3.3. Comparisions with other popular DBMSs

3.3.1. PostgreSQL

MySQL and PostgreSQL are very similar in many ways. The main differences are that PostgreSQL is an object database system rather than a purely relational database system, it has transactions (but its performance suffers because of this) and that PostgreSQL is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) rather than a license which imposes some restrictions or costs on use and redistribution.

More information: http://www.postgresql.org/

3.3.2. mSQL

mSQL is also similar to MySQL but has slightly less features and is not free for commercial use. On the positive side, it is very lightweight and can be very fast for simple SELECT queries.

More information: http://www.hughes.com.au/

3.3.3. Oracle, Sybase, etc

MySQL will not give you the performance or features of Oracle or other enterprise-level database management systems. In particular, MySQL lacks transactions, triggers, and views. The price you pay for this is that Oracle costs a lot, and requires heavy hardware to run on. MySQL is better suited to small-to-medium database applications such as web-based database applications, and will do so happily on a common Pentium based system.

More information: http://www.oracle.com/