A buyer side guide to MySQL licensing in 2026. When Community Edition is enough, what the paid editions add, how per server pricing works, and when an OEM license is required.
MySQL is free under the open source GPL, but the moment you need commercial features, an OEM right to embed, or indemnified support, you move into Oracle's paid MySQL editions, which are licensed per server and priced like enterprise software.
This guide is for procurement and engineering leaders deciding between free and paid MySQL. Read it with the Oracle Database licensing guide and the Oracle Knowledge Hub.
MySQL Community Edition is free under the GPL for almost any internal use. You pay when you need commercial features, an OEM right, or vendor backed support.
Oracle documents the editions and their support tiers on the MySQL products page. The split between free and paid is about rights and support, not raw database capability.
Community Edition is the full open source database under the GPL. It runs production workloads at scale with no license fee.
The paid editions add commercial features, support, and legal indemnification. They are sold as annual subscriptions per server.
Paid MySQL is licensed per server, with the subscription price set by the number of sockets in the server. Core counts do not change the MySQL price the way they do for Oracle Database.
MySQL edition comparison, illustrative list subscriptions per server per year
| Edition | License | Indicative list | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community | GPL, free | 0 dollars | Internal use, no support need |
| Standard | Subscription | 2,000 to 4,000 dollars | Supported general workloads |
| Enterprise | Subscription | 5,000 to 10,000 dollars | Security and audit needs |
| Cluster CGE | Subscription | 10,000 dollars and up | High availability at scale |
If you embed MySQL inside a product you sell or distribute, the GPL would require you to release your own code under the GPL too. An OEM commercial license removes that obligation.
No. Managed MySQL services such as Amazon RDS, Azure Database for MySQL, and Google Cloud SQL include their own support and licensing in the service fee. You do not buy an Oracle MySQL subscription on top.
MySQL is free until you need a right the GPL will not give you. The paid edition is a support and indemnification purchase, not a database capability purchase.
Yes, MySQL Community Edition is free under the GPL for most commercial and internal use. You only pay when you need commercial features, vendor support, indemnification, or the right to embed MySQL in a product you distribute without GPL obligations.
Oracle licenses the paid MySQL editions per server, with the subscription price set by the number of sockets. Unlike Oracle Database, MySQL pricing does not apply a core factor, so socket count rather than core count drives the cost.
Standard Edition adds support and basic clustering to the open source database. Enterprise Edition adds security, audit, backup, and monitoring tools along with full support, which is why it carries a higher per server subscription than Standard.
No. Managed MySQL services on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud include licensing and support in the service fee. You should not be paying a separate Oracle MySQL subscription for databases that run on those managed platforms.
The GPL copyleft terms apply when you distribute software that includes MySQL. If you ship a product with MySQL embedded, the GPL would require you to release your source too, so an OEM commercial license is the way to avoid that.
No. Community Edition has no Oracle support, no indemnification, and no service level commitment. Community users rely on documentation, the community, or a third party support provider rather than Oracle for production issues.
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MySQL is free until you need a right the GPL will not give you. The paid edition is a support and indemnification purchase, not a database capability purchase. Buy it only where you truly need it.
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