vioscaleAI
Comparison

MariaDB vs MySQL

On the evidence we track, MySQL leads this comparison with a composite score of 65/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

MariaDB full profile →MySQL full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
MariaDB50
★MySQL65
Score
vioscaleAI score
MariaDB50 / 100low · 42%
MySQL65 / 100medium · 53%
Pricing
Free tier
MariaDB✓
MySQL✓
Model
Price level
MariaDBfree
MySQLfree
Transparent
MariaDB✓
MySQL✗
Integrations
Count
MariaDB17
MySQL–
Security
Disclosure policy
MariaDB✓
MySQL–
Gdpr
MariaDB✓
MySQL–
Scorecard
MariaDB4.7
MySQL5.1
Vulnerabilities
Adoption
Dependent repos
MariaDB0
MySQL664
Github stars
MariaDB8,358
MySQL12,441
Stackoverflow questions
MariaDB–
MySQL230,000
Activity
Commits last 30d
MariaDB100
MySQL100
Release
Cadence days
MariaDB–
MySQL90
History
MariaDB20 items
MySQL–
License
Spdx
MariaDBGPL-2.0
MySQLGPL-2.0
Language
Primary
MariaDBC++
MySQLC++
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
MariaDB7 items
MySQL8 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for relational databases. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
SQL model
MariaDBFull SQL
MySQLFull SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions
MariaDBFull
MySQLFull
Highest isolation level
MariaDB-
MySQLSerializable
Consistency
Consistency
MariaDBTunable
MySQLStrong
Scale
Horizontal scale
MariaDBNatively distributed
MySQLNatively distributed
Replication
Replication
MariaDBSync
MySQLAsync
Availability
Automatic failover / HA
MariaDB✓
MySQL✓
Deployment
Deployment
MariaDB-
MySQLSelf-hosted
Serverless / scale-to-zero
MariaDB-
MySQL✓
Compatibility
Wire compatibility
MariaDBMySQL protocol
MySQLMySQL protocol
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs
MariaDB✓
MySQL✓
Licensing
Licence class
MariaDBCopyleft
MySQLCopyleft
Data types
JSON / document support
MariaDB✓
MySQL✓
Geo / spatial
MariaDBNative
MySQL-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

MariaDB

A widely deployed open source database that evolved from MySQL while maintaining compatibility, offering advanced SQL capabilities, native vector search, pluggable storage engines, and multi-primary clustering for production workloads.

Independently observed

MySQL

Leader

MySQL is an open-source SQL database server. MySQL Cluster extends it with real-time transaction processing capabilities for distributed deployments.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

MariaDB

Open source
as of verify ↗

MySQL

Leader
Open sourceFree tier

Community edition free; Enterprise/Standard/Classic editions require contacting sales

  • MySQL Community ServerFree
  • MySQL Enterprise EditionContact sales
  • MySQL Standard EditionContact sales
  • MySQL Classic EditionContact sales
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
MariaDB✗
MySQL✓
Windows
MariaDB✓
MySQL✗
Linux
MariaDB✓
MySQL✗
Deployment
Self-hosted
MariaDB✓
MySQL✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

MariaDB

17 total
  • MariaDB Connector/C
  • MariaDB Connector/Node.js
  • MariaDB Connector/ODBC
  • MariaDB Connector/J
  • MariaDB Connector/Python
  • MariaDB Connector/R2DBC
  • MariaDB Connector/C++
  • MySqlConnector for ADO.NET
  • ADO.NET Driver for MySQL
  • ODBC Driver for MySQL
  • JDBC Driver for MySQL
  • Node.js Driver for MySQL
  • C++ Driver for MySQL
  • C Driver for MySQL
  • C API for MySQL
  • PyMySQL
  • mysql-python
Independently observed

MySQL

Leader

Not documented yet.

Still deciding?

MariaDB or MySQL: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.