MariaDB vs MySQL: Understanding the Fork and Choosing the Right One

MariaDB and MySQL share a common heritage, but they've diverged significantly since the 2009 fork. Understanding their differences helps you make the right choice for your project.

A Brief History

When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems (and MySQL) in 2010, MySQL's original developers created MariaDB as a community-driven fork. The goal: ensure MySQL remains truly open source.

Key timeline:

• 2009: MariaDB forked from MySQL 5.1
• 2010: Oracle completes Sun acquisition
• 2012: MariaDB 5.5 (compatible with MySQL 5.5)
• 2017: MariaDB 10.2 diverges significantly from MySQL
• Today: MariaDB and MySQL are increasingly different products

Key Differences

Storage Engines

Features Unique to MariaDB

• Sequences: Oracle-style sequence objects
• Invisible columns: Columns hidden from SELECT *
• System-versioned tables: Built-in temporal tables
• Oracle compatibility mode: PL/SQL-like syntax support
• Thread pool: Included in community edition (MySQL: Enterprise only)

Features Unique to MySQL

• MySQL Shell: Advanced administration tool
• Clone plugin: Physical replication for InnoDB
• Group Replication: Multi-primary clustering
• MySQL Router: Built-in connection routing
• Better JSON support: More JSON functions and indexing options

Compatibility Considerations

What's Compatible

• Basic SQL syntax
• Most client libraries and connectors
• Common frameworks (Laravel, Rails, Django)
• Standard data types
• Basic replication

Where They Diverge

Migration Challenges

Moving between MySQL and MariaDB isn't always seamless:

-- This works in MySQL 8 but not MariaDB
CREATE TABLE t1 (
    data JSON,
    INDEX idx ((CAST(data->>'$.name' AS CHAR(50))))
);

-- MariaDB uses different syntax
CREATE TABLE t1 (
    data JSON,
    name VARCHAR(50) AS (JSON_VALUE(data, '$.name')),
    INDEX idx (name)
);

Performance Comparison

Both databases perform well, with different strengths:

Licensing

MySQL

• Community Edition: GPL v2
• Enterprise Edition: Commercial (includes extra features, support)

MariaDB

• Community Server: GPL v2
• Enterprise: Commercial (BSL for some components)

For most users, both community editions are sufficient. MariaDB includes more features in its free version.

Ecosystem and Support

MySQL Advantages

• Larger market share and community
• More third-party tools assume MySQL
• Better cloud provider support (AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL)
• Extensive Oracle documentation and support

MariaDB Advantages

• More transparent development process
• Faster release of new features
• Growing adoption (default on many Linux distros)
• Community-driven roadmap

When to Choose MySQL

• Enterprise support needed: Oracle support contracts available
• JSON-heavy applications: Better JSON performance and functions
• Existing MySQL infrastructure: Migration complexity not worth it
• Group Replication needed: Native multi-primary clustering
• Maximum compatibility: Most tools and frameworks assume MySQL

When to Choose MariaDB

• Open source commitment: Prefer community-driven development
• Thread pool without Enterprise: High-concurrency workloads
• Oracle migration: Better Oracle compatibility mode
• Analytics workloads: ColumnStore for data warehousing
• Linux default: Already using MariaDB on your servers

Both on DanubeData

We support both MySQL and MariaDB, so you can choose based on your needs:

• MySQL 8.0: Latest stable with full feature set
• MariaDB 10.11: LTS release with extended support
• Easy migration: Test both on our platform
• Same management: Identical dashboard experience

Making the Decision

For new projects:

• If you don't have a strong preference, MySQL offers maximum compatibility
• If you value open source principles or need thread pooling, choose MariaDB

For existing projects:

• Stick with what you have unless you have a specific reason to migrate
• Test thoroughly before any migration—subtle incompatibilities exist

Ready to deploy? Get started with MySQL or MariaDB on DanubeData.