MariaDB Platform vs. Oracle APEX

Our installation scenario is a MariaDB cluster composed of 3 nodes to achieve high availability in the service and in this way the application that accesses the backend (MariaDB) is always working and is not down at any time.

To achieve high performance of the application when accessing the database, a MariaDB MaxScale has been mounted that acts as a proxy for queries to the database.

Incentivized

Based on our organization's experience, Oracle APEX is a versatile and powerful tool, but its suitability depends on specific business needs, technical requirements, and the nature of the application being developed. Scenarios where Oracle APEX fits well: Business Process Automation/Workflows Reporting and Dashboards for Data Analytics AI based systems such as Select AI Chatbots for data insights based on LLMs Native-like Mobile Applications using PWA feature of APEX Scenarios where Oracle APEX may be less appropriate: Very Complex and highly interactive applications Use cases based on a non-oracle Database

• MariaDB does well with PHP or Python (django) in a web environment. Developers are able to work quickly.
• MariaDB is extremely well documented and has a gigantic support community. If you need ask a question on how to do things you can go to many placces online and find answers quickly.
• MariaDB is fast! Queries with tens of thousands of rows are quick.
• MariaDB is highly compatible with Oracle's MySQL. Basically the same thing but more open and with a brighter future.
• With MariaDB it is so easy to import and export data, and backups are a cinch. This saves me so much time as compared to other RDBMS.

Incentivized

• Easy upgrade path from Forms, allowing reuse of code and a low learning curve for Forms developers.
• Very quick to develop in. Ideal for prototyping or iterative development which is how we usually work.
• Comes with cross browser and mobile compatibility out of the box.
• Easy to incorporate other web technologies.
• Development environment runs straight from a browser. This has proved to be a life saver when issues crop up on a weekend.

Incentivized

• Driver Support - Some third party applications use database drivers that cause unexplained slowness with MariaDB. This can be worked around by using the MySQL drivers, but it's not clear what causes the problem in the first place.
• Support - While online communities are helpful in diagnosing problems, there isn't as much professional documentation/support available for MariaDB as some of the other major database options.
• Data Visualization - It would be helpful if there were more built in options for analyzing statistics and generating reports.

Incentivized

• Perhaps is our problem, since we haven’t explored it deeply, but I think that a better portability to mobile devices would help the adoption of APEX.
• Applications weren’t as light as we thought, and we had to move the APEX server to the same data center where our data base was running, due to performance issues. When we started, we supposed that that situation would not be an issue.
• At least in Argentina and Brazil, you can not find as many programmers with experience in APEX as you can find with other technologies.

Incentivized

I felt very comfortable using Oracle Application Express from the start. I designed my data model and quickly developed the basic CRUD pages for master tables. Then I designed the main functionality and was able to test and deploy it in a couple of days work. I will probably share the app with other members of the team and continue adding some features in the short term.

Incentivized

MariaDB is very usable and stable to be used in production settings as an alternative to MySQL. The shortcomings of SQL are present but well understood in the community, and if the decision were to be made again, I would choose MariaDB over MySQL on future projects.

Incentivized

Oracle APEX has delivered a strong positive ROI by significantly reducing development time, lowering costs, and improving operational efficiency through automation and real-time reporting. While there are some limitations around frontend flexibility and DevOps, the overall business value—especially in data-driven enterprise applications—has been substantial.

Incentivized

Yes, I would recommend MariaDB Platform support because they answer very fast and with detailed information. They also help you with the design of the storage infrastructure, not only with the maintenance problems. On the other hand, this service is a bit expensive.

Incentivized

Very active and knowledgeable community support includes quick and helpful responses from the Oracle employees on the product development team. I've never had to raise an official support request - everything is dealt with via forums and user groups - or via direct emails. The supposrt commuinty is one of the great things about Apex.

Incentivized

Using it on the cloud is really simple, the entire process of configuring and provisioning an Oracle Database takes only a few minutes (less than 10) and then Oracle APEX is already deployed on the database, so you just have to start using it. I would strongly recommend using APEX on Oracle Cloud Free Tier.

Incentivized

It did not always compete against these technologies. Most of the time, it was complementing these databases for certain use cases to help provide a much more complete database. This makes more users want to use it to explore new solutions that help users. This is our target and how [we] work with MariaDb.

Incentivized

Our company was preparing a comparison of Oracle APEX against other low-code technologies. The focus was primarily on Mendix and Microsoft Power Apps. As with any technology, each platform has its pros and cons. I would choose Oracle APEX because clients often already have an Oracle database, but they don't always realize they can use it with Oracle APEX. This easily accessible platform is a great web-based interpretation of the database.

• MariaDB has saved us enormously on licensing compared to our previous DB software vendor.
• In service, it has enabled us (speaking as the internal DB team here) to provide better service to the other teams in the company as well as our customers, with less staff.
• The level of hardware required for adequate performance, in our environment, has been much lower. Those savings have been substantial, above and beyond savings on licensing and DBA staffing levels.

Incentivized

• There have been numerous cases where solution development using Oracle's "RAD Stack" (ORDS, RDBMS & APEX) has saved many ten's of thousands of dollars in cost that would have otherwise been incurred by following vendor recommendation and/or other alternatives.
• Impact on overall business objectives has been completely positive: low cost of maintenance, seamless easy upgrades, reduced development time

Incentivized