MariaDB vs. MySQL
Redirect Before you Hit the Roadblock
MySQL is the largest open source database community. MariaDB is a fork from MySQL and is 100% compatible with prior versions of MySQL. However, while the charter for MariaDB remains open source and cross-platform, the future is unclear for MySQL. Oracle prioritizes their proprietary products over MySQL, making marginal advancements between MySQL 5.7 (joining 5.6 as End of Support in 2023) and MySQL 8, and promoting Oracle Cloud and Heatwave, pairing a proprietary platform on a proprietary cloud.
Migration Guide for MySQL
Understand the similarities and differences, both small and large, between MariaDB and MySQL – from common features such as standard SQL to unique capabilities such as multi-master replication, transaction replay, temporal tables and Oracle database compatibility. While there are clear advantages for both, review your various projects on a case-by-case basis to determine which is right for you.
Read Nowretaining the best of mysql with MariaDB
MariaDB delivers the same open source community features as MySQL.
MySQL Compatibility
100% compatible with MySQL 5.7 and earlier versions with minor migration requirements for MySQL 8.0
Start Small, Grow Fast
Ease and simplicity of starting new projects with MariaDB due to its smaller starting memory footprint and lightweight configuration
Shared Innovation
More vibrant open source community of active contributors with GNU and GPL licensing, encouraging those that extend the code base to share innovation with the community
Pluggable Storage Engines
Pluggable storage engines including InnoDB, Spider, Aria, ColumnStore and many others provide a range of possibilities for scaling, high availability and columnar analytics
6 ways to do more with MariaDB
MariaDB and MySQL are both general-purpose databases. However, only MariaDB adheres to the open source mission yet provides a consistent set of advanced features and functionality across all major cloud platforms and on-premises.
Distributed SQL
MariaDB can be deployed as a distributed SQL database, scaling out to achieve millions of transactions/second on commodity hardware while ensuring high availability and enforcing strong consistency for mission-critical applications requiring elasticity and full scalability.
Learn MoreColumnar Storage Format
MariaDB supports both row and columnar storage. It can be deployed as a data warehouse for interactive, ad hoc analytics or as a hybrid transactional/analytical processing, storing current data in row storage and historical data in columnar.
Learn MoreHigh Availability and Scalability
Maintain continuous availability and hide failures from applications using multi-write clusters and zero-interruption failover features such as transaction replay. Vertical scale-out through parallel query, read replication and multi-master clustering.
Learn MoreOracle Database Compatibility
MariaDB is the only open source database compatible with Oracle Database data types, sequences, PL/SQL stored procedures and more, making it possible to “lift and shift” without having to modify database schemas and rewrite store procedures.
Learn MoreFederation
MariaDB and MySQL can access tables in other MariaDB/MySQL databases, but only MariaDB can federate heterogeneous databases, including Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server and IBM Db2, to consolidate data access and/or simplify database migration.
Learn MoreTemporal Tables
MariaDB is the only open source database to implement system-versioned, application-time period and bitemporal tables, granting developers the ability to query data based on a previous point in time and DBAs to audit and/or recover data after it was changed.
Learn MoreMariaDB vs. MySQL vs. EnterpriseDB
| EnterpriseDB | MySQL | MariaDB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MongoDB-compatible NoSQL | No | No | Yes |
| Distributed SQL | No | No | Yes |
| Columnar storage | No | No | Yes |
| Temporal tables | No | No | Yes |
| Oracle database compatibility | Yes | No | Yes |
| Non-blocking backups | Yes | 3rd-party product | Yes |
| Write-anywhere clustering | No | Yes | Yes |
| Transaction replay | No | No | Yes |
| Secure by default | No | Yes | Yes |
Resources
White Paper
Migration Guide: MySQL to MariaDB
Migration Guide: MySQL to MariaDB
Learn More
White Paper
Guide to Open Source Database Selection: MySQL vs. MariaDB
