Last updated: October 3 2024
MySQL is a battle tested database that will be forever tied to the most popular blogging tool of all time - Wordpress.
Together, these technologies are estimated to power over 40% of all websites on the internet.
There is nothing wrong with using MySQL outside of the context of a Wordpress website. Many large, sophisticated organizations do just that! However, I find that most of the time I come across MySQL, it is powering a Wordpress site.
Another nice thing about using MySQL is that everyone offers it. Because of this, it’s impossible to get “locked in” to a particular cloud vendor. You will always maintain leverage over your cloud provider that you could leave anytime you want. This is increasingly important as the large cloud providers gain more and more control over our digital infrastructure.
The generally open nature of the MySQL community just seems to permeate everything about the project. For example, there is an active community forum, an official Slack channel, and a Github repository.
MySQL doesn’t have many cons, which is why I rate it so highly. However, there are a few.