What are the differences between MySQL and MS-SQL?

To explain the differences between the 2 database types this article is made, do not see this as the final judgement which one you should choose.

What is it?
MySQL and MS-SQL are the ways a database works. A database stores all your data from a website or from an application.

For websites the two databases we will discuss here are the most popular.
What is immediately striking is that for MySQL no additional package or Add on needs to be purchased, for an MS-SQL database the Add on needs to be purchased.
MySQL is Open Source and free to use under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

MS-SQL is Closed Source and owned by Microsoft, which is not free to use. If you want a MS-SQL database then you must pay for a license.
At MijnHostingPartner.nl the costs for this are:
Microsoft SQL Database - 3 Pieces (Std 500 MB)- €32.00 Excl. VAT per year.
Microsoft SQL Database (5 Pieces) (Std 500MB/Db) - €69.00 excluding. VAT per year.
Microsoft SQL Database (10 pcs) (Std 500MB/Db) - €90.00 excluding. VAT per year.
Upgrade SQL Database from 1GB to 3GB - €69.00 excl. VAT per yearThis

can be quite costly for a simple website. Popular website builders like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla also use a MySQL for these reasons. Since these projects are inherently community-oriented and Open Source they do not use MS-SQL.
However, when looking at Umbraco, this is a different story. Umbraco has been exclusively for MS-SQL since the beginning. This has changed in the last year, however, more functions are supported by MS-SQL.

It is therefore primarily a choice that must be made at the start of a project. You can ask yourself the following questions:

1. How am I going to create the website?
2. Is this with a CMS that exclusively uses one of the two?
3. Are you going to program in ASP.NET yourself, or are you going to work with PHP?
4. Which of the two do I have the most experience with?

For different situations, the choice is easy which one to choose, like with PHP it's easy to work with a MySQL database. If you are going to start a project with Microsoft Visual Studio and program in ASP.NET then it may be easier to work with an MS-SQL database.
For a WordPress site, a MySQL database is the only choice. Drupal has a small community that does develop to get this on MS-SQL. However, it is recommended to use a MySQL database for this. This causes fewer problems.
It is also a large part personal preference that determines which database you use. If you have always worked with 1, then this will be your preference. MS-SQL has the advantage and disadvantage that it is closed source, the positive side is that the integration with certain programs is effortless. Also, the software package SQL management Studio is available, this is a tool to manage the database. With the 2012 version, it is no longer possible to access this via the web.

With MySQL your database is always accessible through the web application PHPMyAdmin. Above is an example of this. If you prefer to run this locally on an application, you can also choose from MySQL Workbench or SQLyog. In this way, a connection can be made to the database on our servers.

Previous versions of MS-SQL also allowed you to use your browser to manage your database, but this is no longer possible with the later versions.
You need an application for this from Microsoft, this can be SQL management studio Express or the full version. There are also several possibilities.



If you mainly want to use a database management tool that is easily accessible through the browser, the logical choice is to choose MySQL.

What it mainly consists of is a matter of personal preference, however, the server administrator of MijnHostingPartner.nl does have a preference for MS-SQL. The main reason for this is that the speed and performance is better than MySQL, the construction of the database is in his eyes the main cause.
One of our programmers also expressed his opinion about this. For him, it is a matter of which language you are working with, when working with PHP, the preference is for MySQL. When working with ASP, the winner in his eyes is MS-SQL. And with PHP MySQL.

We hope we have made it clearer which one you can choose for your project, do you have any comments or opinions on this subject?
Then you can report it via the chat or you can create a ticket in our customer panel.

If you have further questions you can always see if someone is present at the online chat.
Or you can create a ticket in the customer panel.