head to head · open source
InfluxDB vs mysql
InfluxDB has 31,748 GitHub stars, 3,718 forks, 2,165 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mysql has 15,284 stars, 2,334 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped yesterday. InfluxDB leads on adoption by 108% (31,748 vs 15,284 stars). InfluxDB is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; mysql is written in Go under MPL-2.0. InfluxDB has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, mysql 15%. InfluxDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, go), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| InfluxDB | mysql | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.7K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick InfluxDB if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mysql if
- You want the mysql feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and mysql fits your workflow better
About InfluxDB
InfluxDB 3 Core is an open source time series database purpose built for real time ingestion, processing, and querying of event and metrics data. It lives in the InfluxDB ecosystem and is the latest major version, generally available since April 2025. Built with Rust and leveraging Apache Arrow, DataFusion, and Parquet, it replaces older versions (v1.x, v2.x) with a new architecture optimized for low latency analytics and interactive workloads.
read the full InfluxDB overview →
About mysql
Go MySQL Driver is the pure Go MySQL driver that implements the database/sql interface for Go applications, and it is aimed at Go developers who need to connect services to MySQL, MariaDB, or TiDB without cgo or C bindings.
read the full mysql overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is InfluxDB or mysql more popular?
InfluxDB has 31,748 GitHub stars and mysql has 15,284. InfluxDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are InfluxDB and mysql free?
Both are open source. InfluxDB is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mysql under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between InfluxDB and mysql?
InfluxDB is written in Rust and mysql in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, InfluxDB or mysql?
Choose InfluxDB if you want the larger community (31,748 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mysql if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.