World's Most Popular Open-Source Database
MySQL is the world's most popular open-source relational database management system. Developed by Oracle Corporation, MySQL is known for its proven performance, reliability, and ease of use. It powers many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations including Facebook, Google, Adobe, Twitter, and YouTube. MySQL has been the database of choice for web applications for over 25 years, offering a comprehensive set of features for managing structured data with ACID compliance and exceptional performance.
MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) for accessing, managing, and manipulating data. Originally developed by Swedish company MySQL AB in 1995, it was later acquired by Sun Microsystems and then by Oracle Corporation. Despite the acquisitions, MySQL remains open-source and free to use under the GNU General Public License.
MySQL organizes data into tables with rows and columns, following the relational model. It supports complex queries, transactions, stored procedures, triggers, and views. MySQL is particularly well-suited for web applications and is a central component of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/Perl) stack, which powers millions of websites worldwide.
Ensures data integrity with atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable transactions, guaranteeing reliable data storage even in system failures or crashes.
Optimized for speed with intelligent query caching, advanced indexing strategies, and a powerful query optimization engine for lightning-fast data retrieval.
Master-slave and master-master replication for high availability, load balancing, geographic distribution, and automatic failover capabilities.
Table partitioning for improved performance on large datasets by dividing tables into smaller, more manageable pieces for faster query execution.
Create reusable SQL code blocks for complex operations, reducing network traffic and improving security by encapsulating business logic.
Automatic execution of code in response to database events (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) for enforcing business rules and maintaining data consistency.
Built-in full-text search capabilities for searching large amounts of text data efficiently with ranking and relevance scoring.
Robust security with user authentication, SSL/TLS encryption, access control lists, role-based permissions, and data encryption at rest and in transit.
Free to use with commercial support available from Oracle and third parties, no expensive licensing fees required for most use cases.
Proven track record of stability and data integrity in production environments for over 25 years, trusted by millions of applications worldwide.
Works seamlessly on Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, and other Unix-based operating systems without code modifications.
Handles databases from small personal projects to very large scale enterprise applications with billions of rows and petabytes of data.
Large community with extensive documentation, tutorials, forums, Stack Overflow answers, and professional consulting services available.
Simple to set up and maintain with intuitive SQL syntax, comprehensive GUI tools like MySQL Workbench, and excellent learning resources.
Works with virtually all programming languages including PHP, Python, Java, Node.js, .NET, Ruby, Go, and many more.
Fully supported on major cloud platforms (AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database) with managed services and automatic backups.
Store user data, authentication credentials, content, sessions, preferences, and application state for dynamic web applications of any scale.
Manage products, categories, orders, customers, inventory, transactions, payment history, and generate comprehensive sales reports and analytics.
Power CMS platforms like WordPress and Drupal, storing posts, pages, media files, user information, comments, and taxonomies efficiently.
Store and analyze large volumes of business data, customer information, transaction history, and generate business intelligence reports and dashboards.
Store application logs, error logs, analytics data, user activity, system metrics, and performance monitoring data for debugging and analysis.
Handle user authentication, authorization, password hashing, user profiles, permissions, role-based access control, and session management.
Store transactions, accounting data, ledgers, invoices, payment records, and generate financial reports with high data integrity requirements.
Collect and store sensor data from IoT devices, time-series data, device telemetry, readings, and analyze patterns from millions of data points.
-- Create a database
CREATE DATABASE ecommerce;
USE ecommerce;
-- Create users table
CREATE TABLE users (
id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
username VARCHAR(50) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(100) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
password_hash VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
INDEX idx_email (email)
);
-- Create products table
CREATE TABLE products (
id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
description TEXT,
price DECIMAL(10, 2) NOT NULL,
stock INT DEFAULT 0,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
INDEX idx_price (price)
);
-- Insert sample data
INSERT INTO users (username, email, password_hash)
VALUES ('john_doe', 'john@example.com', 'hashed_password');
-- Query with JOIN
SELECT
o.id AS order_id,
u.username,
p.name AS product_name,
p.price
FROM orders o
JOIN users u ON o.user_id = u.id
JOIN products p ON o.product_id = p.id
WHERE u.id = 1
ORDER BY o.created_at DESC;INT, BIGINT, DECIMAL, FLOAT, DOUBLE
VARCHAR, TEXT, CHAR, BLOB, ENUM
DATE, TIME, DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, YEAR
JSON (native support in MySQL 5.7+)
MySQL powers some of the world's most visited websites and mission-critical applications. These organizations trust MySQL for its performance, reliability, and ability to handle massive amounts of data with ease.
Market Share: #2 most popular database globally (after Oracle)
Installations: Over 10 million installations worldwide
Websites: Powers over 50% of all websites using databases
Download MySQL Community Server or use a package manager like apt or brew.
brew install mysqlmysql --versionStart the MySQL server and secure your installation with mysql_secure_installation.
mysql.server startmysql_secure_installationConnect to MySQL and create your first database.
mysql -u root -pCREATE DATABASE myapp;Create indexes on frequently queried columns but avoid over-indexing
Follow normalization rules to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity
Prevent SQL injection attacks by using prepared statements and parameterized queries
Implement automated backup strategies and test restore procedures regularly
Use EXPLAIN to analyze queries and monitor slow query logs
Use InnoDB for transactions and MyISAM for read-heavy operations
Avoid SELECT *, use proper JOIN types, and limit result sets
Use strong passwords, limit user privileges, and enable SSL/TLS