CRM & Sales · head to head
Freshsales vs MariaDB

MariaDB
Database & Data Management
The open source relational database for the enterprise
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only MariaDB has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Freshsales contact scoring, sales sequences and territory management require the Pro plan at $39 per user per month, more than four times the Growth price; MariaDB jSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
- They diverge on capability: Freshsales covers Contact management, MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Freshsales and MariaDB actually diverge.
| Attribute | Freshsales | MariaDB |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $19/month | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | Unknown |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web, Ios, Android | Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS |
| Category | CRM & Sales | Database & Data Management |
| Founded | 2010 | 2009 |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Freshsales
- Contact management
- Lead scoring
- Sales pipeline
- Activity tracking
- Email sync
- AI insights
- Workflow automation
- Gmail
Only in MariaDB
- MySQL Compatibility
- Aria Storage Engine
- ColumnStore
- Galera Cluster
- MaxScale
- Spider Engine
- Temporal Tables
- phpMyAdmin
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Freshsales
- Sales CRM with built in email, phone and chatnot MariaDB
- Managing deals, pipelines and sales sequencesnot MariaDB
MariaDB
- Transaction processingnot Freshsales
- Data storagenot Freshsales
- Application backendnot Freshsales
- Reportingnot Freshsales
- Data analyticsnot Freshsales
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Freshsales
- Contact scoring, sales sequences and territory management require the Pro plan at $39 per user per month, more than four times the Growth price
- Forecasting insights, custom modules, sandbox and audit logs are Enterprise only at $59 per user per month
- Every published price requires annual billing
- The Freddy AI agent is billed separately at $49 per 100 sessions
- Branded documents are a further $19 per user add on
- No contact limits are stated for any tier on the pricing page
MariaDB
- JSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
- Galera Cluster maximum performance limited to the slowest node in cluster
- InnoDB tables limited to 1,017 columns and 64 secondary indexes
- Transaction size limits in Galera (128K rows and 2GB by default)
- Less strict SQL type checking than PostgreSQL; allows implicit conversions
Pricing, plan by plan
Freshsales
$19/month- Starter$19/month
- Contact & account management
- Pipeline management
- Growth$39/month
- Everything in Starter
- Sales automation
- Territory management
- Pro$65/month
- Everything in Growth
- Forecasting
- Advanced customization
MariaDB
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the MariaDB review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Freshsales if
- You need contact management.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want lead scoring.
Choose MariaDB if
- You need mysql compatibility.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
- You also want aria storage engine.
Questions people ask
- Is Freshsales or MariaDB better?
- Neither clearly leads. Freshsales starts at $19/month and MariaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Freshsales or MariaDB?
- MariaDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $19/month for Freshsales and Free for MariaDB.
- Does Freshsales or MariaDB run on more platforms?
- Freshsales runs on Web, Ios, Android. MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
- Can I use MariaDB for free?
- Yes. MariaDB has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Freshsales starts at $19/month.
- What is Freshsales best used for?
- Freshsales is most often used for sales crm with built in email, phone and chat, managing deals, pipelines and sales sequences. Of those, sales crm with built in email, phone and chat and managing deals, pipelines and sales sequences are not what MariaDB is typically brought in for.
- What can Freshsales do that MariaDB cannot?
- Freshsales covers Contact management, Lead scoring, Sales pipeline, Activity tracking. MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
MariaDB: Is MariaDB completely free and open source?
Yes. MariaDB Server is licensed under GPLv2 and guaranteed to remain perpetually free and open source, independent of any commercial entities.
SourceMariaDB: Is MariaDB backward compatible with MySQL?
Yes. MariaDB was designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Every application, driver, and configuration that worked with MySQL works with MariaDB without code changes.
SourceMariaDB: What are the storage engine options in MariaDB?
MariaDB supports multiple storage engines including InnoDB (transactional, default), Aria (crash-safe, good for read-heavy workloads), and MyISAM. The Aria engine is faster than InnoDB for certain read-heavy queries and full table scans.
SourceMariaDB: How much does MariaDB cost?
MariaDB Community Server is completely free to download and use. MariaDB offers paid enterprise support and managed cloud services for organizations needing professional support.
SourceMariaDB: Does MariaDB support native JSON storage?
MariaDB stores JSON using text fields (the JSON type is an alias for LONGTEXT), not as a native binary type like MySQL does. JSON support exists but is less sophisticated than MySQL's JSON functions and syntax.
SourceMariaDB: What scaling options does MariaDB provide?
MariaDB supports both scaling up (more cores, memory, storage) and scaling out (read replication, Galera Cluster with multi-node replication). However, Galera Cluster performance cannot exceed the slowest node in the cluster.
SourceRelated pages
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