Stop using MySQL in 2026, it is not true open source

59 pointsposted 9 hours ago
by thunderbong
(optimizedbyotto.com)

29 Comments

dcmatt

7 hours ago

I'm not going to stop using it because it's not "true open source." I'm going to stop using it because there's better databases out there.

dfajgljsldkjag

7 hours ago

The author is right that usage is dropping, but that really has no bearing on whether or not it is open source. Technologies get replaced all the time regardless of the license they use.

gnabgib

6 hours ago

Author is also being careful with the DB-Engines screen shot, usage of MySQL may be dropping, but it's still number two (below Oracle, above MSSQL - which shows the same curve, above Postgres, far above MariaDB and SQLite) https://db-engines.com/en/ranking_trend

graemep

3 hours ago

The rankings methodology looks like it will favour MySQL.

https://db-engines.com/en/ranking_definition

Lots of historical mentions. Even the MariaDB website mentions it. Lots of people say "MySQL" generically to include its forks.

gnabgib

2 hours ago

You can see that in this comment thread too. People assuming MariaDB=MySQL (not according to op, arguable)

bratao

7 hours ago

From my experience MariaDB is not necessarily better than MySQL. The 8.x line brought many interesting features. I dream on switch to Postgres, and try every year but for my use case MySQL is still superior (100Bi+ rows for large texts, and heavy modified - I´m also space constrained - So I need data compression and the VACUUM are not good.)

The percona distribution is very good!

CodesInChaos

7 hours ago

The storage engine is one of postgres's weakest points. I hope OrioleDB will eventually give us a more robust and easier to use replacement.

nubinetwork

5 hours ago

From my experience, mariadb is about the same as mysql... depending on the queries, it can either be fine, or slow as balls. I'm actually considering switching to pgsql to see if its any better. /shrug

exabrial

4 hours ago

Is there anything in 8.0.x/8.4.x line that isn't present in MariaDb latest?

MrDrMcCoy

6 hours ago

If space constrained and wanting compression, why not do that at the filesystem or block layer if it's not supported in the app?

1over137

6 hours ago

I'm stuck on MySQL because converting to postgres is hard, the tool everyone recommends (pgloader) doesn't work with current MySQL (https://github.com/dimitri/pgloader/issues/782), anyone know another way?

captain_coffee

6 hours ago

How big of a DB are we talking about? You might need to recreate the whole DB schema / structure manually from scratch in PostgreSQL and then dump the data and load it in PG via standard SQL file exports in the correct table order to avoid failures due to FK constraints. This is a gross oversimplification but you get the gist

1over137

6 hours ago

In fact I don't get the gist :) but thanks for your reply. All I know about databases is following instructions to set one up as part of a LAMP/FAMP installation.

jbverschoor

25 minutes ago

Prepare to be replaced by ai

1over137

12 minutes ago

haha. I have lots of other valuable skills. There's more to programming & IT than just db administration you know.

mlinster

5 hours ago

Unless you use stored procedures in MySQL, recreating the tables and schemas in Postgres should be straightforward. Postgres now offers a 'MySQL Adapter', a.k.a. Foreign Data Wrapper (https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/mysql_fdw), that makes it straightforward to load data from MySQL into Postgres.

I know you mentioned that all you know about databases is following instructions, but maybe the folks at EDB or Percona can give you a hand.

Postgres will be around for a long time, and I think it's pretty obvious that MySQL won't.

1over137

a minute ago

I'll read up on that, thanks!

homebrewer

5 hours ago

It does work, I just used pgloader to migrate a 16 GB database from MySQL 8.4 to PostgreSQL 18 last week (around 700 tables). It's not big, but their problems seem to be with authentication, not database size or functionality.

Have you tried it doing it yourself?

1over137

4 hours ago

I have tried. It fails in authentication like that ticket describes, so I seem to be stuck on square one.

bitbasher

5 hours ago

Why would anyone use MySQL over Postgres in 2026?

timbit42

4 hours ago

Because they started with MySQL and it can be difficult to switch.

logifail

7 hours ago

Happily using MariaDB (as packaged with Debian) in production here...

schmookeeg

5 hours ago

Oracle's icy touch. It was foretold. :D

exabrial

4 hours ago

One does not need to stop because "its not open source", one needs to switch because its no longer actively being developed.

fegu

7 hours ago

I used MariaDB in Azure, but got notified it was retired. Anyway, migrated to sqlite.

antonvs

7 hours ago

Who's still using MySQL on the back end? Most Linux distributions come with MariaDB. Is it Windows servers?

zinodaur

7 hours ago

MySQL performs well at large scale, and has a very cool and weird storage engine option called MyRocks, that slows read performance but allows demented write rates and compression.

But yes, it is very bad.

captain_coffee

6 hours ago

I would argue that the reason to stop using it is that is a pretty bad piece of software to begin with, not because it's not "true open source" but hey, whatever floats your boat, right?