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Marco Ismael González Rangel - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at Teravision Technologies
Real User
May 5, 2023
Useful auto-scaling, helpful support, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of MySQL is auto-scaling."
  • "The GUI could improve to make MySQL better."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of MySQL is auto-scaling.

What needs improvement?

The GUI could improve to make MySQL better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using MySQL for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of MySQL is good.

Buyer's Guide
MySQL
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about MySQL. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,169 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

MySQL can scale well.

How are customer service and support?

I have used the support and level three support is great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of MySQL was straightforward.

What was our ROI?

We have not seen a return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution is good because we have a good partner.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is good at scaling.

I rate MySQL a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Technical Director at Metrofibre Networx
Real User
May 2, 2023
An easy-to-install solution that is used for customer management authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten since it has been running flawlessly."
  • "The licensing cost of the solution is expensive, which MySQL needs to consider improving."

What is our primary use case?

We use MySQL for customer management authentication in our company.

What is most valuable?

The use of MySQL is really dictated by the software we use. So we have put software that dictates the use of MySQL and MongoDB. We think we've found the goal of the company related to strengthening its business systems.

What needs improvement?

Since we started the development, like, three years ago, it's just been improving, so there are no areas that need to improve. It is easy to use.

The licensing cost of the solution is expensive, which MySQL needs to consider improving.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using MySQL for three years. It's based on the call systems or based on the console.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten since it has been running flawlessly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It works well. So, I rate its scalability a ten out of ten. Our company is managing hundreds to thousands of clients, but we use MySQL for different projects. So, around 50 users work on it.

In terms of increasing the solution's usage, I think we've done enough, like, stabilizing MySQL.

How are customer service and support?

Our company has contacted the technical support of MySQL. It was very easy to get connected to them. However, it cost us a fortune. For SMBs in South Africa, a thousand or ten thousand dollars an hour is a lot of money. It was expensive, but it was worth it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have previously used a solution for location and mapping-related stuff. Our choice to move to MySQL was dictated by software. So, we use different programs for applications.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment process takes a few seconds.

What about the implementation team?

We had to seek the help of some consultants to implement the product since there was some difficult stuff. But that was long ago. Nowadays, we avoid seeking help from consultants since it has become pretty simple. So, better experienced and well-trained people would do it for us. It's not a problem.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I believe we have a few cluster solutions. I think that MySQL is a premium product. But I don't manage that part.

What other advice do I have?

The solution's documentation and support are awesome. Also, its speed has increased in the last few years. So, we have never had any issues with it. If there were any errors, then they were human errors.

Today with many other options, we stick with MySQL and recommend it to others. There are so many other things that are more suitable for different purposes, and I will have to do research to know more about them. MySQL has been around for a decade, so something cannot go wrong. Its big support communities make it easy to resolve problems since there is always somebody who can help.

I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
MySQL
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about MySQL. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,169 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Anays Micolod - PeerSpot reviewer
Programmeuse Python 3 at Université Grenoble Alpes
Real User
May 25, 2022
Has easy access to data, is easy to grasp, and has good documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The easy access to the data and the ability to sort the data with multiple methods are very valuable features."
  • "Sometimes, I get lost in the toggles and buttons, and a better visual design would be nice. The layout is not user-friendly or efficient."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using it to create a small database for a project that I'm working on.

What is most valuable?

The easy access to the data and the ability to sort the data with multiple methods are very valuable features.

It's quite easy to grasp and is really well documented, which are huge plus points.

What needs improvement?

Sometimes, I get lost in the toggles and buttons, and a better visual design would be nice. The layout is not user-friendly or efficient.

I would like to be able to sort the data easily without having to do a request to get the table out of the database into the web page. At present, I can't do it directly inside MySQL; I have to do a request and print out my request into a web page.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is really good. I haven't had any issues with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

I learned to use it in class, and the setup was quite fast because the teacher really helped us to gain access and take the first few steps. The setup took a few hours at most.

What about the implementation team?

I installed it myself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I use a free version at present.

What other advice do I have?

Plan how the data will be constructed. I had to delete an entire database and start over because I didn't organize it properly. That was a huge block.

I would rate MySQL at eight on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1788699 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Mar 11, 2022
Fully scalable relational database management system with good stability; setting it up was easy and straightforward
Pros and Cons
  • "Fully scalable and stable SQL-based RDBMS, with a straightforward and easy setup."
  • "MySQL is a good database; we are using it, and we'll continue to use it."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

We're using MySQL for data warehousing and logging.

What needs improvement?

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. When they release a new version, they mostly concentrate on scalability and performance.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using MySQL for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of MySQL is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

MySQL is a fully scalable product.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of MySQL was easy and straightforward. You can complete the initial setup for this product within a few hours.

What about the implementation team?

It was the technical team who did the setup for MySQL. We had two or three engineers who took care of the deployment and maintenance of this product.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

MySQL is very cheap. In fact, it could be free. They also have a yearly licensing option. I don't remember paying for additional costs, aside from the standard licensing fee.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated Oracle Database.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the Enterprise version of MySQL.

MySQL is a good database. We are using it, and we'll continue to use it.

I've never contacted the technical support team for MySQL. I have no complaints.

I can recommend MySQL to others who plan to start implementing it.

We don't ask for new features on a database. When we take a database, we take it because of fixed features, e.g. its current features. It's not an application. It's a database. We are fine with whatever features MySQL offers now. We never really thought about whether we want more features on this product.

I'm rating MySQL an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
CTO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Jan 12, 2022
Highly reliable, informative dashboard, and simple implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "We use the basic features of MySQL. The interface that allows us to see the parameters of the server is good."
  • "The stability is fantastic, it has been 100%."
  • "I did the implementation of the solution myself and I used community support. The support from the vendor costs money."

What is our primary use case?

We use MySQL primarily for internal application systems that we developed.

What is most valuable?

We use the basic features of MySQL. The interface that allows us to see the parameters of the server is good.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using MySQL for approximately six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fantastic, it has been 100%.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not plan to increase the usage of this solution at this time.

How are customer service and support?

We have not needed to contact technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The implementation was simple and took approximately one day.

What about the implementation team?

I did the implementation of the solution myself and I used community support. The support from the vendor costs money.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are using the free community version of the solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate MySQL a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1621470 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Project Manager, Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jan 10, 2022
Ubiquitous solution for a wide variety of uses.
Pros and Cons
  • "The feature that I have found most valuable is its ubiquity, as MySQL is everywhere, so if I need to find a developer to do things to it that I don't know, it's very easy to find someone who has expertise in it."
  • "I would just say that it could be a little bit simpler to use."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for my clients. Basically any website that uses WordPress uses MySQL, so we use that to manage and run our WordPress websites. Some we have on a cloud, some we have at hosted servers.

It is part of WordPress and some clients are using it for eCommerce, and others are just using it as part of the website to give information.

What is most valuable?

The feature that I have found most valuable is its ubiquity. MySQL is everywhere, so if I need to find a developer to do things to it that I don't know, it's very easy to find someone who has expertise in it.

What needs improvement?

In terms of what could be improved, there is not anything that I can think of offhand.

Everything related to automation or improvements are external tools that are brought into it, so it has nothing to do with the robustness of the system itself - it is the developers and implementations that touch it. Those can be improved, but MySQL itself is fine as is. 

I would just say that it could be a little bit simpler to use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using MySQL off and on for about seven years.

Different hosting systems have different iterations of it. Whenever possible, I try to use the latest version, but usually I'm using a model or two back. But I'm not using the original, not by any stretch.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Everything that works with MySQL is stable. If it's a bug, it's due to the developer who has miswritten a piece of code. The code itself is perfect. It's the application of people who attempt to make changes where the issues come in.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, I have not done anything bigger than a couple hundred people a day on a site, so I really couldn't tell you about that.

Our clients are small businesses, almost all of them with less than 50 employees.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, and I am talking almost 20 years ago, we would have used Microsoft Access, which is not a relational database and it's not iterative, so you can't have multiple people working on it, whereas MySQL is a system-based database, so multiple people can access it at the same time.

How was the initial setup?

In terms of the initial setup, you definitely need to know what you're doing, but it's not illogical. The database rules and how they work are very clear and concise. To execute MySQL is fairly straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

MySQL is open source so it's free.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to anyone considering MySQL is to check the forums and do your homework.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give MySQL a 9. It would be a 10 if it was simpler to use, but as it is, it's about a 9.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1378032 - PeerSpot reviewer
Site Reliability Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Dec 29, 2021
A great open-source product that offers great scalability and compatibility
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "MySQL is open-source, easy to use, highly scalable, and supported by a huge community and multiple vendors, making it a reliable choice for everything from financial and PCI data to large-scale relational applications."
  • "They should come up with a better solution than the NDB cluster for better scaling. If they could come up with a better solution for write scaling, apart from the NDB cluster, which is supported by all open source communities, that would be great. Although the NDB cluster, I believe, is an open-source tool, it's not widely supported as a solution."
  • "They should come up with a better solution than the NDB cluster for better scaling."

What is our primary use case?

It's been used as a primary relational database for most applications. It's scalable and could easily be maintained and could be migrated to any Cloud-based Database as a Service solutions which are compatible with MySQL.e.g. AWS RDS MySQL, AWS RDS Aurora, Google SQL. 

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved scalability, easy-maintenance. It is open-source and is easy to use. 

What is most valuable?

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.

The solution is also compatible with a lot of other databases, like Percona, and it's compatible with MariaDB. It's also compatible with a lot of other shared database solutions.

Since MySQL is mostly used as a relational database in a lot of organizations, a lot of other solutions are being merged with MySQL and it's a rather easy process.

Unlike a lot of closed source services, the new features are solely based on customer feedback. The customer feedback of open source is way larger than the closed source application.

What needs improvement?

The developers of MySQL, which are Oracle MySQL, Percona, and MariaDB, seem to not be focusing much on object-oriented replication. Basically, replication is based on a text level of replication. There is a text level replication in Oracle, that is so similar it can be implemented in MySQL, however, it needs to pull a lot of resources. They have altered their approach for replication. Still, more focus on object-oriented replication would be good. 

They should come up with a better solution than the NDB cluster for better scaling. If they could come up with a better solution for write scaling, apart from the NDB cluster, which is supported by all open source communities, that would be great. Although the NDB cluster, is an open-source tool, it's not widely supported as a solution.

The latest 8.0 version has come up with whole new features. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working on Relational Database MySQL throughout my career, i.e. for 14 years. This relational database MySQL is evolved from its MyISAM only engine to InnoDB and is now compatible with other database engines too. e.g. NDB, Galera. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

MySQL is reliable. If you are talking about it in terms of relational databases, MySQL is pretty stable. If you want to go ahead with a quite secure database like any PCI database or a customer-related database or even financial data, it's still feasible to migrate to MySQL. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are a lot of features provided by Oracle MySQL, Percona, and MariaDB. They all have their own replication cluster. Percona has XtraDB, MariaDB has GaleraDB, Oracle MySQL has its own cluster as well. MySQL replication is common in all three MySQL flavors. MySQL replication is an excellent read-scalable feature, which has also evolved a lot from its earliest versions to the latest 8.0 version.

The NDB cluster, which has been supported and developed by Oracle, and is based on MySQL, is different than all of the other MySQL replication cluster solutions. It's both read and write scalable. All other cluster features work well for read scaling. NDB cluster is the only cluster feature recorded by Oracle MySQL, which is write scalable as well as re-scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The solution seems to have plenty of technical support due to the fact that there are three companies who are product owners, and therefore there are three companies who are supporting MySQL. They are: Oracle, Percona, and MariaDB. They're doing pretty well. 

There are a lot of companies also that support their customers. This is the good thing about any software which is open-source. A lot of open source communities come up with their own features and they try to patch up with the original source. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup has evolved a lot. It's pretty straight forward whether you're using Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. You can set it up on almost every operating system. 

It's supported by the open-source community, and they have plenty of documentation online that users can reference for assistance. If you are working in almost any operating system and you have any questions related to the installation, you'll find the documentation you need.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not sure, what the licensing costs are for the solution. From my experience, there is no straightforward cost. You can get that cost from the Oracle website about the Oracle MySQL licensing costs, however, it's not a straightforward price quote for everyone.

If you are an existing customer, you can negotiate and you can get a better quote. The pricing on the website may be for new customers. That said, you can still negotiate. The same is true for Percona and MariaDB as well. 

What other advice do I have?

We are using MySQL 5.6, 5.7, and MySQL 8.0. 

In terms of advice, I'd say when implementing MySQL, if a company has been using any previous relational database, like Oracle, Microsoft SQL or DB2, the easiest way to migrate from any database is from Oracle to MySQL. There'll be some challenges from Microsoft SQL, as well as from DB2 to MySQL. Any existing application which is working with the Oracle database as a backend database, DB2 database as a backend database, or Microsoft as the backend database, should still work fine with MySQL, with minimal code changes. 

MySQL is a product supported by a lot of applications and a lot of organizations. Almost every client and every API would be able to support MySQL. There would still need to be a lot of testing, however, I feel almost all of the applications which need a relational database for their database solution, could leverage out of MySQL. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer938061 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Solution Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Dec 2, 2021
An easy to use solution which comes with a free stable version, but should have better integrative features
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use."
  • "I would recommend the solution to those interested in using the free, stable version of the solution which incurs no licensing costs."
  • "Integration is a key feature in need of improvement."
  • "Integration is a key feature in need of improvement, as we have spent hours building this just to ensure that a set of data is exposed to a different client, a different world in need of that data."

What is our primary use case?

With most open source products we were building, even the language was open source, such as that which employs PHP. This is where the MySQL free version was being primarily used by many of the clients in the storing of their data. 

There have been some great shoppers which we built with the solution. We use the solution to store the transactional data that we receive from various sites or have the data stored in MySQL. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use. As the query patterns are very similar to SQL, this simplifies the use and understanding of the solution. 

What needs improvement?

Integration is a key feature in need of improvement, as we have spent hours building this just to ensure that a set of data is exposed to a different client, a different world in need of that data. Since we are dealing with open source, which we are now employing in memory databases as well, it would be nice if they were to start thinking along those lines. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been dealing with MySQL for around a decade. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have found the free version to be stable. 

How are customer service and support?

I have not made use of technical support. 

What about the implementation team?

I was not involved in either the installation or deployment strategy. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

While I was not involved in those projects over the past year, 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.

What other advice do I have?

While the solution has, nowadays, moved to the cloud, the one I have been dealing with is on-premises.

Even though the solution has not been off the market, I do not possess the exact figures of those making use of it. It is still being used by a couple of our clients. 

I would recommend the solution to those interested in using the free, stable version of the solution which incurs no licensing costs. 

I rate MySQL as a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
it_user1715424 - PeerSpot reviewer
Unemployed (previous role was Solutions Specialist, System Integration)
Real User
Nov 16, 2021
Has different licensing options and is easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "For MySQL, in terms of the usage or as the end user, I don't have much to recommend, as long as the query latency meets your requirements, it will be great."
  • "Sometimes, not because the version is not the latest version, there are some issues with it. Sometimes there's an issue with the server which creates issues with it."

What is our primary use case?

I use MySQL as middleware to get the extracted data from the database. I work with MySQL as an administrator to set up the whole platform. And I document the recipe for setting up the MySQL database.

We are working with the latest version.

What is most valuable?

SQL is just a relational database. It is open source. It's pretty good. I have been using it for a long time.

What needs improvement?

Because I am the middleware guy I'm not the SQL database administrator. If I have any issue with it, I'm going to contact the right person. Sometimes, not because the version is not the latest version, there are some issues with it. Sometimes there's an issue with the server which creates issues with it. Then, when the administrator checks the status and makes notes, it works normally and the problem is fixed. With a big company you are not going to work directly with the MySQL database. We are the end user and not the administrator of the SQL database.

For MySQL, in terms of the usage or as the end user, I don't have much to recommend, as long as the query latency meets your requirements, it will be great. Otherwise, it's the horizontal scalability and you get more parallel in the implementation in terms of the SQL database regardless of the usage. This is probably much better than the vertical in terms of scalability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using MySQL this year.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If you are working in the cloud platform then you do have scalability because the cloud platform is usually AWS or GCP, and they provide this kind of scalability. If you get some issues with the query and latency or something like this, that is an issue of scalability and you can just adjust the horizontal or vertical scalability to meet your requirements.

But the company I was working with was a very big company. It's more than several thousand people and they usually have a lot of data that they are going to store in the MySQL database. They gather the data from the SQL database and then transfer it like ETL and you get data from all the different distributed systems and then put them into the centralized MySQL database. After that you're going to visualize this kind of data so that you can use the Power BI or that kind of tool to generate reports or to create a dashboard for the system. This company had its platform on-premises, but right now they are moving these technologies to cloud. That's why I'm talking about the scalability in two different ways cloud and on-prem.

How are customer service and support?

For technical support, I'm the end user so I extract data or visualize the data from the SQL database. I didn't get too into the daily maintenance of the database.

How was the initial setup?

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 build book. Then it works as long as you follow the procedures.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Regarding the price, because it's the open source they have different licenses. Even for open source there's a license for the enterprise. I don't think it is expensive. Also for the scalability in the cloud, the price is based on the usage, such as, how much data you transfer.

What other advice do I have?

For the best usage right now, the trend is to move the platform from on-premise to cloud. Then, you you really have the best flexibility to scale down or scale up based on your usage. You can make full use of the resources and then pay for whatever you use. Because if you have it on-premise you always pay the same price no matter how much usage you have. So one of my suggestions is if you plan to set up the platform for MySQL, it would be best to go directly to the cloud solution.

On a scale of one to ten, in terms of the usage for the middleware team and the end user of the SQL database, I would say it's around an eight at least. I cannot say from a  database administration perspective.

To determine what would allow me to give it a 10, I would first have to get more experience using it on the cloud version.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1707912 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst and Team Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Nov 10, 2021
Has good tech support, an easy setup and is stable and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "For sure, the solution is very stable."
  • "The solution is good for applications of small scope or for IT."
  • "The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side."

What is our primary use case?

We are currently using the 6.8 version and, prior to this, used the 5.3. I use the updated versions.

What needs improvement?

The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using MySQL since the very beginning, back in 2009. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For sure, the solution is very stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. We have plans to increase the number of users. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is fine.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward and very simple. 

What about the implementation team?

Installation can be done on one's own. 

The entire system is simple to maintain, as it is not very big, and this can be done by one person. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the licensing should be cheaper. 

We pay a yearly subscription fee. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is good for applications of small scope or for IT. It is sufficient to satisfy the needs of those with limited resources. 

Oracle is the main product in my organization.

There are 60 or 70 people making use of the solution in my organization. 

I would definitely recommend the solution to others. It is good for any solution. 

I rate MySQL as a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free MySQL Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free MySQL Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.