<p>I'm starting a new project here (Windows Forms). What's the best option today for a small (free as in beer) DBMS?</p>

<p>I've used SQL Server Express on the past projects, but time and time again I hear people saying that the product from Oracle is faster and more powerful.</p>

<p>It will be used in a small company (around 20 users) and will not reach the 4 GB limit any time soon :)</p>

<p>I don't want to start a flame war on my first post, so please point me to some link showing a good (and actual) comparison between the 2 products, if possible.</p>

<p>PS: I've heard about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_DB2_Express-C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IBM DB2 Express</a> too, but I coudn't find any information about it. (Marketing material from IBM doesn't count :) )</p>

[{'answer_id': 9790, 'author': 'David A Gibson', 'author_id': 982, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/982', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Is this any use:</p>\n\n<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/1/http://downloads.techrepublic%2ecom%2ecom/5138-9592-6028761.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://web.archive.org/web/1/http://downloads.techrepublic%2ecom%2ecom/5138-9592-6028761.html</a></p>\n\n<p>NB Registration is required</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 9796, 'author': 'JamesSugrue', 'author_id': 1075, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1075', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>It would be hard to argue either way given the needs you outlined, that either would shine over the other. </p>\n\n<p>What I will say is this:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You say you are already familar with SSExpress, then that is a good reason to stick with it</li>\n<li>IMHO the tools with SSExpress are superior and easier to use than the Oracle equivalent</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>That said, I have much more experience with SS than Oracle so YMMV.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 9798, 'author': 'John Smithers', 'author_id': 1069, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1069', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': True, 'text': "<p>Sorry, no link, but one advice. Because we support Oracle and SQL Server, I know that getting fixes for the 'normal' Oracle database, is not something what I call fun. You have to pay for it, and if you have no tool which updates your Oracle system for you, it's a pain in the a.., if you ask me. Check out how the Oracle XE is supported with updates/fixes. I don't know, I only use the 'normal' Oracle (Developer) database.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 9801, 'author': 'deadtime', 'author_id': 614, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/614', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Both of KiwiBastard's points are very good and I completely agree with him.</p>\n\n<p>If you really want a free alternative that is similar to MS SQL and supports growth should you need it, you could have a look at MySQL or PostgreSQL. SQLite also seems a good choice.\nSurely you can afford an old Linux server if you work in a company with 20 employees.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 9829, 'author': 'Jedi Master Spooky', 'author_id': 1154, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1154', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>100% SQL Express, more easy to install and maintain than Oracle.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 9860, 'author': 'Guy', 'author_id': 993, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/993', 'pm_score': 4, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I would go for the <strong>SQL Server Express</strong> solution, unless you absolutely have to use a feature in Oracle that SQL Server does not have and you have no usable workaround.</p>\n\n<p>Example of Oracle\'s strengths:  </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Analytical Functions in Oracle ROCK!</li>\n<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PL/SQL" rel="noreferrer">PL/SQL</a> is better than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transact-SQL" rel="noreferrer">T-SQL</a>. </li>\n<li>If you\'re going to scale up the system to 1,000\'s of users all updating the same small dataset </li>\n<li>You scale upto multi-TB databases, </li>\n<li>You need to scale to need big numbers of CPU\'s in your server (over 8). </li>\n<li>need instant failover (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_RAC" rel="noreferrer">RAC</a>)</li>\n<li>you <em>really cannot</em> afford to lose a transaction.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Maybe you can tell, I\'m a big Oracle fan! But I think that Oracle Express is a commercial reaction to SQL Server Express and I don\'t think Oracle <em>really deep deep down</em> likes it.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You know with SQL Server that there is an upgrade path (SQL Server 2008 is soon) plus service packs.</li>\n<li>SQL Express is also more "install and forget" than Oracle.</li>\n<li>and it will integrate better with your IDE (if your using .NET)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In terms of speed, both are going to be lighting quick with such a small dataset size.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 85205, 'author': 'Community', 'author_id': -1, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>IMHO the major problem with SQL Server, has for a long time been, no multi-version read consistency.  Fortunately this has been corrected since SQL Server 2005 with the snapshot isolation level.</p>\n\n<p>If your looking for a good RDBMS for a small project requring minimal knowledge for maintenance, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Server_Express" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SQL Server Express Edition</a> is a good pick.  The SQL Server Express Edition UI is much easier to understand than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMAN" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RMAN</a> or the "easier"-to-use backup scripts included with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Database#Marketing_editions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Oracle Database XE</a> which requires offlining your database.</p>\n\n<p>Oracle Database XE is on my *** list.  They recently released an ODBC driver for Linux that wasn\'t compiled properly (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_linker" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ld</a> returns missing symbols for required ODBC functions) to be at all usable (10.2.0.4). With this kind of lack of attention to any reasonable amount of QA even for a \'free\' product I would think twice about going down that road.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 399588, 'author': 'mson', 'author_id': 36902, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/36902', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>I think it's great to rethink things every once in a while and that it's very smart to consider alternative products when you are at a junction to do so.</p>\n\n<p>If you are comfortable optimizing systems and are dba level in skills, I'd consider PostgreSQL.  I do not consider myself a dba and have middling database skills and find SQL Server Express extremely easy to use.  Also, I've had products exceed the limits of SQL Server Express - the transition to SQL Server Standard/Enterprise is seemless.</p>\n\n<p>I realize that this doesn't matter at a technical level, but Larry Ellison buys jets and prostitutes with his profit.  Bill Gates is solving problems of immense importance to humanity with his.  All things being equal, I always prefer to give my money to Bill Gates.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 7416876, 'author': 'pageman', 'author_id': 64253, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/64253', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>For <a href="http://db2express.com/en/" rel="nofollow">DB2 Express-C see</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>"DB2 Express-C™ is the free version of one of the most advanced\n  database management systems in the world. Why pay when you can have\n  all you need for free? DB2 Express-C is free to develop, deploy and\n  distribute.</p>\n  \n  <p>It is a fast, secure, reliable, and amazingly scalable dataserver,\n  ideal for most startups and small/medium sized businesses. DB2\n  Express-C 9.7 is available on Linux, Unix, Windows, and now Mac OS X\n  as well! It also enables developers to easily handle XML through the\n  native storage technology called pureXML™. Whether you develop in\n  Java, .Net, Ruby, Python, Perl or pretty much any other programming\n  language out there, DB2 can be your technological advantage."</p>\n</blockquote>\n'}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9783', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1213/']