MariaDB provides a platform for developing our company's database.
CTO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
An open-source product that offers its users great online community support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is an open-source product and offers its users great online community support."
- "The solution is not scalable."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is an open-source product and offers its users great online community support.
What needs improvement?
Sharding and the platform's vertical and horizontal extension and growth or scalability are areas with shortcomings that need improvement in MariaDB.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using MariaDB for three years. I am a customer of the solution.
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January 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is not scalable.
Around four people in my organization use the solution.
How are customer service and support?
MariaDB is an open-source community software, meaning it is based on the generosity of others. I rate the technical support a six out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of MariaDB is easy.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
Regarding the time taken to deploy MariaDB, I would say that in our company, we are still playing around with the platform. Our company is in the middle of a pivot right now, meaning we have plans to change our direction.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product.
What other advice do I have?
I have no objections to the maintenance phase of MariaDB since I feel it is fine and easy.
I recommend the solution to those who plan to use it.
MariaDB is a community-supported product because of which I am not familiar with the paid support options that may be available.
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
It's a fast and flexible tool
Pros and Cons
- "MariaDB is a fast and flexible tool."
- "Integration with AWS could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
My company provides solutions for banks, credit card companies, and other enterprises in the financial industry.
What is most valuable?
MariaDB is a fast and flexible tool.
What needs improvement?
Integration with AWS could be improved.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate MariaDB nine out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate MariaDB eight out of 10 for scalability. It's relatively good.
How are customer service and support?
We do not have paid support because we use the open-source version. If we have questions, we can look for answers online. MariaDB has an active user community.
How was the initial setup?
I rate MariaDB seven out of 10 for ease of setup. Deployment is easy. We deploy it on-prem and on AWS. I am on a team of seven people, but one person is sufficient to set it up in two hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We use the community version of MariaDB. We don't have an enterprise license.
What other advice do I have?
I rate MariaDB eight out of 10. I recommend MariaDB depending on the use case.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
MariaDB
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about MariaDB. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Operations Manager Uganda at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
A great language that has PL/SQL compatibility
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has PL/SQL compatibility."
- "The PL/SQL performance is slow if you have big batch jobs running overnight."
What is our primary use case?
We develop financial software such as credit management solutions for banks, financial institutions, and telcos, basically anyone who deals with credit. We are users of this product and resell to our customers. I'm the operations manager.
What is most valuable?
The solution is valuable because it has PL/SQL compatibility. Our base was previously on Oracle and we wanted to change our solution to a DBS which meant finding something compatible with that language. It's really a great language, especially as it's one that you can get for free. If we build our technical knowledge, then we won't need third-party support which is a strong plus.
What needs improvement?
The PL/SQL performance is slow. If you have big batch jobs running in the middle of the night for a bank doing its end-of-day audits, then MariaDB will take three times longer than using Oracle. The product lacks sufficient detail in its reports. MariaDB has many extra features that would help to optimize the DB in the enterprise version and it would be helpful if it were possible to add some of those features in the open source version.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable in the right perameters. If I have a customer looking for something that's not batch job heavy, then we use MariaDB. If I have a core system that's going to take a ton of records and go through all these in the batch jobs at night, then we default to Oracle, because it's faster. We've proposed it to enterprise clients and we've proven to them that it's stable enough.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's probably one of the most used RDBMS's for scalability. We haven't really tested it on millions and millions of customers but there's no problem with scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We use the community for support. If we were to purchase support, the cost would be around 5k per year. It's a big difference. We usually just use the after-market support and haven't required any direct support from the company. We've been able to handle it internally.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
When I compare MariaDB to Oracle, an industry leader, the big difference we found is performance in the PL/SQL mode. With Oracle, regular queries get executed at the same level with no issues. For ease of use and the setup, they're pretty similar. We also looked at IBM DB2 but there were compatibility issues and it was significantly slower.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is really easy for our team. It's a quick download and configuration. We have set parameters.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We use the open source edition which doesn't require licensing. We don't offer the enterprise edition, because if we're taking the customer off Oracle, for the additional benefits, we have to optimize the cost. If we have a customer with budget constraints, it's saving hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions, if we use MariaDB instead of Oracle.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution nine out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Staff at UNIFI-HOME-imse01.mc_rsh
A stable solution with good documentation and many online examples
Pros and Cons
- "The product has good documentation and you can find many examples online."
- "I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex."
What needs improvement?
I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the tool for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used MongoDB and MySQL before.
How was the initial setup?
The solution was easy to setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We use the solution's free version.
What other advice do I have?
I am satisfied with the overall product. I would rate the product an eight out of ten. The product has good documentation and you can find many examples online.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Manager at Leyton & Associés, SAS
Powerful, reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the power it provides. It is a powerful solution."
- "MariaDB could improve by adding support for non-relational structures and new data types."
What is our primary use case?
MariaDB is mainly used for current applications where there are connectors already in place with CROs that create everything in the architecture.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the power it provides. It is a powerful solution.
What needs improvement?
MariaDB could improve by adding support for non-relational structures and new data types.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using MariaDB for approximately two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The way we configure MariaDB, it's very scalable and there is no performance issue.
We have approximately 10,000 end-users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the technical support from MariaDB.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used MySQL. I switched from MySQL to MariaDB because there are more updates with MariaDB
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of MariaDB was simple. It took a few hours. We started with one server and then we did monitoring of the platform to see if the performance was adequate or not. If it was a bit underperforming, we would add resources, such as CPU and memory. If it was a larger gap, we would add a new server to the cluster.
What about the implementation team?
We have approximately 10 people in the DevOps team that look after the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
MariaDB is a free-to-use solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate MariaDB an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Owner at TRS
Works very well, easy to set up, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "It would be good if they can maybe improve the mass import in the database. Currently, for importing a large number of data, we create a CSV file and upload all the things in the system. The system does not activate them by default. We have to do this manually. This may be due to the version we are using, but this is something we would like to see improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are using MariaDB for our federation of identity system, which is used to record students, service providers, and many other things. This system uses MariaDB as a database.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
It would be good if they can maybe improve the mass import in the database. Currently, for importing a large number of data, we create a CSV file and upload all the things in the system. The system does not activate them by default. We have to do this manually. This may be due to the version we are using, but this is something we would like to see improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable. We have no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We are a regional research and education network. MariaDB is a part of the tools that we have deployed to provide services for such institutions. Three other national research and education institutes are also using it, and all of these institutions have many campus users. So, a large number of users are using it, but they don't even know that it is MariaDB because they are just using the tool or the application that has MariaDB as backend. We do plan to increase its usage in the future.
How are customer service and technical support?
We didn't contact them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I won't say we switched because we still have another system running PostgreSQL. We started using MariaDB because we were using some tools for identity federation, and these tools come with MariaDB by default. We did not choose MariaDB as a standalone product. If we stop using any of these tools tomorrow, we may no longer use MariaDB.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple because we are using a container, which means that it is just a deployment. It is a part of the installation of other applications.
We didn't have to install MariaDB as a standalone product. We installed an identity management system, which automatically requires MariaDB, and all these things are done through containers. It is very easy these days when you are using a container. Everything is straightforward. It is just a matter of calling and installing them.
What about the implementation team?
The initial installation was done by a consultant. Since then, we have deployed many other instances of the same thing. It is the same container, and we keep on deploying it. We just change the configuration.
We have only one person for its deployment and maintenance. We have a network and system admin who deals with the installation for us. We are just using MariaDB behind our federation of identity system. So, we don't deal with it daily. When we want to connect a university or any university wants to join, we install the application that has MariaDB, and that's all.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this solution. It has worked very well for us so far. I have no complaints about it.
I would rate MariaDB a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
System Administrator at TZ Telecom Ltd.
Provides great database for systems monitoring data and performance stability
Pros and Cons
- "Great monitoring and performance stability."
- "Lacks time series data and additional driving support would be helpful."
What is our primary use case?
We are network services provider and we have the solution to store and process telecommunications infrastructure, network and customer services monitoring data. Our Monitoring applications rely on MariaDB to store, process and present telemetry data from different components of the network.
How has it helped my organization?
Previously, we didn't have a fast network monitoring solution that could be used to monitor everything we have on the network infrastructure. The solution has improved operations because all our customers are happy that we can provide them with high grade service monitoring . They're able to monitor services uptime, utilization and other statistics. The database stores a lot of additional data related to monitoring including inventory and notifications handling data.
What is most valuable?
The software provides a lot of information on what is happening inside the database. For most performance parameters it is easy to know if something is not right in the configuration or optimization which helps engineers take remedial finetuning measures. For example if the database is underperforming it is easy to know which performance parameter can be adjusted to handle the workload. It is difficult to troubleshoot database issues if many performance parameters can not be monitored or debugged which is the case with some database management systems.
It provides great monitoring data storage, processing and performance stability which is really important for real-time data storage and processing. It's a user friendly product.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see more time series data and additional partitioning support, natively if possible. I started using MariaDB but then migrated one of my systems to PostgreSQL because it has good support for time series data, plus there's a plug-in that PostgreSQL uses for easy support of time-series data and partitioning and it is easy to use. MariaDB could have something like that which would provide better support for times series data and partitioning. Automatic partitioning would be helpful is natively supported, because at some point I experienced issues with database performance. Partitioning is a bit complex and we do everything in-house.
I'd like to see something that does automatic optimization or tuning. This will particularly be helpful to new users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using MariaDB for 4 years
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Performance and stability are good with small instances and average skilled database administrators to maintain it, we haven't had any issues with small instances. For large instances that handle a lot of ingress data and queries, good stability can be attained with high level tuning which requires highly skilled database administrators who can correctly tune and partition databases if needed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't really scaled it and we're still using the open source version which can also be easily scaled if needs arise.
How are customer service and support?
Our company runs on a tight budget so we haven't got any support, we do everything ourselves. I know from others who have implemented and have commercial agreements with MariaDB that the support is good but I don't have first-hand experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used a monitoring system that used flat files to store monitoring data and at some points used MySQL for some systems
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward, not complex at all. There are so many resources from the community.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented in-house
What was our ROI?
I can confidently say 90%
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no costs associated with this solution. It is a free and open source software although one can opt for a paid support from MariaDB
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend that if a company wants to do everything in-house and doesn't have technical support from MariaDB, it is important to have good database administrators, because the initial setup is straightforward, but a lot of optimization is needed, and it requires skillful database administrators. I recommend some good planning from the beginning, and it is important to figure out whether the company needs to do some database partitioning. Carrying out good research from the beginning is the wisest course when choosing MariaDB as a database. That will be so helpful in avoiding possible performance and tuning issues.
I rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Easy to set up, open-source, and simple to use
Pros and Cons
- "It's easy to set up."
- "The performance could be a bit better."
What is most valuable?
It's easy to use and open source. Currently, I use it more and more as it is easier than the other.
It's easy to set up.
The product is open-source.
What needs improvement?
I don't know what we want to improve about it, however, we don't use it for everything. We use it for specific projects. It can fit my project, and we don't know how we can use it more.
The performance could be a bit better.
They could make the solution stronger. It's not stronger than PostgreSQL, for example.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good for how we use it. We don't use the replication and cluster. We only really use the standalone server and that's it.
How are customer service and support?
We don't use technical support. I cannot speak to their services.
How was the initial setup?
It's not overly complex to set up. Maybe when we set up matters like replication, it's a little complicated, however, it's pretty easy.
We only need one person to maintain the product.
What about the implementation team?
We did not have the help of integrators or consultants. We installed the server and deployment did not take too much time. It was about 20 minutes or 30 minutes to deploy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is open-source, therefore, it has no license.
What other advice do I have?
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.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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