MariaDB
activeby MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB plc · since 2009 · also known as MariaDB Server, MariaDB Community Server
Community-led MySQL fork with extra storage engines, built-in Galera and a faster feature cadence.
Overview
MariaDB started in 2009 as a fork of MySQL by its original authors and has since diverged into its own database with system-versioned tables, sequences, Oracle-compatibility mode, a vector type and pluggable engines such as ColumnStore and Spider. It is the default MySQL-family server on many Linux distributions and remains largely drop-in for MySQL 5.7-era applications, though newer MySQL features (and replication from MySQL 8+) are not always compatible. The server is governed by the MariaDB Foundation, while MariaDB plc, taken private by K1 Investment Management in 2024 and owner of Galera since 2025, sells the Enterprise Platform and SkySQL-style cloud offerings. Releases now follow yearly LTS plus rolling quarterly releases.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +System-versioned (temporal) tables for point-in-time queries in plain SQL
- +Native VECTOR type with HNSW indexes since 11.7, no extension needed
- +Galera synchronous multi-primary replication bundled in the server
- +Pluggable engines: ColumnStore for analytics, Spider for sharding, S3 for archives
- +Open development with Foundation governance and GPL code
Trade-offs
- −Diverging from MySQL 8+/9: GTIDs, JSON storage and some syntax are incompatible
- −Smaller managed-service footprint than MySQL or PostgreSQL (no Cloud SQL or Azure flexible server)
- −Rolling releases get short support windows; production should track LTS
- −Corporate side has been through financial turmoil and an ownership change
Great for
- +Drop-in replacement for legacy MySQL deployments
- +Linux distribution default database for LAMP stacks
- +Temporal auditing with system-versioned tables
- +HA clusters with Galera
- +Combining relational data with vector similarity search
Think twice for
- −Apps depending on the newest MySQL 8.4/9.x-only features
- −Large-scale analytics compared with dedicated warehouses
- −Teams wanting a managed service on every cloud
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 17 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- Addon
- Multi-region
- Read replicas
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong, Eventual
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Single node, Primary replica, Multi primary, Client server
- Query languages
- SQL, PL/SQL (Oracle mode)
Primary-replica or Galera multi-primary for HA; Spider engine and MaxScale provide sharding and routing.
Deployment
available on · AWS · Azure · Google Cloud · Alibaba Cloud · DigitalOcean · Akamai · OVHcloud · Scaleway
Ecosystem
Alternatives to MariaDB
The web's default open-source SQL database, now on calendar versioning with 9.7 as the LTS line.
mariadb vs mysql →A drop-in MySQL build that ships enterprise features (thread pool, audit, encryption) as free GPL code.
mariadb vs percona-server-mysql →The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database.
mariadb vs postgresql →Synchronous multi-primary replication for MySQL and MariaDB, now owned by MariaDB plc.
mariadb vs galera-cluster →MySQL-compatible distributed SQL with a row store for OLTP and a columnar replica for real-time analytics.
mariadb vs tidb →Distributed SQL mixing in-memory rowstore and columnstore for real-time analytics, search and vectors.
mariadb vs singlestore →MariaDB FAQ
What is MariaDB?
MariaDB is a relational database by MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB plc, first released in 2009. MariaDB started in 2009 as a fork of MySQL by its original authors and has since diverged into its own database with system-versioned tables, sequences, Oracle-compatibility mode, a vector type and pluggable engines such as ColumnStore and Spider. It is the default MySQL-family server on many Linux distributions and remains largely drop-in for MySQL 5.7-era applications, though newer MySQL features (and replication from MySQL 8+) are not always compatible. The server is governed by the MariaDB Foundation, while MariaDB plc, taken private by K1 Investment Management in 2024 and owner of Galera since 2025, sells the Enterprise Platform and SkySQL-style cloud offerings. Releases now follow yearly LTS plus rolling quarterly releases.
Is MariaDB open source?
Yes. MariaDB is open source. License: GPL-2.0.
Does MariaDB support ACID transactions?
Yes. MariaDB supports full ACID transactions, with strong, eventual consistency.
Does MariaDB scale horizontally?
MariaDB scales horizontally through an official extension, proxy or edition rather than in the core engine. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB). It supports cross-region read replicas.
How can I run MariaDB?
You can self-host it. Managed offerings include Amazon RDS for MariaDB and MariaDB Cloud. It is available on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and DigitalOcean.
What is MariaDB best for?
MariaDB is a strong fit for drop-in replacement for legacy MySQL deployments, linux distribution default database for LAMP stacks and temporal auditing with system-versioned tables. Think twice for apps depending on the newest MySQL 8.4/9.x-only features.
What are the best alternatives to MariaDB?
Common alternatives to MariaDB include MySQL, Percona Server for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Galera Cluster and TiDB. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is MariaDB?
MariaDB ranks #19 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (56.2/100), and #6 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.