Peter Zaitsev

Co‑founder of Percona

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

Co‑founder of Percona and one of the foremost experts on MySQL strategy and optimization. Peter leveraged both his technical vision and entrepreneurial skills to grow Percona from a two‑person shop to one of the most respected open source companies in the business. A serial entrepreneur, he co‑founded his first startup while attending Moscow State University where he majored in Computer Science. He is a co‑author of High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backups, and Replication, one of the most popular books on MySQL performance. Peter frequently speaks as an expert lecturer at open source database conferences and has contributed articles to outlets such as Fortune and DZone.

Latest Talks

KeyNote: Hybrid Cloud Open Source DBaaS with Kubernetes

📅 Feb 20, 2026

🏢 Cloud Native Databases

📍 Virtual

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Cloud #Databases #Kubernetes

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What MySQL Community Can Learn From PostgreSQL

📅 Jan 29, 2026 , 4:40 pm

🏢 MySQL Belgian Days (preFOSDEM) 2026

📍 Belgian, Brussels

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#MySQL #PostgreSQL

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Distributed Databases: Essential or Optional?

📅 Feb 1, 2025 , 1 8:05 - 18:20

🏢 FOSDEM 2025

📍 Brussels, Belgium

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Databases #Open Source #Video

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Latest Events

Build DevCon: Cloud–Native Databases

Join Percona as it sponsors the Cloud Native Databases virtual event on February 20–21, 2026, featuring insights from key Percona leaders and engineers. Founder Peter Zaitsev, Software Engineer Ege Gunes, and Software Engineer George Kechagias will take the stage to share their perspectives and real‑world experience, highlighting how Percona’s open source services and tools empower teams to build, run, and scale modern database platforms with confidence in cloud environments.

February 20-21, 2026

Community Office Hours: Why PostgreSQL took the crown from MySQL and what lies ahead - January 06, 2026

We’re excited to share that Peter Zaitsev, Founder of Percona, will present his talk “Why PostgreSQL Took the Crown from MySQL and What Lies Ahead.” After participating in Percona PGConf.EU in Riga, Peter is bringing this session to our community once again, with updated insights and perspectives from recent conversations with PostgreSQL experts and users.

Tuesday, January 06, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM EST

Summit for MySQL Community, USA Edition — January 14, 2026

We’re gathering in San Francisco on January 14 for a focused, in‑person summit dedicated to strengthening the MySQL ecosystem through collaboration and contribution.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 9:00 to 17:00 PT

Earlier Activities

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Build a Great Business on Open Source without Selling Your Soul

📅 Nov 19, 2024

🏢 OSACon 2024

📍 Virtual

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Opensource #Open Source #Video

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Vector Search in Modern Databases

📅 Nov 19, 2024

🏢 OSACon 2024

📍 Virtual

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Vector Search #Databases #Open Source

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22 reasons to migrate to MySQL 8

📅 Oct 20, 2023

🏢 Percona University Montevideo 2023

📍 Montevideo, Uruguay

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#MySQL #Open Source #Slides

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Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age

📅 Oct 24, 2023

🏢 Percona University Montevideo 2023

📍 Montevideo, Uruguay

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Cloud #Opensource #Open Source

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Making a career out of Open Source

📅 Oct 20, 2023

🏢 Percona University Montevideo 2023

📍 Montevideo, Uruguay

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Opensource #Open Source #Slides

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Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age

📅 Oct 20, 2023

🏢 Percona University Buenos Aires 2023

📍 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Cloud #Opensource #Slides

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MySQL 8 vs MariaDB 10.11

📅 Oct 5, 2023

🏢 MariaDB Server Fest 2023

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#MySQL #MariaDB #Video

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Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age

📅 Feb 7, 2023 , 07/Feb/23 12:30 AM

🏢 State of Open Con 2023

📍 London

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Cloud #video #Video

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From a database in container to DBaaS on Kubernetesu

📅 Feb 3, 2023 , 03/Feb/23 1:00 AM

🏢 FOSDEM 2023

📍 Brussels

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#DBaaS #Kubernetes #Video

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17 Things Developers Need to Know About Databases

📅 May 12, 2020 , 12/May/20 4:00 PM

🏢 Open Source 101 At Home

📍 Online

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Databases #Video #Slides

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How to measure Linux Performance Wrong

📅 Jan 31, 2020 , 11:30 PM

🏢 FOSDEM 2020

📍 Belgium

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Linux #Open Source #Video

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MySQL 8 vs MariaDB 10.4

📅 Feb 1, 2020 , 10:00 AM

🏢 FOSDEM 2020

📍 Belgium

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#MariaDB #Open Source #Video

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Distributed Storage in the Cloud

📅 Oct 17, 2021 , 17/Oct/21 12:30 AM

🏢 All Things Open 2021

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

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Is Open Source Coming Back to Your Cloud?

📅 Sep 6, 2023

🏢 Civo Navigate London 2023

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Opensource #Video

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State of MySQL Security in 2021

📅 Aug 13, 2021 , 13/Aug/21 12:30 AM

🏢 Data Con LA 2021

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#MySQL #Security #Video

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The State of Open Source Databases in 2021

📅 Oct 17, 2021 , 17/Oct/21 12:30 AM

🏢 All Things Open 2021

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

#Opensource #Video

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