Products · category

Top relational (SQL) database engines

38 RDBMS software ranked by rating, review volume and listing quality.

Between them, the 23 best-ranked of these 38 RDBMS software cover backup and recovery (7), multiple programming languages supported (6), performance analysis (6) and access Controls/Permissions (5). 23 of them have written a profile you can read before you get in touch.

What to look for in relational (SQL) database engines

The best choice depends on your workload, your team and your budget, not only on where an engine sits in this list. Before you shortlist the top-ranked SQL databases, check:

The SQL features your applications already rely on (stored procedures, window functions, JSON, full-text search) and how closely the engine follows the standard
The licence of the version you will run: open source, source-available or proprietary, and what a licence change would cost you
How it scales: one large server, read replicas, or distributed SQL across nodes and regions
Managed services on the clouds you use, and whether you can run the same engine yourself
Backup, point-in-time recovery, replication and failover you can test before you need them
Each version’s support life, so an upgrade is a plan rather than an emergency

How to use this ranking

Use it to build a shortlist. Read each engine’s profile for its licence, deployment options and latest release, then test the two or three that fit on your own data and queries before you commit.

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SQL Server
Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis · DataBase
Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database that runs on Windows and Linux, sold in Express, Developer, Standard and Enterprise editions.
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IBM Db2
Database Conversion · DataBase · Relational
IBM Db2 is a proprietary relational database that covers transactional, analytical and vector workloads, offered self-managed, in containers and as a managed service.
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SQLite
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · DataBase
SQLite is a public-domain embedded SQL database library that keeps a whole database in a single file, used inside applications rather than as a separate server.
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PostgreSQL
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis
PostgreSQL is an open source object-relational database server with SQL support, built by a volunteer group for teams that run it themselves or buy it as a managed service.
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MariaDB
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis
MariaDB is a GPL relational database that began as a community alternative to MySQL, maintained by the MariaDB Foundation with commercial support from MariaDB plc.
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SingleStore
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis
SingleStore is a distributed SQL database for combined transactional and analytical workloads, sold as a managed cloud, self-managed and bring-your-own-cloud product.
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M
MySQL
DataBase
MySQL is a relational database server owned by Oracle, available under the GPL v2 for community use and under a paid commercial licence for Enterprise and embedding.
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C
CockroachDB
DataBase
CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database from Cockroach Labs with a PostgreSQL-compatible interface, sold as a managed cloud service and as licensed self-managed software.
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Y
YugabyteDB
DataBase
YugabyteDB is a distributed SQL database built on a PostgreSQL fork, released under Apache-2.0 and sold with a managed cloud service and a self-managed platform.
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T
TiDB
DataBase
TiDB is an open source, MySQL-compatible distributed SQL database from PingCAP that separates compute from storage for transactional and analytical workloads.
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PS
Percona Server for MySQL
DataBase
Percona Server for MySQL is a drop-in compatible build of MySQL Community Edition with added backup, security, encryption and monitoring features, with paid support available.
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F
Firebird
DataBase
Firebird is an open source relational database descended from InterBase source released in 2000, run as a server or embedded and developed by volunteers.
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AA
Amazon Aurora
DataBase
Amazon Aurora is a managed relational database service from Amazon Web Services, compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL and billed on instances, storage and I/O or serverless…
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GC
Google Cloud Spanner
DataBase
Google Cloud Spanner is a managed, globally distributed relational database from Google Cloud with SQL and PostgreSQL interfaces, sold only as a cloud service.
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N
Neon
DataBase
Neon is open source serverless Postgres that separates storage from compute, with autoscaling, scale-to-zero and database branching, sold as a managed service.
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TL
Turso / libSQL
DataBase
Turso is an SQLite-compatible database, with an in-process Rust engine and the libSQL fork, offered under the MIT licence and as the managed Turso Cloud service.
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P
PlanetScale
DataBase
PlanetScale sells managed Postgres and Vitess-based MySQL databases with sharding, on a proprietary managed service priced per instance size on AWS.
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AF
AlloyDB for PostgreSQL
DataBase
AlloyDB for PostgreSQL is a managed database from Google Cloud that is compatible with PostgreSQL.
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EP
EDB Postgres Advanced Server
DataBase
EDB Postgres Advanced Server is EDB's commercial PostgreSQL distribution with Oracle compatibility and security features, now branded Enterprise Postgres (Oracle Compatible).
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O
OceanBase
DataBase
OceanBase is a distributed relational database from Ant Group, using Paxos replication, MySQL compatible and capable of mixed transactional and analytical workloads.
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MA
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
DataBase
Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's managed SQL Server-engine service with General Purpose, Business Critical and Hyperscale tiers and a serverless option.
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Oracle Database
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis
Oracle Database, now branded Oracle AI Database, is a proprietary relational database from Oracle for enterprise workloads, with a free edition and cloud services.
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SAP Hana
Multiple Programming Languages Supported · Backup and Recovery · Performance Analysis
Why Choose SAP to Grow Your Business? Big Data system, that consists of in-memory technology, analytics database, and event processing.
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How is this ranking of relational (SQL) database engines worked out?

A position here is earned, never bought. It is worked out from what each listing documents and what has been verified about it: a complete, accurate profile, and the checks a vendor has passed. Client reviews count where they exist, but they are still rare across this catalogue, so today the order comes mainly from documentation and verification. A top position means best-documented, not best for your workload.

Is the top-ranked engine the best for everyone?

No. Workloads, scale, skills and budgets differ, and so does the right engine. Use the checklist above and test before you choose.

Can a vendor pay to move up?

No. Sponsored and Featured places are labelled and shown apart from the ranked list, and they never change an engine’s position in it. How rankings work

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