Get The Facts: MySQL Licensing and Pricing

The confusion about whether MySQL Community Edition still included InnoDB seems now to have dissipated. Thank you to Sheeri Cabral, Darren Cassar and all of you who helped correct the misperception created by catchy headlines. In part, the confusion was caused by people assuming that the MySQL Classic Edition (an option for embedding that has been around for a long time) is the same as MySQL Community Edition...not so. We have made appropriate changes to our web page to clarify this.

 

A number of blog postings and articles have referred to Oracle raising and doubling prices for MySQL. That is not accurate. Let me give you the facts.

 

MySQL continues to have a dual license model. The Community Edition of MySQL continues to be freely available and licensed under the GPL (including the InnoDB storage engine).  For the commercial editions, we have made a few changes to simplify licensing and have added more benefits for users.

• Pricing model (for end-users) continues to be "Annual Subscription" (includes Software, Support, Updates, and Maintenance).
• Pricing metric continues to be "Per Server"

Commercial Editions for end-users now include a choice of two subscriptions:

• MySQL Standard Edition subscribers now receive Oracle's Premier support, as well as MySQL Workbench Standard Edition
• MySQL Enterprise Edition subscribers get, in addition to the above, access to MySQL Enterprise Monitor and MySQL Enterprise Backup
• Both subscriptions include 24x7, Global, Premier Support with unlimited support incidents.

 

So, what's different?

 

1. 24x7, unlimited incidents, global support for all customers

In the past, MySQL had tiered support model with 4 support tiers ranging from getting only 2 incidents/yr. to only business hour support to 24x7 support. With Oracle's new model, all MySQL customers now get the highest quality of 24x7, global, Premier Support with unlimited incidents.

1. Simple Licensing, More Features

In the past, MySQL subscription packages included Basic, Silver, Gold & Platinum (all at different levels of tiered support, not all features were included...starting at $599, going up to $5000). New subscription packages include Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition (both with 24x7 support, unlimited calls, and new features included; starting at $2000 going up to $5000).

 

We dropped the $599 per server price point (called Basic Support). It included just access to patches and updates and ability to call only within business hours and get resolution for only two incidents per year to get resolution for only two incidents per year via email - very very limited support. This was not a popular option anyway. Now the starting point is $2000 per server which comes with unlimited, 24x7 support, and also includes the Workbench tool - so, much higher level of support and more functionality.

1. In conclusion, we now offer more functionality and 24x7, unlimited incidents, premier support at lower price. In every category now on the price list, we are offering better support and more features than in the past. (To compare, whereas in the past 24x7 support was available starting at $3000 per server, you can now get it for $2000 per server).

NOTES:

• ·         MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition is a separate product (a real-time database), and for the first time ever available under a subscription model, including 24x7, Premier Support, on a per server basis
• ·         OEMs/ISVs can also embed MySQL Database and MySQL Cluster http://mysql.com/oem/

 

Hope this clarifies our licensing policy for MySQL.