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MySQL vs SQLite 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 Open Source Databases
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
147
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (3rd)
SQLite
Ranking in Open Source Databases
9th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of MySQL is 13.8%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQLite is 3.9%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases
 

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.
Neeraj Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Pretty easy to execute my SQL queries but issues while uploading and importing my dataset
It was a bit easy to use compared to other tools. It's simple. I found it pretty easy to execute my SQL queries. Since I was a beginner, it was comfortable for me to learn SQL using SQLite. However, when I used it for my professional work and for my assignments, I found some complications. Maybe I'm not proficient with it, that's why. The main benefit for me was learning. Since I was new to SQL, SQLite helped me understand how to work with structured data.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The connectivity with PHP is quite good."
"It was easy to install."
"It creates a unified view of the entire architecture and performance factor, helping to manage the network more easily."
"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."
"Compared to other databases, MySQL is cheaper and we were using the community edition which was free of cost. ML is fully integrated with the database in HeatWave. It has also many other features. MySQL is a far better solution in terms of pricing."
"MySQL gives us all of the critical features that we need in a database, but without the costs."
"The most valuable feature of MySQL is its reliability and performance."
"MySQL is open-source. There are a lot of open-source communities trying to come up with their own patches, and to come up with their own features, which help MySQL develop faster than traditional databases like Oracle, which is closed source."
"It was a bit easy to use compared to other tools. It's simple. I found it pretty easy to execute my SQL queries."
"I use Flutter Technology with the JSF plugin."
"I haven't encountered any problems in my use cases. So, it has been a stable product for me."
"Sometimes, you want data to persist within the app even when there's no internet connectivity. To avoid showing blank screens, we can use SQLite to store data locally and then sync it with the cloud database when connectivity is restored."
"The product is lightweight and highly scalable."
"SQLite’s most valuable feature is the ability to store granular-level backups of databases."
 

Cons

"The product is a little bit complex and it is difficult to find sufficient documentation."
"Oracle should start putting in some of the enterprise features in the standard feature. There are some key features that should be part of the standard."
"When it comes to supporting big data, there is space to improve upon the database engines that are supported by MySQL."
"When working with a cluster wide, I have to use the MySQL cluster version."
"MySQL doesn't have the auto-clustering and database clustering features that other competitors provide. They can include these features."
"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."
"I would like to have features that allow us to jump between the cloud and our on-premises system."
"It requires a training platform."
"It could have a user-friendly GUI and better intelligence features."
"There are some difficulties on the server side. When syncing data with databases like SQL Server or Oracle, SQLite requires a kind of double effort."
"The performance could be better."
"A potential drawback is that the database file stored within the application's local storage could be accessible to users."
"I primarily use SQLite for small-scale applications due to its limitations in storing large amounts of data. For larger-scale projects, I typically opt for MySQL or other alternatives. Storing a large number of dates in SQLite can significantly impact its performance."
"Compared to other tools, the performance was less effective than that of Microsoft Access."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"MySQL is free."
"This product has a good price point."
"For the on-premise version, no license is required."
"The solution is open source so is free."
"MySQL is a cheap solution."
"It is an open source platform."
"We are using the free community edition of MySQL."
"It is open-source."
"The tool is open-source."
"It's not expensive."
"It's a good value."
"I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten."
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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
17%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about SQLite?
It was a bit easy to use compared to other tools. It's simple. I found it pretty easy to execute my SQL queries.
What needs improvement with SQLite?
There were some complications. For example, you have to upload the dataset into SQLite, and once it's uploaded, you might find difficulties working with it.
 

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Sample Customers

Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Oracle, Bloomberg, Bentley, Mozilla
Find out what your peers are saying about MySQL vs. SQLite and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.