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Galera Cluster vs Percona XtraDB Cluster

Galera Cluster: Synchronous multi-primary replication for MySQL and MariaDB, now owned by MariaDB plc. Percona XtraDB Cluster: Percona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster.

key differences

  • Only Percona XtraDB Cluster has full-text search, geospatial, change data capture, compression.

choose galera-cluster for

  • +High-availability MySQL/MariaDB clusters
  • +Zero-RPO failover inside a region
  • +Geographically spread read replicas with consistent data
  • +Active-active setups behind a load balancer such as MaxScale or ProxySQL

best at · OLTP

choose percona-xtradb-cluster for

  • +Highly available MySQL for business-critical OLTP
  • +Zero-data-loss failover within a data center
  • +Self-hosted MySQL on Kubernetes with an operator
  • +Read scaling with consistent reads on every node

best at · OLTP, Content

Galera ClusterSynchronous multi-primary replication for MySQL and MariaDB, now owned by MariaDB plc.
Percona XtraDB ClusterPercona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
–
Document
Type
Extension
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Codership (MariaDB plc)
Percona
First release
2009
2012
Latest version
26.4.27 (May 12, 2026)
9.7.1-1 (Sep 10, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GPL-2.0
Open source (copyleft)GPL-2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
10.0
10.3
Rank
#304
#300
GitHub stars
499
390
Stack Overflow questions
406
59
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
None
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Multi primary, Distributed
Multi primary, Distributed, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
–
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
—
✓
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
—
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
✓
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
✓
✓
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
—
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL
SQL
Client languages
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, PHP
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, PHP, C#
Best for
OLTP
OLTP, Content
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Galera Cluster vs Percona XtraDB Cluster: FAQ

What is the difference between Galera Cluster and Percona XtraDB Cluster?

Galera Cluster: Synchronous multi-primary replication for MySQL and MariaDB, now owned by MariaDB plc. Percona XtraDB Cluster: Percona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster. Only Percona XtraDB Cluster has full-text search, geospatial, change data capture, compression.

When should I choose Galera Cluster over Percona XtraDB Cluster?

Choose Galera Cluster for high-availability MySQL/MariaDB clusters, zero-RPO failover inside a region and geographically spread read replicas with consistent data. Choose Percona XtraDB Cluster for highly available MySQL for business-critical OLTP, zero-data-loss failover within a data center and self-hosted MySQL on Kubernetes with an operator.

Is Galera Cluster or Percona XtraDB Cluster more popular?

Percona XtraDB Cluster ranks #300 on the WhichDB Score (10.3/100) and Galera Cluster ranks #304 (10.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Galera Cluster and Percona XtraDB Cluster open source?

Yes. Galera Cluster is open source. License: GPL-2.0. Yes. Percona XtraDB Cluster is open source. License: GPL-2.0.