# Free database for Maker, what do you use **URL:** \ **Category:** Maker\ **Created:** [July 16, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754 "2020-07-16T09:40:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joe.miller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@joe.miller](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/joe.miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/1 "2020-07-16T09:40:57Z")
I need to decide on the type of database I am going to use. I am familiar with Microsoft SQL and use that at work. Is MySQL free? Is there something better out there that anyone recomends I look into? Thanks in advance for your guidance and recomendations! ---
**Author:** ![jonathan.taylor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jonathan.taylor/32/4048_2.png) [@jonathan.taylor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jonathan.taylor)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/2 "2020-07-16T09:42:29Z")
MariaDB works well ---
**Author:** ![Sanderd17](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/sanderd17/32/8735_2.png) [@Sanderd17](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Sanderd17)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 10:46am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/3 "2020-07-16T10:46:48Z")
There are the 3 big ones: - MS SQL is paid, has a lot of extensions to the languages - MySQL is free, and also has a lot of (different) extensions to the language - PostgreSQL is free, but tries to adhere to the SQL standard. MariaDB is a fork of MySQL by the original authors of MySQL after Sun was bought by Oracle. So it’s pretty similar but the project have diverged a bit over the years. For whatever use a Maker can have, any database will do. ---
**Author:** ![nminchin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/nminchin/32/6911_2.png) [@nminchin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nminchin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/4 "2020-07-16T11:31:55Z")
> [@Sanderd17](#): > > MS SQL is paid Unless you use the express edition, which is free but has some limitations: single core, 10GB Max per database. For small projects, you might get away with a simple single-file sqlite database ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/5 "2020-07-16T12:03:36Z")
> [@Sanderd17](#): > > So it’s pretty similar but the project have diverged a bit over the years. The majority of volunteer MySQL developers went over to MariaDB. If I couldn't use PostgreSQL, I'd be using MariaDB. ---
**Author:** ![code\_skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@code\_skin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/code_skin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/6 "2020-07-16T12:13:00Z")
> [@nminchin](#): > > which is free but has some limitations: single core, 10GB Max per database. I believe there is a 2GB ram allocation limit as well. ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/7 "2020-07-16T15:12:19Z")
If it’s just for personal use, you can also just use SQLite. There’s a seeded driver + translator now available, so you can pretty easily point it to a local database. I think there’s a few issues (resolved in 8.0.15) with history, but if you just need simple relationship mapping it works great. Extremely portable, too - it’s a single file on disk you can plainly copy. ---
**Author:** ![chigbee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@chigbee](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/chigbee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/8 "2021-02-05T01:15:33Z")
Also have to agree with Griffith here, I just needed some simple data storage, installed sqlite on my RPi 4, made a DB, and got it connected in less than 15 minutes. If helpful, I could make up a quick walkthrough. ---
**Author:** ![kcollins](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kcollins/32/19646_2.png) [@kcollins](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kcollins)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/9 "2021-02-12T18:49:14Z")
> [@paul-griffith](#): > > If it’s just for personal use, you can also just use SQLite. 👍 One of my "little tricks" also has been to place that SQLite DB within the `data/projects/` folder so that it gets incorporated into the gateway backup. Wouldn't want to probably use this strategy for tag history or something that grows large over time, but it is a nice technique for bundling simple database assets that should be atomic with your Gateway. ---
**Author:** ![peter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@peter](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/peter)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/10 "2021-02-15T19:34:20Z")
FYI, In addition to MS SQL Express edition, MS now offered the the full version of SQL Server for free as a developer edition. The caveat is that the license is only for development and test systems, and not production. But given that Maker edition is also only licensed for non-commercial use, then this shouldn’t be not an issue. I use the developer version for developing (duh) work projects and haven’t had an issue with it. ---
**Author:** ![calimero100582](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/calimero100582/32/18630_2.png) [@calimero100582](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/calimero100582)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/free-database-for-maker-what-do-you-use/36754/11 "2021-02-16T14:00:12Z")
This seems like a nice trick for projects like the sample dashboard, where each user define their dashboard