DBLE vs TurbineProxy

DBLE is free, open-source middleware for scaling MySQL through sharding. It uses the MySQL protocol and can replace MySQL in many cases without application code changes. Teams can configure hash, modulo, time-based, range-based, or custom sharding, along with global and ER tables. DBLE lists query routing, connection pooling, load balancing, automatic failover, read/write separation, master-slave expansion, and ZooKeeper cluster deployment. SQL support includes SQL 92 and MySQL dialect features such as joins, unions, grouping, ordering, and distinct queries; some features remain on its roadmap. Query optimization addresses global-table joins, sharded tables, ER relations, and subqueries. Distributed transactions use two-phase commit in normal or XA modes, with XA depending on MySQL 5.7 XA transactions, backend availability, and disk reliability. Security controls include password encryption, IP allowlists, and SQL denylists. Explain plans, MySQL-compatible slow logs, and slow-query reports support operations. DBLE is self-hosted on Linux and GPL-2.0 licensed. The open-source plan costs nothing.

TurbineProxy is a self-hosted Rust proxy for MySQL and PostgreSQL that directs reads and writes according to query intent, without requiring application code changes. It can route across replicas or run as a standalone proxy in front of one database server. Replica routing supports round-robin or least-connections balancing and excludes replicas when lag exceeds a configured threshold. Per-backend connection pools use multiplexing and configurable sizes. Security controls include SQL injection detection, per-user read-only rules, query allowlists, and AES-256-GCM encryption at rest. For MySQL 8.0 and later, it specifies GTID-aware read-your-own-writes support. A web dashboard, Prometheus metrics, query analytics, a heatmap, and Grafana dashboard JSON cover observability. Its embedded MCP server offers seven tools over JSON-RPC 2.0 with Basic Auth, including slow-query analysis, N+1 detection, index advice, replica lag, and backend health. It is open source under Apache-2.0, with a free plan at free and no per-query fees. Install options include binary, Docker, Homebrew, AUR,.deb, and.rpm.