Best Self Hosted Alternatives to PostgreSQL

MySQL is a widely used open source relational database management system (RDBMS) that stores and retrieves data using SQL. It is commonly deployed as the data layer for web applications and business systems, ranging from small single-node setups to high-availability architectures.

Key Features

• ACID-compliant transactional storage via pluggable storage engines (commonly InnoDB)
• SQL querying, indexing, constraints, views, and stored programs (procedures, functions, triggers)
• Replication options to support read scaling and failover (depending on configuration)
• Authentication, authorization, and role-based access control with auditing capabilities depending on edition/plugins
• Online backup and recovery workflows supported through ecosystem tooling and replication-based strategies
• Optional clustering capabilities through MySQL Cluster (NDB) for certain real-time workloads

Use Cases

• Primary database for web applications (e-commerce, CMS, SaaS backends)
• Business applications requiring structured relational data and SQL reporting
• Read-scaled deployments using replicas for analytics or heavy read traffic

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced features and enterprise tooling may depend on edition, plugins, or external ecosystem components
• Performance and behavior can vary significantly by storage engine and configuration choices

MySQL remains a standard choice for relational data storage due to broad ecosystem support, mature operational tooling, and flexible deployment patterns. It fits both straightforward single-instance deployments and more complex replicated or clustered environments when properly configured.