Free MySQL Alternatives

MariaDB is an free and open-source, community-developed relational database management system. MariaDB is a fork of MySQL, and is developed and maintained by the creators of MySQL, after concerns over its acquisition by Oracle Corporation in 2009. The databases comes bundled by default with most Linux distributions and is also apart of most cloud offerings. MariaDB is built upon the values of performance, stability, and openness which is ensured through the MariaDB Foundation.

MongoDB is an open-source document-oriented distributed database built for modern applications. MongoDB uses JSON-like documents with optional schemas and is classified as a NoSQL database. The database is freely distributed under the Server Side Public License, but MongoDB provides commercial version of the database for enterprise-scale applications.

PostgreSQL, or Postgres for short is a widely popular, free and open-source relational database management system. PostgreSQL is available for all major operating systems including macOS, Linux, Windows, BSD and Solaris. The project has been in active development for over 30 years now, and powers many of the applications you use on a daily basis.

OrbitDB is free and open-source serverless, distributed, peer-to-peer database for IPFS (Internet Planetary File System). The database is most commonly used for decentralized apps (dApps) and blockchain applications. With OrbitDB, IPFS is used for data storage, while IPFS Pubsub is used to automatically sync databases with peers across the network. Which makes OrbitDB an "eventually consistent database" that uses CRDTs for conflict-free database merges, suited for decentralization of data.

Redis is a free and open-source, in in-memory data structure store that can be used as a database, cache or message broker. The project is community developed and released under the BSD license. Redis supports common data structures including strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets with range queries, bitmaps, hyperloglogs, geospatial indexes with radius queries and streams.

CouchDB is a free and open-source document-oriented NoSQL database developed by the Apache Foundation. The database is written and implemented in the language Erlang and provides the use of multiple formats and protocols to store, transfer, and process data. With CouchDB you query data with JavaScript using MapReduce, and HTTP for an API. Which can be done across multiple distributed CouchDB instances as the database has the ability to synchronize multiple copies of the same database, across servers.

A Chinese developed open-source NewSQL database that supports analytical processing and hybrid transactional workloads. TiDB is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license and primarily developed by PingCAP, Inc. The database provides high availability with strong consistency and horizontal scaling and is compatible with MySQL.

Apache Cassandra is a free and open-source, distributed, wide column store, NoSQL database management system. Apache Cassandra is designed to handle large amounts of data across many commodity servers, providing high availability with no single point of failure. The database has become the choice of many organizations that need scalability and high availability without compromising performance. Apache Cassandra also provides support for replicating across multiple datacenters, providing lower latency for end users of Cassandra-powered applications.

TaffyDB is a free and open source, Pure-JavaScript database abstraction that stores data in JSON format. TaffyDB provides INSERT, DELETE, GET (SELECT)  and JOIN methods to execure the data similar to that of traditional relational SQL databases. TaffyDB allows you to quickly setup an in-memory database that can be used in the same fashion as an SQLite database would, without configuration and a database server running.

Couchbase, originally known as Membase is an award-winning, open-source, distributed multi-model NoSQL and document-oriented cloud database. It is designed and optimized for interactive applications and may serve many concurrent users by creating, storing, retrieving, aggregating, manipulating and presenting data. Couchbase delivers unmatched versatility, performance, scalability, and financial value across cloud, on-premises, hybrid, distributed cloud, and edge computing deployments.

VoltDB is a blazingly fast NewSQL database management system that is specifically designed to run on modern scale-out architectures - fast, inexpensive servers connected via high-speed data networks. VoltDB is a popular choice for companies with high data throughput requirements, like in the telecommunications industry. 5G has changed the game for telcos, and new rules call for a new way of managing data. VoltDB is built for today’s massive data volume and complexity, allowing businesses to survive and thrive in the age of 5G, IoT, and whatever comes next.

BigchainDB allows developers and enterprise to deploy blockchain proof-of-concepts, platforms and applications with a blockchain database, supporting a wide range of industries and use cases. BigchainDB provides high throughput, low latency, powerful query functionality, decentralized control, immutable data storage and built-in asset support, BigchainDB is like a database with blockchain characteristics.