# Hyperscaler Database vs Private Cloud Managed MariaDB

MariaDB is the default MySQL-compatible database in most Linux distributions and powers millions of web applications, SaaS platforms, and e-commerce systems. When it is time to move beyond a single self-managed instance, you face a choice: use a hyperscaler's managed MySQL service, a specialist database provider, or a private-cloud managed service.

This comparison covers six options available to Swiss organizations today.

## Quick comparison

| | AWS RDS | Google Cloud SQL | PlanetScale | Aiven | Self-Hosted | VSHN Managed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Data location** | EU (Frankfurt, Zurich) | EU (Zurich) | US, EU (AWS regions) | EU (various) | Your choice | Your choice (Swiss cloud or on-premises) |
| **Jurisdiction** | US (CLOUD Act) | US (CLOUD Act) | US | Finnish company, US infra | Your jurisdiction | Swiss company, Swiss or your infrastructure |
| **Data sovereignty** | Limited | Limited | Limited | EU company, US infra | Full control | Full — Swiss operations, your infrastructure |
| **Ops model** | Fully managed by AWS | Fully managed by Google | Serverless, managed | Fully managed by Aiven | You manage everything | VSHN manages, you control infrastructure |
| **SLA** | 99.95% (Multi-AZ) | 99.95% (regional) | 99.999% (Enterprise) | 99.99% (Premium) | None (your own) | Up to 99.99% |
| **MySQL compatibility** | Full (runs MySQL or MariaDB) | Full (runs MySQL) | Vitess-based — partial | Full (runs MySQL) | Full (native MariaDB) | Full (native MariaDB with Galera Cluster) |
| **Open source** | Proprietary platform | Proprietary platform | Proprietary (Vitess fork) | Proprietary platform | Fully open source | Fully open source (MariaDB Galera Cluster) |
| **Vendor lock-in** | High (AWS ecosystem) | High (GCP ecosystem) | High (proprietary branching, Vitess) | Medium (multi-cloud) | None | None — runs on any infrastructure |
| **Starting price** | ~$140/month (db.t3.medium, Multi-AZ) | ~$110/month (db-custom, regional HA) | $29/month (Scaler, limited) | ~$170/month (Business) | $0 (software) + ops team | CHF 80/month (single), CHF 720/month (HA with SLA) |

## AWS RDS for MariaDB

[Amazon RDS](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/mariadb/) supports both MySQL and MariaDB engines. It handles provisioning, patching, backups, and Multi-AZ failover.

**Strengths:**

- Mature service running since 2014 for MariaDB
- Zurich region (eu-central-2) available
- Automated backups with point-in-time recovery up to 35 days
- Read replicas for scaling read-heavy workloads
- Deep integration with AWS services (Lambda, IAM, Secrets Manager)

**Limitations:**

- **US jurisdiction.** Amazon is subject to the CLOUD Act. A Zurich region does not change the legal exposure. US authorities can compel data access.
- **No Swiss cloud or on-premises option.** AWS RDS runs exclusively on AWS infrastructure. No deployment on cloudscale.ch, Exoscale, or your own data centre.
- AWS lock-in: VPC, IAM, and monitoring are AWS-specific. Migrating away requires re-architecting your connectivity layer.
- MariaDB version support lags behind upstream releases
- Pricing combines instance hours, storage, IOPS, and backup. Monthly bills are hard to forecast

**Best for:** Teams already on AWS who accept US jurisdiction and want minimal setup effort.

See our [MariaDB sovereignty assessment](/sovereignty/) for a detailed comparison of jurisdictional risk.

## Google Cloud SQL for MySQL

[Cloud SQL](https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql) runs MySQL (not MariaDB directly) but is MySQL wire-compatible. The Zurich region (europe-west6) keeps data in Switzerland.

**Strengths:**

- Zurich data center with sub-millisecond latency from Swiss infrastructure
- Automated backups, failover, and maintenance
- Good integration with Google Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Run
- Straightforward pricing model compared to AWS

**Limitations:**

- **Runs MySQL, not MariaDB.** If your application relies on MariaDB-specific features (Galera Cluster, Aria storage engine, sequence tables, Oracle-mode syntax), Cloud SQL is not a drop-in replacement.
- **Same US jurisdiction issue as AWS.** Google is subject to the CLOUD Act regardless of data location.
- **No Swiss cloud or on-premises option.** Cloud SQL runs exclusively on Google infrastructure. No deployment on cloudscale.ch, Exoscale, or your own data centre.
- GCP lock-in: IAM, networking, and logging are GCP-specific
- Major version upgrades require downtime
- No Galera clustering for multi-primary replication

**Best for:** GCP-native teams using standard MySQL syntax without MariaDB-specific features.

See our [MariaDB sovereignty assessment](/sovereignty/) for a detailed comparison of jurisdictional risk.

## PlanetScale

PlanetScale is a serverless MySQL-compatible database built on Vitess, the sharding middleware originally created at YouTube. It offers branch-based schema management and auto-scaling.

**Strengths:**

- Branch-based schema migrations: test schema changes before deploying to production
- Auto-scaling with no manual capacity planning
- Fast query analytics and insights dashboard
- Good developer experience for application teams

**Limitations:**

- **Not actually MySQL or MariaDB.** PlanetScale runs Vitess, which imposes restrictions: no foreign keys (by design), no stored procedures, no triggers, limited JOIN support across shards. Applications relying on these features cannot migrate without code changes.
- US company, US-hosted. No Swiss or even EU-only deployment option.
- Enterprise tier required for dedicated resources and SOC 2 compliance
- No self-hosted option, fully SaaS with no way to run on your infrastructure
- Pricing based on rows read/written. Costs are unpredictable for write-heavy workloads

**Best for:** Startups building new applications that can work within Vitess constraints and do not need data residency.

## Aiven for MySQL

Aiven deploys managed MySQL on AWS, GCP, or Azure in your chosen region. Like the PostgreSQL offering, it provides a multi-cloud abstraction layer.

**Strengths:**

- EU-headquartered company (Helsinki, Finland)
- Multi-cloud deployment: same provider on AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Terraform provider for infrastructure-as-code management
- Includes connection pooling and query statistics

**Limitations:**

- **Runs MySQL, not MariaDB.** Aiven's MySQL service uses Oracle MySQL, not MariaDB. MariaDB-specific features are not available.
- Deployed on US hyperscaler infrastructure even in EU regions, so CLOUD Act exposure remains via the underlying provider
- No dedicated Swiss region on Swiss-owned infrastructure
- No Galera clustering option
- Premium pricing tier required for 99.99% SLA

**Best for:** Multi-cloud teams wanting MySQL as a service with a single management interface.

## Self-Hosted MariaDB

Running MariaDB on your own servers or cloud VMs gives you complete control. You choose the version, the configuration, and where data lives.

**Strengths:**

- Full control over data location, configuration, and access
- Native MariaDB with all features: Galera Cluster, Aria engine, Oracle-mode syntax
- No per-service fees beyond infrastructure costs
- Can run on Swiss cloud providers (cloudscale.ch, Exoscale)

**Limitations:**

- **Operational overhead is real.** Production MariaDB requires:
  - Backup automation and regular restore testing
  - Galera Cluster setup and split-brain prevention
  - Security patching including zero-day response
  - Monitoring for replication lag, connection limits, and disk usage
  - Major version upgrades with application compatibility testing
  - Performance tuning (query cache, InnoDB buffer pool, thread pool)
- A database administrator in Switzerland costs CHF 120,000-150,000/year
- Galera Cluster is powerful but operationally complex. Node recovery, SST/IST transfers, and quorum management require expertise
- Teams without dedicated DBA capacity often run outdated versions with untested backups

**Best for:** Organisations with a dedicated database team that needs full customization.

## VSHN Managed MariaDB

VSHN operates your MariaDB instance on the infrastructure you choose. You get native MariaDB with Galera Cluster for high availability, managed by a Swiss team under Swiss jurisdiction.

**Strengths:**

- **Swiss company, Swiss jurisdiction**: VSHN is headquartered in Zurich. No CLOUD Act exposure through the operations layer.
- **Native MariaDB, not MySQL.** Full compatibility with MariaDB-specific features: Galera Cluster, Aria engine, sequence tables, Oracle-mode syntax.
- **Your infrastructure, your choice**: cloudscale.ch, Exoscale, or on-premises
- Galera Cluster with 3-node replication for high availability and automatic failover
- Automated backups via K8up with configurable schedule and retention
- Up to 99.99% SLA with service credits
- ISO 27001 certified operations since 2014
- Self-service provisioning via Kubernetes API or Servala

**Pricing:**

| Plan | Single instance | Replicated (HA, 3 nodes) |
|---|---|---|
| Best Effort | CHF 80/month | CHF 240/month |
| Guaranteed Availability (99.99% SLA) | — | CHF 720/month |

Computing resources (CPU, memory, storage) are billed separately by the infrastructure provider. Support is available via VSHN support plans.

**Best for:** Swiss companies needing a MySQL-compatible managed database with data sovereignty, predictable costs, and no vendor lock-in.

## MySQL compatibility matters

One detail often overlooked in database comparisons: not all "MySQL-compatible" services run actual MySQL or MariaDB.

| Service | Engine | Foreign keys | Stored procedures | Galera Cluster | MariaDB-specific features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS RDS | MySQL or MariaDB | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (if MariaDB engine selected) |
| Google Cloud SQL | MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| PlanetScale | Vitess | No | No | No | No |
| Aiven | MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Self-Hosted | MariaDB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VSHN Managed | MariaDB | Yes | Yes | Yes (3-node Galera) | Yes |

If your application uses foreign keys, stored procedures, or MariaDB-specific features, only AWS RDS (with MariaDB engine), self-hosted, and VSHN Managed are drop-in options.

## The sovereignty question

For Swiss companies subject to data protection regulations, the legal jurisdiction of the service operator matters as much as the physical data location.

| Dimension | AWS RDS / Cloud SQL | PlanetScale | Aiven | Self-Hosted | VSHN Managed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Operating company jurisdiction** | US | US | Finland (EU) | Yours | Switzerland |
| **Infrastructure jurisdiction** | US (even in Zurich region) | US | US (hyperscaler) | Your choice | Your choice |
| **CLOUD Act exposure** | Yes | Yes | Yes (via hyperscaler) | Depends on provider | No (Swiss ops + Swiss cloud option) |
| **FINMA-compatible** | Requires additional controls | No | Requires additional controls | Depends on implementation | Yes, with Swiss cloud infrastructure |

Choosing VSHN with cloudscale.ch or Exoscale eliminates US jurisdiction exposure entirely. Both the operations company and the infrastructure provider are Swiss.

For a detailed sovereignty analysis, see our [MariaDB sovereignty assessment](/sovereignty/).

## When to choose VSHN

VSHN Managed MariaDB fits when:

- Your application needs native MariaDB features (Galera Cluster, Aria, Oracle-mode syntax) that MySQL-only services do not support
- Data must stay under Swiss jurisdiction, not just in a Swiss data centre operated by a US company
- You want high availability with Galera clustering without managing node recovery and quorum yourself
- Your development team should focus on application features, not database operations
- You need predictable monthly costs instead of per-IOPS or per-row pricing that fluctuates

## Next steps

Ready to discuss your MariaDB setup? [Book a free 15-minute call](#contact) with our team. We will review your current workload and recommend the right approach: VSHN, a hyperscaler, or self-hosted.