MySQL is one of the most popular open source database management systems used for web and mobile applications. With its relational database structure, fast performance, high reliability, and ease of use, MySQL has become the go-to choice for developers building data-driven applications.
However, managing and scaling MySQL databases can be complex and time consuming. This is where managed MySQL hosting services come in. These services take care of infrastructure, security, backups, updates, monitoring, and more so you can focus on building your application.
In this comprehensive guide, we will look at the 10 best managed MySQL hosting providers that offer robust, secure, and scalable solutions tailored for developers and businesses.
How to Choose the Right Managed MySQL Hosting
With so many hosting providers out there, how do you pick the right one for your needs? Here are some key factors to consider:
Performance
MySQL performance is critical, especially for applications with high traffic and frequent database operations. Look for providers that offer optimized infrastructure, SSD storage, caching, database clustering, and load balancing to deliver fast performance.
Scalability
As your application and data grows, you need a hosting platform that can scale up compute, memory, storage, and bandwidth resources on demand. Auto-scaling and load balancing features are particularly useful.
Uptime and Reliability
Look for providers with robust infrastructure and reliability measures like redundant servers, failover, automatic backups, and 24/7 expert support to ensure high availability. Aim for 99.9% uptime SLA.
Security
Data security is paramount. Look for encrypted data transmission, data at rest encryption, private network access, firewalls, vulnerability monitoring, DDoS protection, and other security safeguards.
Flexibility
The ability to customize MySQL configurations, tools, and infrastructure sizing as per your needs is important. Also useful is support for different MySQL versions, regions, and clouds.
Budget
Compare pricing models like pay as you go, monthly flat fee, and reserved instances. Calculate costs based on resource needs. Some providers offer a free trial period.
Migration and Lock-in
Choose a provider that makes it easy to migrate data in and out of its platform without vendor lock-in. This provides future proofing flexibility.
With these criteria in mind, let‘s look at 10 of the leading managed MySQL hosting platforms ideal for developers and businesses.
1. Amazon Aurora
Overview – Amazon Aurora is a proprietary, enterprise-grade MySQL compatible relational database service offered as part of Amazon Web Services (AWS). It provides superior performance, availability, and scalability for MySQL databases in the cloud.
Key Features
- Up to 5x better performance than MySQL with scaling up to 64 TB per database
- High availability with up to 15 low-latency read replicas
- Auto-scaling storage from 10GB to 64 TB
- Continuous backup to S3, point-in-time restore, and fast database clones
- Encryption at rest and in transit, VPC network isolation
- Managed service handles infrastructure, patching, failure detection, recovery, backups
- Compatible with MySQL for easy migration
Pricing – Pay per second based on Aurora database instance hours and storage used. Entry level db.t2.small starts at $0.060 per hour.
Pros
- Extremely fast performance optimized for cloud
- High availability and durability
- Secure and fully managed service
- Seamless scaling and storage auto-growth
- Cost effective, pay-as-you-go model
Cons
- Only available on AWS cloud
- Does not support all MySQL features
- Higher cost than self-hosted MySQL
Summary – With its combination of speed, scalability, and availability, Amazon Aurora is ideal for mission-critical, database-driven applications. Its fully managed nature allows focusing on the app instead of database ops.
2. Google Cloud SQL
Overview – Google Cloud SQL is a fully-managed MySQL database service on Google Cloud Platform. It automates time-consuming admin tasks like patch management, replication, and failure detection.
Key Features
- Fully managed service for MySQL 5.6, 5.7 & 8.0
- High availability with regional failover replicas
- Vertical and horizontal scaling of vCPUs, memory, and storage
- Automated backups, point-in-time recovery, and replication
- Authorized network access, user permissions, and end-to-end encryption
- Monitoring, logging, and alerting integrations
- Integrated with Google Cloud Platform services
Pricing – Per second billing based on database instance size and usage. Entry level db-f1-micro starts at $0.046 per hour.
Pros
- Fully managed, secure, and highly available
- Simple scaling, backup, and optimization
- Cost-effective pay-as-you-go model
- Integrated with Google Cloud Platform
- Smooth migration from other MySQL environments
Cons
- Only available on Google Cloud
- Limited control compared to self-hosted MySQL
- Additional charges for higher IOPS or faster networking
Summary – With its seamless integration with Google Cloud, Cloud SQL makes it easy to set up, manage, and scale MySQL deployments on Google‘s reliable cloud infrastructure.
3. Azure Database for MySQL
Overview – Azure Database for MySQL is a relational database service by Microsoft based on the open source MySQL Server engine. It is a fully managed platform optimized for security, performance, scalability, and high availability.
Key Features
- MySQL 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0 versions managed by Microsoft
- Auto-scaling up to 4 TB storage per database
- 99.99% monthly uptime SLA
- Global replication, automated backups, and point-in-time restore
- Advanced security including SSL, firewalls, auditing, and encryption
- Monitoring, alerting, and performance optimization
- Smooth integration with Azure services and hybrid scenarios
Pricing – Several pricing tiers based on vCores, memory, storage, and features needed. Entry level Basic tier starts at $0.008 per hour.
Pros
- Fully managed, highly secure MySQL hosting
- Enterprise-grade scalability and availability
- Cost-effective pay-as-you-go model
- Optimized for Azure ecosystem
- Near zero downtime migrations
Cons
- Limited to Azure cloud
- Less flexibility than self-hosted MySQL
- Potential vendor lock-in
Summary – With its enterprise-grade MySQL platform integrated natively with Azure, Microsoft offers a compelling managed database option for Azure-based workloads.
4. DigitalOcean Managed Databases
Overview – DigitalOcean Managed Databases provides fully managed MySQL hosting on DigitalOcean‘s cloud infrastructure. It automates complex admin tasks while giving developer-friendly access.
Key Features
- High-performance MySQL 5.7 clusters on SSD storage
- Automatic provisioning, setup, and security
- Daily encrypted database backups with point-in-time recovery
- Monitoring tools and metrics for visibility
- Private networking, firewall protection, and VPC peering
- Access via MySQL client or Do managed console
- Seamless integration with other DigitalOcean services
Pricing – Starts at $15/mo for 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM, with sliding pricing for more resources. Free daily backup storage.
Pros
- Fully managed, optimized MySQL environment
- Simple setup and scaling on DigitalOcean
- Cost effective pricing, free daily backups
- Flexible access from Do console or external tools
- Easily integrates with Do-hosted apps
Cons
- Limited to DigitalOcean‘s cloud only
- Less control than self-hosted MySQL
Summary – DigitalOcean Managed Databases offers a developer-friendly fully managed MySQL option with the convenience of DigitalOcean‘s cloud services.
5. Rackspace DBA Services
Overview – Rackspace offers fully managed DBA services for MySQL where Rackspace engineers take care of infrastructure, security, availability, backups, updates, and more.
Key Features
- Dedicated 24×7 support from certified MySQL DBAs
- Right-sized infrastructure on dedicated or multi-tenant servers
- Daily encrypted backups, alert-driven monitoring
- High availability clustering, replication, and failover
- Priority support via phone, chat, email
- Fanatical ExperienceTM assuring satisfaction
- AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Rackspace hosted
Pricing – Custom quotes based on specific requirements. Starts at $1995/mo.
Pros
- True managed service with expert DBAs
- Proactive database optimization and troubleshooting
- Works on all major cloud infrastructures
- Managed private networking and security groups
- High standards for responsiveness and expertise
Cons
- No automatic scalability
- Potentially higher cost
- Minimum commitment requirements
Summary – With Rackspace‘s fully managed DBA service, you get the experience of dedicated MySQL experts for optimized, high performing, and secure database management.
6. ScaleGrid MySQL Hosting
Overview – ScaleGrid provides automated, cluster-based MySQL hosting in the cloud focused on scalability, availability, and performance.
Key Features
- Instant deployment of MySQL clusters
- Automated scaling, cloning, and backup/restore
- Managed failover, replication, and load balancing
- Full SQL and SSH access to database servers
- Real-time monitoring and custom alerts
- Isolated VPC, SSL encryption, firewall security
- Integrations with AWS, DigitalOcean, and Azure
Pricing – Starts at $80/month for a 2 core, 2GB RAM AWS cluster with 10GB storage and automated backups.
Pros
- Quick deployment of MySQL clusters
- Hands-off database management
- Simple scaling and cloning of clusters
- Cost optimization with spot instances
- Enhanced transparency via SSH access
Cons
- Minimum 2 node cluster requirement
- Limited platform integrations beyond core clouds
Summary – For building scalable, highly available MySQL environments, ScaleGrid‘s managed database clusters enable scaling MySQL in the cloud through a developer-friendly platform.
7. ObjectRocket
Overview – ObjectRocket provides automated and fully managed MySQL hosting on AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Their database-specific platform focuses on performance, scalability, and high availability.
Key Features
- Instant deployment of MySQL clusters
- Dynamic scaling of compute, memory, storage
- Load balancing, replication, centralized backups
- Query monitoring and optimization
- Isolation, encryption, security group access controls
- Automated failover and recovery
- Managed infrastructure, OS, MySQL
- Expert 24/7 technical support
Pricing – Starts at $115/month on AWS for a 2 core, 4GB RAM cluster with 25GB storage.
Pros
- Fast optimized MySQL performance
- Automated scalability and redundancy
- Time savings from complete management
- Superb technical support expertise
- Enables focus on app instead of DBA
Cons
- Higher minimum costs than self-hosted
- Limited to supported cloud platforms
Summary – With its database-centric solutions and operational expertise, ObjectRocket offers MySQL management that frees developers from database administration.
8. Percona MySQL Hosting
Overview – As MySQL experts, Percona offers fully managed MySQL hosting, leveraging their specialized expertise for performance, scalability, availability, and security.
Key Features
- Custom MySQL architecture design
- Infrastructure sizing optimization
- Database configuration tuning
- Automated provisioning and upgrades
- Backup and recovery management
- High availability replication
- Monitoring, alert response
- 24/7 expert DBA support
- Choice of cloud and regions
Pricing – Quotes based on infrastructure and managed services needs.
Pros
- Leverages Percona‘s MySQL expertise
- Customized MySQL environment
- Proactive database optimization
- Minimizes management overhead
- Improves application performance
- Reduces downtime risks
Cons
- Premium managed service pricing
- Minimum commitment requirements
Summary – With Percona, specialized MySQL expertise delivers tailored, high-performance MySQL hosting and management for mission-critical workloads.
9. Severalnines ClusterControl
Overview – Severalnines provides automated management of MySQL via its ClusterControl platform. It focuses on centralized management, ease of use, high availability, and scalability.
Key Features
- Deployment, configuration, and management UI
- Single dashboard for multiple MySQL clusters
- Automated cluster scaling and failover
- Backup coordination, recovery, cloning
- Monitoring, alerts, and query analytics
- Security and access control
- Support for hybrid and multi-cloud
Pricing – Free for managing up to 3 nodes, $345/month for 10 nodes, $999/month for 25 nodes
Pros
- Simplified centralized management
- Automated scaling and redundancy
- Improves cluster visibility
- Reduces management overheads
- Extends expertise across teams
- Works across different clouds
Cons
- Requires separate hosting for DB servers
- Less flexibility than self-managed MySQL
Summary – Severalnines provides a unified management platform for reducing the complexity of managing, monitoring, and scaling MySQL in single or multi-cloud environments.
10. MariaDB SkySQL
Overview – SkySQL by MariaDB is a fully managed MySQL database service available on all major clouds. It‘s optimized for high performance, availability, and security.
Key Features
- MySQL & MariaDB database versions
- Managed failover, replication, and clustering
- Daily backups, point-in-time restores
- Web-based management and monitoring
- Automated scaling of storage and resources
- Isolation, access controls, and encryption
- 24/7 technical support, SLA guarantees
- Available on AWS, GCP and Azure
Pricing – Hourly billing, approx $0.08/hour for 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM cluster
Pros
- High-performance managed MySQL service
- Easy web-based database management
- Built-in high availability and scalability
- Maximum uptime guaranteed
- Available across all major clouds
Cons
- Higher cost than self-hosted MySQL
- Less control over MySQL configurations
Summary – SkySQL brings easy, fully managed MySQL hosting with built-in enterprise capabilities across the top cloud platforms.
Key Considerations for Managed MySQL Hosting
When evaluating managed MySQL hosting platforms, keep these key considerations in mind:
- Look for high availability features like auto-failover, clustering, replication, backups.
- Ensure flexibility to scale compute, memory, storage up or down easily.
- Security is critical – encrypted data, controlled access, DDoS protection.
- Monitor service history and technical expertise on MySQL.
- Database migration to and from the platform should be simple.
- Avoid vendor lock-in by using cloud-agnostic platforms where possible.
- Compare service level guarantees for uptime, failover time.
- Factor in the level of access and control provided over MySQL.
- Calculate cost effectiveness for current and future needs.
Conclusion
While MySQL is open source software, running it at scale with high availability, security and performance requires experience and expertise. A managed MySQL hosting platform allows tapping into this expertise so developers can focus on building applications without database administration and scaling challenges.
The specialized MySQL providers discussed here offer robust, secure, and optimized MySQL hosting across the top cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and DigitalOcean. Whether looking for fully managed hands-off convenience or just taking care of time-consuming tasks like backups, updates, and scaling, they can save significant time and effort spent on database management.
By considering key criteria like performance, high availability, security, and flexibility, you can identify the right managed MySQL hosting platform for your needs today and as your application grows. With the pains of MySQL infrastructure and ops offloaded, you can focus on rapid feature development and delivering value for your application.
