vs

MySQL NDB Cluster vs Percona XtraDB Cluster

MySQL NDB Cluster: Shared-nothing, auto-sharded in-memory MySQL engine built for telecom-grade availability. Percona XtraDB Cluster: Percona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster.

key differences

  • Horizontal scaling is native in MySQL NDB Cluster and none in Percona XtraDB Cluster.
  • Only MySQL NDB Cluster has in-memory, online schema changes.
  • Only Percona XtraDB Cluster has full-text search, geospatial.

choose mysql-ndb-cluster for

  • +Telecom subscriber databases (HLR, HSS, 5G UDM)
  • +Online gaming player state
  • +Session and user-profile stores needing five-nines uptime
  • +Payment authorization with strict availability SLAs

best at · OLTP, Sessions, Cache

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

overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Key-Value
Document
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Oracle Corporation
Percona
First release
2004
2012
Latest version
26.10.0 (Oct 20, 2026)
9.7.1-1 (Sep 10, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GPL-2.0 (Community) / commercial (CGE)
Open source (copyleft)GPL-2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
11.4
10.3
Rank
#283
#300
GitHub stars
–
390
Stack Overflow questions
197
59
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
None
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, In memory, Client server
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, JavaScript, C, Python, PHP
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, PHP, C#
Best for
OLTP, Sessions, Cache, Real-time analytics
OLTP, Content

MySQL NDB Cluster vs Percona XtraDB Cluster: FAQ

What is the difference between MySQL NDB Cluster and Percona XtraDB Cluster?

MySQL NDB Cluster: Shared-nothing, auto-sharded in-memory MySQL engine built for telecom-grade availability. Percona XtraDB Cluster: Percona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster. Horizontal scaling is native in MySQL NDB Cluster and none in Percona XtraDB Cluster. Only MySQL NDB Cluster has in-memory, online schema changes. Only Percona XtraDB Cluster has full-text search, geospatial.

When should I choose MySQL NDB Cluster over Percona XtraDB Cluster?

Choose MySQL NDB Cluster for telecom subscriber databases (HLR, HSS, 5G UDM); online gaming player state; and session and user-profile stores needing five-nines uptime. 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 MySQL NDB Cluster or Percona XtraDB Cluster more popular?

MySQL NDB Cluster ranks #283 on the WhichDB Score (11.4/100) and Percona XtraDB Cluster ranks #300 (10.3/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are MySQL NDB Cluster and Percona XtraDB Cluster open source?

Yes. MySQL NDB Cluster is open source. License: GPL-2.0 (Community) / commercial (CGE). Yes. Percona XtraDB Cluster is open source. License: GPL-2.0.