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MySQL

The world's most popular open source database

As of 30 August 2026, MySQL is free to use. MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. Softwr lists it under Web Development. MySQL is made by Oracle Corporation, launched in 1995, available on Windows, macOS, Linux.

Overview

What MySQL does

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. It's widely used for web applications and is a key component of the LAMP stack. Known for its reliability, performance, and ease of use.

What people use it for

  • Web application backend
  • E-commerce platforms
  • Content management systems
  • Data warehousing
  • Business applications

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about MySQL.

  • Hot online backup is not in the free Community Server; MySQL Enterprise Backup is a paid Enterprise Edition component
  • Transparent Data Encryption, data masking and de-identification are Enterprise Edition only
  • MySQL Enterprise Firewall, which guards against SQL injection, and MySQL Enterprise Audit are both paid components
  • External authentication against PAM or Windows Active Directory requires MySQL Enterprise Authentication
  • The thread pool ships as MySQL Enterprise Scalability rather than in the community build

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of MySQL

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Pricing

What MySQL costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Community Edition

Free

  • Open source license
  • Full SQL support
  • InnoDB storage engine
  • Community support

Standard Edition

$2,000 /yr

  • Commercial license
  • Oracle Premier Support
  • MySQL Enterprise backup
  • Query analyzer

Enterprise Edition

$5,000 /yr

  • Advanced security
  • MySQL Enterprise Monitor
  • High Availability
  • Enterprise backup

Capabilities

Features

  • ACID compliance

  • SQL support

  • Multi-version concurrency control

  • Replication

  • Partitioning

  • Stored procedures

  • Triggers

  • Views

  • PHP

    Integration with PHP

  • Python

    Integration with Python

  • Java

    Integration with Java

  • Node.js

    Integration with Node.js

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Does MySQL cost money?

MySQL is primarily open-source and free to use. Commercial editions and support services are available but pricing is not published on the main website.

Source
How do I get MySQL pricing information?

For MySQL commercial editions and support pricing, customers can contact MySQL sales directly at +1-866-221-0634 or navigate to individual product pages.

Source

Behind it

Who makes MySQL

Company
Oracle Corporation
Based in
Austin, TX
Founders
David Axmark, Allan Larsson, Michael Widenius

Timeline

MySQL over time

  1. Acquisition2010-01-27$7.4bn

    Oracle completes acquisition of Sun Microsystems

    Source
  2. Acquisition2008-01-16$1bn

    Sun Microsystems agrees to acquire MySQL AB

    Source
  3. Licence change2000-06-01

    MySQL adopts the GPL

    Source
  4. Launch1995-05-23

    First MySQL release

    Source
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Where to go from MySQL

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for MySQL, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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