What's the difference between utf8_general_ci and utf8_unicode_ci?

Question

Between utf8_general_ci and utf8_unicode_ci, are there any differences in terms of performance?

Answer 1

This post describes it very nicely.

In short: utf8_unicode_ci uses the Unicode Collation Algorithm as defined in the Unicode standards, whereas utf8_general_ci is a more simple sort order which results in "less accurate" sorting results.