June 5, 2026 by Rene Cannao · Event Recap
#proxysql #percona #mysql #postgresql #open-source

Percona Live 2026: Reflections from the ProxySQL Team

Last week, the ProxySQL team attended Percona Live 2026 in Mountain View, California. As always, Percona Live brought together database professionals from across the open source ecosystem: DBAs, SREs, platform engineers, architects, developers, consultants, and technology leaders.

For us, these events are valuable not only because we get to present our work, but because they provide an opportunity to hear directly from the people running databases in production every day.

This year’s event was particularly special as it marked an important milestone for Percona and highlighted how much the open source database ecosystem has evolved over the last two decades.

A Community That Continues to Grow

One of the most striking aspects of Percona Live is how broad the conference has become.

While many of us still remember when Percona Live was primarily associated with MySQL, today’s event reflects a much larger ecosystem. Conversations ranged across MySQL, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, cloud-native architectures, observability, automation, AI, and operational resilience.

The diversity of technologies represented at the conference is a testament to the maturity of open source databases and the growing importance they play in modern infrastructure.

MySQL Remains Strong

As a project that was born in the MySQL ecosystem, ProxySQL naturally pays close attention to the state of MySQL.

The good news is that MySQL continues to power critical workloads across organizations of every size. Throughout the conference, we spoke with teams running large-scale MySQL deployments and facing familiar challenges:

  • Managing increasingly complex environments
  • Improving availability and failover procedures
  • Scaling application connectivity
  • Observing and controlling database traffic
  • Simplifying operations without sacrificing performance

These are challenges that have existed for years, but they continue to evolve as infrastructures become more distributed and cloud-native.

It was encouraging to see the MySQL community remain vibrant, practical, and focused on solving real-world operational problems.

PostgreSQL’s Momentum Is Impossible to Ignore

At the same time, PostgreSQL continues to attract significant attention.

Many conversations throughout the conference centered around PostgreSQL adoption, migration projects, operational tooling, and ecosystem growth. Organizations that have standardized on PostgreSQL are increasingly looking for solutions that help them manage traffic, improve observability, and gain greater operational control over their database environments.

This growing interest was reflected in our own presentation: ProxySQL: A Perfect Complement to PostgreSQL.

In our session, we explored how ProxySQL can complement PostgreSQL deployments by introducing a dedicated control layer for database traffic.

If you missed the presentation, you can read the accompanying article here:

A Perfect Complement to PostgreSQL

The feedback and questions we received after the session reinforced our belief that many PostgreSQL operators are facing challenges that look remarkably similar to those that MySQL operators have been solving for years.

Different Databases, Similar Challenges

One theme emerged repeatedly during the conference.

Whether teams were running MySQL, PostgreSQL, or both, many of the operational challenges were remarkably similar:

  • Connection management
  • Traffic routing
  • Failover orchestration
  • Observability
  • Multi-cluster architectures
  • Operational consistency

While database engines continue to evolve, the complexity of operating large-scale database environments remains a common concern.

This is exactly why proxy layers and traffic-management solutions continue to be relevant across multiple ecosystems.

Why Events Like Percona Live Matter

Open source software is ultimately built by communities.

Product roadmaps, new ideas, and future innovations are often shaped not by conference presentations, but by hallway conversations, technical debates, and discussions with practitioners who are solving difficult problems every day.

Many of the conversations we had during Percona Live provided valuable insight into where the database industry is heading and where ProxySQL can continue to add value.

For that, we would like to thank everyone who attended our session, visited us during the conference, or simply stopped by to chat.

Looking Ahead

Percona Live 2026 reminded us that the open source database ecosystem is healthier and more diverse than ever.

MySQL remains a cornerstone technology. PostgreSQL continues to gain momentum. New challenges are emerging around scale, automation, and operational complexity.

We are excited to continue contributing to this ecosystem and helping organizations gain greater control, visibility, and flexibility in how they manage database traffic.

Thank you to Percona, the speakers, the organizers, and everyone who helped make this year’s event a success.

We look forward to seeing you again next year.