# TiDB 11 Hacker News commenters recommended TiDB and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Open-source, MySQL-compatible distributed database people pick for scale, ACID transactions and fault tolerance; the most common caveat is a 2026 data leak and the company's response. ## Why people recommend it - MySQL compatible (4 comments): "like TiDB or Aurora on AWS for MySQL compat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48738235)) "for apps that expect MySQL probalby TiDB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46547505)) "All open source and MySQL compatible." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46882997)) - Fault tolerance and ACID transactions (2 comments): "they all give you fault tolerance for free without much involvement from your side" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47977355)) "TiDB handles millions of QPS while delivering ACID transactions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46036956)) ## What people warn about - Security leak and weak response (8 comments): "It looks like you can assess the hell out of your source code, but your system can still leak if you don't secure your operations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50184688)) "Coming this close on the heels of the security audit by NCC is pretty embarassing for all parties." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50176489)) "I find it really baffling how much they are downplaying this incident on their statement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189691)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [FoundationDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foundationdb.md): 26 recommend - [CockroachDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cockroachdb.md): 19 recommend - [rqlite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rqlite.md): 13 recommend - [Apache Cassandra](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apache-cassandra.md): 12 recommend - [Marmot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/marmot.md): 10 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "TiDB", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tidb/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).