MySQL HeatWave
activeby Oracle Corporation · since 2020 · also known as HeatWave, HeatWave MySQL, Oracle HeatWave, MySQL Database Service
Oracle's managed MySQL with an in-memory columnar engine for analytics, lakehouse, ML and vector search.
Overview
MySQL HeatWave is Oracle's fully managed MySQL service with an attached HeatWave cluster: an in-memory, massively parallel columnar engine that transparently accelerates analytical queries on InnoDB data without ETL. The same service adds HeatWave Lakehouse for querying files in object storage, AutoML, a GenAI/vector store for RAG, and JavaScript stored programs. It runs on OCI and is also offered on AWS and Azure. Oracle ships new MySQL versions here first, including the 9.7 LTS line that became the default in September 2026 and a new calendar-versioned innovation release (26.10.0) in October 2026. The catch is that HeatWave's analytics and AI features are proprietary and only exist in Oracle's cloud service.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Analytics on live MySQL data in an in-memory columnar cluster, with no ETL
- +Fully MySQL-compatible, so existing apps and drivers work unchanged
- +Lakehouse queries over object-storage files alongside InnoDB tables
- +Built-in AutoML, vector store and LLM functions inside SQL
- +Available on OCI, AWS and Azure
Trade-offs
- −HeatWave acceleration and AI features are proprietary and cloud-only
- −Write throughput is still bounded by a single MySQL primary
- −Locks analytics workloads into Oracle's service and pricing
Great for
- +Real-time dashboards on MySQL application data
- +Consolidating a MySQL OLTP database and a separate warehouse
- +RAG and semantic search over MySQL-resident content
- +Querying data-lake files with MySQL SQL
Think twice for
- −Self-hosted or on-prem deployments
- −Write-heavy globally distributed workloads
- −Teams that want portable open-source analytics
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 17 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Large · ≤ 1 PB
- Horizontal scaling
- Native
- Multi-region
- Read replicas
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Distributed, Primary replica, In memory
- Query languages
- SQL, JavaScript (stored programs)
HeatWave analytics cluster scales out across nodes; OLTP writes stay on a single MySQL primary.
Deployment
available on · Oracle Cloud · AWS · Azure
Ecosystem
Alternatives to MySQL HeatWave
The web's default open-source SQL database, now on calendar versioning with 9.7 as the LTS line.
mysql-heatwave vs mysql →Distributed SQL mixing in-memory rowstore and columnstore for real-time analytics, search and vectors.
mysql-heatwave vs singlestore →AWS's MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible engine on a shared, six-way replicated storage layer.
mysql-heatwave vs amazon-aurora →MySQL-compatible distributed SQL with a row store for OLTP and a columnar replica for real-time analytics.
mysql-heatwave vs tidb →Fully managed cloud data warehouse with separate storage and compute, now spanning AI and apps.
mysql-heatwave vs snowflake →Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
mysql-heatwave vs clickhouse →MySQL HeatWave FAQ
What is MySQL HeatWave?
MySQL HeatWave is a relational database by Oracle Corporation, first released in 2020. MySQL HeatWave is Oracle's fully managed MySQL service with an attached HeatWave cluster: an in-memory, massively parallel columnar engine that transparently accelerates analytical queries on InnoDB data without ETL. The same service adds HeatWave Lakehouse for querying files in object storage, AutoML, a GenAI/vector store for RAG, and JavaScript stored programs. It runs on OCI and is also offered on AWS and Azure. Oracle ships new MySQL versions here first, including the 9.7 LTS line that became the default in September 2026 and a new calendar-versioned innovation release (26.10.0) in October 2026. The catch is that HeatWave's analytics and AI features are proprietary and only exist in Oracle's cloud service.
Is MySQL HeatWave open source?
No. MySQL HeatWave is proprietary, closed-source software.
Does MySQL HeatWave support ACID transactions?
Yes. MySQL HeatWave supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does MySQL HeatWave scale horizontally?
MySQL HeatWave scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB). It supports cross-region read replicas.
How can I run MySQL HeatWave?
You can use the vendor's managed cloud. Managed offerings include HeatWave on OCI and HeatWave on AWS. It is available on Oracle Cloud, AWS and Azure.
What is MySQL HeatWave best for?
MySQL HeatWave is a strong fit for real-time dashboards on MySQL application data; consolidating a MySQL OLTP database and a separate warehouse; and RAG and semantic search over MySQL-resident content. Think twice for self-hosted or on-prem deployments.
What are the best alternatives to MySQL HeatWave?
Common alternatives to MySQL HeatWave include MySQL, SingleStore, Amazon Aurora, TiDB and Snowflake. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is MySQL HeatWave?
MySQL HeatWave ranks #633 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (0.5/100), and #193 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.