MySQL and MariaDB are relational database management systems (RDBMS) developed from the original database management system (DBMS), MySQL. However, there are differences between MySQL and MariaDB.
Some of differences between MySQL and MariaDB are:
History
MySQL has been around since the 1970s and was developed in 2003 by MySQL AB. But in 2009, Oracle Corporation bought MySQL AB. This has caused some developers and the open-source community to worry about the future of MySQL.
MariaDB was started in 2009 by the original MySQL developers to create an independent, open-source branch of MySQL. Since then, MariaDB has been considered an alternative database management system to MySQL.
Support and Development
MySQL is supported by Oracle Corporation. The company offers commercial editions of MySQL that include more advanced features and technical support. Also, there is an open-source version of MySQL supported by the developer community.
The MariaDB Foundation currently supports MariaDB
The Foundation continues the advancement and development of MariaDB through contributions from the community and commercial sponsors. Also, MariaDB offers commercial and context versions.
Development and features
MariaDB and MySQL were initially similar, but differences in features and functionality have developed over time. MariaDB includes some more advanced and optimized features unavailable in MySQL. In addition, MariaDB can run specific codes and queries with better performance.
Overall, MariaDB has been created as an open-source and synchronized alternative to MySQL to maintain compatibility and continue the technical development of MySQL. If your application is developed based on MySQL, you can migrate to MariaDB without significant changes.
What is the main difference between MySQL and MariaDB?
The core of MariaDB is the same as Mysql version 5, with different engine performance. MariaDB has worked hard on the two critical issues of security and tuning, and its productivity is much better than Mysql.
You can easily install and run MariaDB on both Windows and Linux platforms, and have a robust and optimized database.
The database issue is one of the most critical issues raised among hosting companies and often causes problems or even spends time and energy to optimize it.
Without exaggeration, most of the world’s servers use Mysql and MariaDB as their database, and due to the improved engine and better performance and security, the growth rate of MariaDB usage is much higher than Mysql.
Powerful control panels such as CPanel and Direct Admin support this program well and even allow you to upgrade from Mysql to MariaDB without problems online.
Compatibility of specific versions of MariaDB and Mysql
MariaDB 10.3, MariaDB 10.2, and MariaDB 10.4 serve as drop-in replacements for MySQL for MySQL 5.7 databases. However, newer versions of MariaDB are being implemented and will continue to grow with each release.
MariaDB 10.0 and MariaDB 10.1 are suitable replacements for MySQL 5.6. However, there are some implementation differences in some features.
MariaDB 5.5 serves as a replacement for MySQL 5.5.
MariaDB 5.1, MariaDB 5.2, and MariaDB 5.3 serve as replacements for MySQL 5.1.
Performance comparison of MariaDB and MySQL
MariaDB has several optimizations that improve performance compared to MySQL. When MariaDB was started by Michael Widenius, the founder of MySQL and MariaDB, he had this vision in mind.
Database Views or database view on MySQL and MariaDB
Optimizing the performance of View databases is the first thing that can be mentioned. “View” is a virtual database table that can be queried like standard database tables, while the existence of views can lead to server performance improvement. In MySQL, when you execute a view, it displays all the tables associated with the view, even though the query may or may not require some views, but this has been improved in Mariadb. And only the tables needed by the query are displayed.
ColumnStore or column storage in MariaDB vs MySQL
As another example, MariaDB introduces another function called ColumnStore, a distributed data architecture that has improved the performance of queries applicable to databases with very high data volumes. Unlike Row Store storage, in Column Store storage, data is stored in columns; in this method, the data is compressed, minimizing the need for Disk I/O when requesting a query. As a result, the time and speed of responding to queries is significantly increased.
Better performance in flash storage
MariaDB also provides the MyRocks storage engine, which adds the RocksDB database. RocksDB is a database designed to provide a higher level of data compression for better performance on flash storage.
In this article, we pointed out the main differences between MySQL and MariaDB and compared them. MySQL and MariaDB are the best databases currently widely used in most services. They are used for web hosting.
FAQ
Using Maria DB or MySQL is completely related to your needs and each of these two has its own features.
In the past, MySQL was mostly used in web hosting services, but after 2019, this trend has changed and today most hosts, including Royal Host web hosting services, use Maria DB.
Maria DB was started in 2009 by some developers of MySQL.
Yes, MariaDB is open source and completely free to use.