MySQL ODBC Driver
Our MySQL ODBC driver and connector delivers high-performance data flow to and from MySQL Databases for your BI and analytics tools. Download the driver below.

Connect MySQL to Your Reporting & Analytics Tools
insightsoftware’s MySQL ODBC driver provides high-performance connectivity to 32-bit and 64-bit MySQL Databases for your analytics and business intelligence tools of choice. This Simba MySQL ODBC connector delivers seamless connectivity, enabling powerful analytics on all major platforms. Downloading our driver for MySQL removes the need for complicated data extraction from data stores. Our Simba MySQL ODBC connector provides intuitive scalability, full BI tool functionality, and real-time analytics. Our MySQL driver complies with the ODBC 3.8 data standard and adds important functionality such as Unicode, as well as 32- and 64-bit support for high-performance computing environments on all platforms.
Why Download Simba & Its Drivers?
Simba by insightsoftware provides trusted, high-quality connectivity, backed by reliable support, making it easier to use MySQL with the tools you already rely on.
Overcome MySQL Data Challenges With Simba Drivers
Authentication Complexity
Beyond simply connecting MySQL to your various tools and platforms, this Simba ODBC driver supports multiple authentication schemes (e.g. native MySQL auth, SHA-256, and Windows SSO). This means that organizations can unify access control policies without custom scripting or manual credential management.
Data Security Concerns
Simplifying authentication doesn’t hamper compliance or data security, though. Instead of sensitive business information being vulnerable during transfer, our MySQL ODBC driver supports SSL/TLS encryption to ensure secure and compliant communication channels that protect data integrity and confidentiality.
Performance Bottlenecks
Query execution can become a major delay when you have large result sets or unoptimized network communications. Simba’s MySQL connector reduces BI tool latency, dashboard lag, and server overburdening by optimizing performance via configurable cache sizes, compressed network communication, and more.
Features of Our MySQL ODBC Driver
Multiplatform support - compatible with Windows, Mac, and major Linux distributions (e.g. CentOS, Red Hat, SLES)
Multiple authentication schemes supported - including native MySQL authentication, SHA-256, and Windows single sign-on
Encrypted connection via SSL/TLS - supports version 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2, as well as one-way and two-way SSL connections
Connector logging and ODBC tracing - simplifies troubleshooting by capturing ODBC-level operations and connection activity in real time for performance tuning
Configurable cache size - define the number of result rows fetched to optimize memory usage
Client-side prepared statements - reduce server load by reusing parsed SQL statements for repeated queries
Compressed network communication - uses Zlib compression to minimize bandwidth consumption to enhance performance over slow networks
Simba MySQL ODBC Driver Specifications
ODBC 3.8 compliant - ensures broad interoperability with BI, report, and ETL tools
Support 32-bit and 64-bit architectures
Unicode (UTF-8) support - enables consistent handling of multilingual datasets and global deployments
Support for iODBC 3.52.7 or later, and unixODBC 2.3.0 or later
Supported platforms include CENTOS 5, 6, 7, macOS 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, Red Hat 6, 7, SLES 11, 12
MySQL ODBC Driver Documentation & Resources
MySQL ODBC Connector FAQs
What is the Simba MySQL ODBC driver, and why should I use it instead of the default MySQL ODBC driver?
How does the Simba ODBC driver improve performance when connecting to MySQL?
- Configurable fetch cache size (optimizes memory usage)
- Zlib network compression (minimizes bandwidth usage)
- Optimized SQL translation (improves workload efficiency)
- Client-side prepared statements (reduces parsing overhead)