Percona XtraDB Cluster
activeby Percona · since 2012 · also known as PXC
Percona Server plus Galera synchronous replication, packaged as an open-source HA MySQL cluster.
Overview
Percona XtraDB Cluster (PXC) combines Percona Server for MySQL with the Galera write-set replication library to give a virtually synchronous, multi-primary MySQL cluster. Every node holds a full copy of the data and commits are certified cluster-wide, so a node can fail without losing committed transactions. PXC adds Percona-specific safety rails such as strict mode, encrypted cluster traffic by default and ProxySQL integration, and it has a mature Kubernetes operator. It is a high-availability solution, not a write-scaling one: all nodes still apply every write.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +No committed-data loss on single node failure thanks to certification-based synchronous replication
- +Any node accepts writes, simplifying failover
- +Automatic node provisioning via SST/IST with XtraBackup
- +Strict mode blocks unsafe operations (non-InnoDB tables, LOCK TABLES)
- +Percona Operator for MySQL (PXC) is production-proven on Kubernetes
Trade-offs
- −Write throughput limited by the slowest node and network round trips
- −Optimistic certification causes deadlock errors on hot rows written from multiple nodes
- −Large transactions and DDL (TOI) stall the whole cluster
- −Needs at least three nodes (or an arbitrator) to avoid split brain
Great 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
Think twice for
- −Write-heavy workloads that need horizontal write scaling
- −Very large single transactions or bulk loads
- −High-latency cross-continent clusters
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 13 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- None
- Multi-region
- Active active
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Multi primary, Distributed, Client server
- Query languages
- SQL
Typically 3-5 nodes; writes are replicated to all nodes so throughput does not grow with node count. WAN clusters work but add commit latency.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Percona XtraDB Cluster
Synchronous multi-primary replication for MySQL and MariaDB, now owned by MariaDB plc.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs galera-cluster →The web's default open-source SQL database, now on calendar versioning with 9.7 as the LTS line.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs mysql →Community-led MySQL fork with extra storage engines, built-in Galera and a faster feature cadence.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs mariadb →Shared-nothing, auto-sharded in-memory MySQL engine built for telecom-grade availability.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs mysql-ndb-cluster →MySQL-compatible distributed SQL with a row store for OLTP and a columnar replica for real-time analytics.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs tidb →CNCF-graduated sharding and clustering layer that makes a fleet of MySQL servers look like one database.
percona-xtradb-cluster vs vitess →Percona XtraDB Cluster FAQ
What is Percona XtraDB Cluster?
Percona XtraDB Cluster is a relational database by Percona, first released in 2012. Percona XtraDB Cluster (PXC) combines Percona Server for MySQL with the Galera write-set replication library to give a virtually synchronous, multi-primary MySQL cluster. Every node holds a full copy of the data and commits are certified cluster-wide, so a node can fail without losing committed transactions. PXC adds Percona-specific safety rails such as strict mode, encrypted cluster traffic by default and ProxySQL integration, and it has a mature Kubernetes operator. It is a high-availability solution, not a write-scaling one: all nodes still apply every write.
Is Percona XtraDB Cluster open source?
Yes. Percona XtraDB Cluster is open source. License: GPL-2.0.
Does Percona XtraDB Cluster support ACID transactions?
Yes. Percona XtraDB Cluster supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does Percona XtraDB Cluster scale horizontally?
Percona XtraDB Cluster does not scale horizontally; it runs on a single node, so you scale it up rather than out. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB). It supports active-active multi-region writes.
How can I run Percona XtraDB Cluster?
You can self-host it.
What is Percona XtraDB Cluster best for?
Percona XtraDB Cluster is a strong fit 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. Think twice for write-heavy workloads that need horizontal write scaling.
What are the best alternatives to Percona XtraDB Cluster?
Common alternatives to Percona XtraDB Cluster include Galera Cluster, MySQL, MariaDB, MySQL NDB Cluster and TiDB. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is Percona XtraDB Cluster?
Percona XtraDB Cluster ranks #300 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (10.3/100), and #95 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.