MariaDB

MariaDB is an open source relational database server designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL, with more features, additional storage engines, and a focus on performance. It was created by many of the original MySQL developers and keeps close compatibility with MySQL as a core goal.

MariaDB adds capabilities beyond its MySQL base, including pluggable storage engines and built-in support for full-text search, GIS, and JSON. It remains squarely focused on SQL and relational workloads, so existing MySQL applications and tooling can move over with minimal changes.

MariaDB is developed by the MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB Corporation together with community contributors. It is available only under version 2 of the GNU General Public License, inherited from MySQL.