As of MySQL 8.0.18, EXPLAIN ANALYZE is an indispensable tool for understanding query execution because it breaks down the query execution stage of response time by measuring each step of the query execution plan.
The information is illuminating, but the output is not intuitive: it requires practice and some understanding of how MySQL executes queries beyond the table join order shown by traditional EXPLAIN output.
This blog post closely examines three different examples of EXPLAIN ANALYZE output.
