Should You Use Strings as Primary Keys in MySQL: Performance Implications?

Performance impact of using strings as primary keys in MySQL database

Even if you don’t have a deep understanding of database theory, a question still remains: What is the performance impact of using string primary keys instead of integer primary keys in a MySQL database? Assume a data set contains 100 million records, including mobile phone number, name and email address. Mobile phone number and email address are unique, then which one can be used as the primary key?

The answer is not obvious. The performance impact depends on key factors such as the size of the table and the string length of the underlying primary key. String primary keys may cause some slowdown when table sizes exceed millions, but for smaller tables the drop is usually negligible. However, a key consideration is the semantic meaning of the string. If the string itself represents the only aspect of the data, it can simplify data interpretation and mitigate potential problems caused by abstract integer primary keys.

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