and things like that as compared to SQL Server, which seems more cluttered. SQL Server has a query analyzer. MySQL pretty much does the same, and performance-wise, it has less overhead for connecting to our ERP system. It seems more responsive and cleaner. With MySQL, you get what you need without any overbloating, for which Microsoft is known. That's why they have so many constant security patches for everything because there is so much stuff, which degrades performance."
"MySQL's most significant attribute is its capability to create, modify, and maintain databases. This is crucial and advantageous in procedures, such as SOAR. Therefore, all SQL functions are beneficial to any backend developer or developer who requires data storage."
"I use MySQL for employee service in an OLTP database."
"Like other databases, it has a rich set of functions, such as stored procedures and its own procedural language, which is akin to Oracle SQL. It also has trigger and cursor commands you would expect with a good database language."
"MySQL is a scalable tool. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten."
"It is easy to use."
"The initial setup for the SQL database is not complex and it even integrates into the platform. You set up the recipe and then just follow the runbook, the build book. Then it works as long as you follow the procedures."
"I like MySQL because of its community."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
"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."
"It works well in general."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
 

Cons

"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."
"Even for the best database, we always want the database to perform much better, so we wish MySQL would be much better, in terms of performance."
"Since we upgraded from 8.0.12 to 8.0.22, it has had some slowness-related issues. Some of the queries that were fast previously are quite slow now. I did some research, and I found many people complaining about it."
"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."
"Could use some additional JSON query support in the solution."
"It is not as powerful as SQL Server. It can be more powerful. It is not scalable and has certain limitations, which is not the case with SQL Server."
"It should provide better customer experiences."
"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 interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"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."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no cost involved, no licensing fees."
"We're using the open-source version right now, which is free. I do see some value in some of the more enterprise functions. We're using the open-source version right now, and I was interested in the MySQL Enterprise version really for the tools that they provide, but we decided not to make the purchase."
"It's free."
"It's cheaper than other solutions."
"I don't pay for a license."
"It's an open-source database management system that can be used free of charge."
"We do have a couple of clients who choose to use the paid, enterprise version of the solution and who take full advantage of it."
"My company uses MySQL's corporate licenses."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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...
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...
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...
What needs improvement with SAP SQL Anywhere?
SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase SQL Anywhere
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.