SymmetricDS vs Tungsten Replicator

Quick verdict

SymmetricDS, from JumpMind, captures changes, routes them to the nodes that should receive them, groups them into batches and pushes or pulls them over HTTPS, with each destination acknowledging receipt. It replicates in one direction or both and resolves conflicts with rules you configure. The free Community edition uses database triggers and, from version 3.18, is licensed under the GNU AGPL v3 (previously GPL v3, effective 1 September 2026); the commercial Standard and Enterprise editions (SymmetricDS Pro) add log-based and time-based capture, a web console and shorter sync intervals. Version 3.18 requires Java 21.

Tungsten Replicator, from Continuent, extracts changes from MySQL, Amazon RDS MySQL, Amazon Aurora, Azure and Google Cloud SQL sources into its own Transaction History Log (THL), giving each transaction a global ID, and applies them with appliers for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Redshift, Vertica, Kafka, MongoDB, Hadoop and S3. Version 8.0.4 (1 June 2026) is current, and 6.1 and earlier are end of life. It is also the core of Continuent's Tungsten Cluster. Older releases were published as open source, but we found no official page offering current releases under an open source licence.

Side by side

Key differences

Heterogeneous multi-node sync versus MySQL binlog replication

SymmetricDS is built around nodes and groups. You define which node groups send data to which, routers decide which rows go to which node (for example only one store's rows to that store), and batches travel over HTTPS in push or pull mode. Because each node can be a different engine and links can be slow or intermittent, it fits retail, branch and field deployments where a central database exchanges data with many smaller ones. It also synchronises files alongside tables.

Tungsten Replicator starts from the MySQL binary log. The extractor writes changes into the THL with global transaction IDs, independent of native MySQL replication, and appliers write them to the target. It supports statement-based and row-based replication, parallel apply, more than 50 built-in filters and JavaScript filters. In our view, if every source is MySQL-family and the goal is moving its changes into analytics or streaming systems, Tungsten is the narrower but more direct tool; if engines are mixed or data must flow in both directions across many sites, SymmetricDS is designed for that.

Capture method and source overhead

SymmetricDS Community captures with database triggers. Triggers work on almost any engine, which explains the broad platform list, but they add write overhead on captured tables, and the editions page sets a 15-minute minimum sync interval for Community. Log-based and time-based capture, a 1-minute interval (Standard, up to 100 nodes) and a 1-second interval (Enterprise, more than 100 nodes) are commercial features.

Tungsten reads the binlog, so it adds no triggers to source tables. Heterogeneous targets need row-based binary logging on the source, which you can check and set in MySQL:

-- MySQL: check and set row-based binary logging
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'binlog_format';
SET PERSIST binlog_format = 'ROW';

Bidirectional replication and conflicts

Two-way sync is a core SymmetricDS feature: its home page describes "conflict resolution for bi-directional sync" and offline edge devices "with conflicts resolved by your rules", and the Enterprise edition adds a Compare and Repair tool. You decide per table or channel how conflicts are detected and which side wins.

Tungsten documents an active/active topology, but its deployment page states that it "is only possible when both Source and Target database hosts are MySQL" and is not possible with heterogeneous topologies. The page does not describe conflict detection or resolution; it recommends unique server-id values (used to avoid re-applying a host's own changes) and staggered auto-increment settings so that two hosts do not pick the same key:

# my.cnf on host 1 of a four-host active/active setup
server-id                = 1
auto-increment-increment = 4
auto-increment-offset    = 1

It also warns that the replicator cannot stop triggers from firing on a target, so trigger code must check whether it runs on a source or a target. For true conflict resolution across sites, SymmetricDS (or a product such as Oracle GoldenGate) is the closer fit.

Licensing and buying

SymmetricDS Community is free open source, but the move from GPL v3 to AGPL v3 on 1 September 2026 means teams that offer it over a network, or embed it in a hosted product, should review the new obligations. SymmetricDS Pro (Standard and Enterprise) is sold by subscription with prices on an order form; JumpMind's support agreement caps renewal increases at the greater of 5 percent or US CPI.

Continuent's pricing page covers only Tungsten Cluster and sends other products to a quote. Tungsten Replicator is also listed as machine images on AWS Marketplace and Google Cloud, billed per running instance hour, which the manual describes as available without support. We could not find published licence terms for the current 7.x and 8.x releases, so ask Continuent for the licence and support terms in writing.

Pricing and licensing

SymmetricDS. Community is free under the GNU AGPL v3. Standard and Enterprise are commercial subscriptions with no prices on symmetricds.org; JumpMind sets prices on the order form and offers a 30-day trial of the Pro edition. Renewal increases are capped at the greater of 5 percent or US CPI per year under its support agreement.

Tungsten Replicator. No standalone price is published. continuent.com/pricing lists only Tungsten Cluster (up to USD 8,400 per database node per year in 2026) and asks for a quote for other products. Marketplace machine images on AWS and Google Cloud are billed hourly; check the live listing for your instance type, as we did not quote marketplace rates.

Pricing checked on the vendors' official pages on 7 November 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.

Where each one leads

Limitations

When to choose each

When neither is right

• You need free, one-way log-based CDC into Kafka from several engines: see Debezium vs Oracle GoldenGate.
• You need Oracle active-active with automatic conflict resolution: see Oracle GoldenGate.
• You need enterprise sources such as Db2 or SAP into cloud warehouses: see Fivetran HVR vs Qlik Replicate.
• You only need MySQL to MySQL replicas or high availability: native MySQL replication, or MariaDB vs MySQL for engine choices, may be enough.

Final recommendation

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• SymmetricDS home page
• SymmetricDS editions
• SymmetricDS 3.18.0 released (licence change)
• SymmetricDS source repository (JumpMind/symmetric-ds)
• Continuent documentation index (current versions)
• Tungsten Replicator 8.0 introduction
• Tungsten Replicator: active/active deployment
• Continuent pricing (Tungsten Cluster)

Checked November 2026.

How we research comparisons: our editorial method.