Cassandra

Written in Java, this BigTable-based key-value database is getting more popular by the day. Open source and built to integrate with Hadoop, Cassandra offers the column family solution to developers wanting to move away from the relational database model while working with Hadoop. Focusing mainly on getting in very fast writes and providing high availability, Cassandra has slower reads than some alternatives. It is mostly used for logging purposes and real-time analysis.

MySQL and MariaDB

The most widely used open source database for Web apps (and many other things) remains MySQL. Support for multiple storage engines, clustering, full-text indexing, and plenty of other professional features have allowed numerous other apps profiled here, from WordPress to Movable Type, to rely on MySQL as their default database. Graphical front ends, such as phpMyAdmin and Adminer, make using the database far less of a chore. And for those seeking escape from the long shadow of Oracle, there's a community fork named MariaDB, maintained by MySQL's original lead developer, Monty Widenius.

Bossie Awards 2012: The best open source databases

Not so long ago, the world of open source databases could be summed up in one five-letter word: MySQL. But that was when we threw everything into a SQL database without giving it a second thought. Now we have NoSQL, horizontal scaling, and a slew of distributed key-value stores playing musical chairs around the CAP Theorem. And wait just a minute -- isn't PostgreSQL starting to look sexy?

MySQL what is the maximum size of a database?

According to the MySQL Manual:

E.10.3. Limits on Table Size
The effective maximum table size for MySQL databases is usually determined by operating system constraints on file sizes, not by MySQL internal limits. The following table lists some examples of operating system file-size limits. This is only a rough guide and is not intended to be definitive. For the most up-to-date information, be sure to check the documentation specific to your operating system.

Operating System                     File-size Limit
Win32 w/ FAT/FAT32                   2GB/4GB
Win32 w/ NTFS                        2TB (possibly larger)
Linux 2.2-Intel 32-bit               2GB (LFS: 4GB)
Linux 2.4+  (using ext3 file system) 4TB
Solaris 9/10                         16TB
MacOS X w/ HFS+                      2TB

Windows users, please note that FAT and VFAT (FAT32) are not considered suitable for production use with MySQL. Use NTFS instead.
On Linux 2.2, you can get MyISAM tables larger than 2GB in size by using the Large File Support (LFS) patch for the ext2 file system. Most current Linux distributions are based on kernel 2.4 or higher and include all the required LFS patches. On Linux 2.4, patches also exist for ReiserFS to get support for big files (up to 2TB). With JFS and XFS, petabyte and larger files are possible on Linux.

As for the other part of your question, a few thoughts:

1. It's a broad, complex, multi-factorial question. Consider narrowing the scope of the question to MySQL and one other RDBMS (eg. SQL Server) and probably even one particular feature.
2. Google is your friend.
3. Vendors tend to publish their own biased comparisons. Take vendor numbers with a grain of salt.