Why MySQL Still Beats PostgreSQL in China: A Deep Dive

Global and Chinese Popularity Trends

DB‑Engines rankings show MySQL still ahead of PostgreSQL worldwide, and Google Trends for the past year confirm MySQL’s clear lead in most regions, especially China where the share gap reaches 96% to 4%.

Author Background

The author has been studying databases since 2009, working with MySQL 5.1 and PostgreSQL 8.x, and later maintaining both MySQL and PostgreSQL branches on Google Cloud SQL from 2013 onward, giving a long‑term perspective on their evolution.

Key Reasons for MySQL’s Dominance in China

1. Early Windows Support

MySQL released a Windows version in 1998, while PostgreSQL only offered an official Windows build in 2005, making MySQL the default choice for developers on Windows machines.

2. Lower Entry Barrier

Connection simplicity: PostgreSQL requires specifying a database name on connection, whereas MySQL can connect without it, avoiding the “FATAL Database does not exist” error.

Access‑control configuration: PostgreSQL needs an additional pg_hba.conf file besides its user system, adding extra setup steps.

Hierarchy differences: MySQL’s hierarchy is instance → database → table; PostgreSQL adds a schema layer ( instance/cluster → database → schema → table), which most users never need, creating unnecessary complexity.

Cross‑database queries: PostgreSQL historically required extensions like dblink or FDW for cross‑database queries, whereas MySQL handles them more directly.

Permission model: PostgreSQL’s fine‑grained ownership model leads to frequent permission‑related issues during testing.

3. Performance History

Early Google search and advertising services ran on MySQL; internal tests showed MySQL outperforming PostgreSQL, influencing the final selection. Today, performance differences depend heavily on query complexity, concurrency, and latency, and in many scenarios the two are comparable.

4. Internet Stack (LAMP)

The LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) emerged in 1998 alongside the rise of the web, cementing MySQL’s role as the database component of the dominant web development platform.

5. Influence of Large Tech Companies

Google’s MySQL team (e.g., Mark Callaghan) contributed heavily to the ecosystem, later moving to Facebook and driving tools like MHA (Master High Availability). Their work propagated through Google → Facebook/Twitter → Chinese internet giants, reinforcing MySQL’s market position.

6. Ecosystem and Tooling

MySQL benefits from a rich ecosystem: InnoDB for transactions, mature replication, sharding middleware, and a plethora of books and training resources (e.g., *High Performance MySQL*). Companies such as Percona provide specialized tools like pt-online-schema-change and xtrabackup. In China, Alibaba contributed replication improvements, and firms like Qihoo, Xiaomi, and PingCAP built parsers and audit tools.

PostgreSQL’s tooling lags behind; for example, it lacks an out‑of‑the‑box parser for SQL audit, forcing projects like Bytebase to implement their own solutions.

Conclusion and Outlook

The core driver of MySQL’s dominance in China is its early Windows availability, which made it the default database for the LAMP stack and thus the backbone of the Chinese internet. Combined with strong corporate adoption, a massive ecosystem, and entrenched tooling, MySQL secured a network effect that PostgreSQL has yet to overcome.

With MySQL 5.7 reaching end‑of‑life and PostgreSQL gaining traction, the next fifteen years—especially in the AI and VR era—may see a shift in the balance, but the historical forces that shaped the current landscape will continue to influence future developments.