MariaDB vs MySQL – What’s the Difference?

MariaDB vs MySQL: MariaDB is relatively faster than MySQL and does not support data masking and dynamic column. On the other hand, MySQL is relatively slower than MariaDB but supports data masking and dynamic column.

In this article, we will explore MariaDB vs MySQL in great-depth. But, before doing that, let’s go over the list of topics listed under the table of contents (TOC) that we will cover in this article.

Table of contents (TOC)

• MariaDB vs MySQL
• What is MariaDB?
• What is MySQL?
• Key differences between MariaDB vs MySQL
• Similarities between MariaDB and MySQL
• Conclusion

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MariaDB vs MySQL 

As both are open-source relational database management systems, understanding their differences is quite confusing. So, in order to understand MariaDB vs. MySQL in a better way, let’s explore it in a tabular format.

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What is MariaDB? 

MariaDB definition: MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system that can be used as a replacement for MySQL.

MariaDB came into existence in 2009 and currently has a more extensive and faster connection pool capable of supporting up to 200,000+ connections. This database is written using various languages, such as C, C++, Perl, and Bash languages.

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Along with all this, MariaDB supports Structured Query Language (SQL) commands; therefore, there is no need to learn any language or commands in order to work with MariaDB. 

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Suppose you want to switch from MySQL to MariaDB. In that case, MariaDB offers backward compatibility because it was forked from MySQL and thus has a lot of similarities in the database structures and indexes.

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What is MySQL? 

MySQL definition: MySQL is an open-source relational database management system created by MySQL AB for web application development that provides support for web developers to easily manage data using tables.

MySQL came into existence way earlier than MariaDB in 1995 and currently has a smaller and slow connection pool that is not capable of supporting up to 200,000+ connections. This database is also written using various languages, such as C and C++ languages.

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Just like MariaDB, MySQL also supports Structured Query Language (SQL) commands; therefore, there is no need to learn any language or commands in order to work with MySQL. One of the most important features of MySQL is that it allows data to be stored and accessed across multiple storage engines, but you cannot treat MySQL as a replacement for MariaDB.

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MariaDB vs MySQL - Key Differences

Here are the key differences between MariaDB vs MySQL:

• In terms of performance, MariaDB relational database management system is way faster than MySQL relational database management system.
• MySQL relational database management system has fewer storage engines in comparison to MariaDB relational database management system.
• MariaDB relational database management system does not support data masking and dynamic column, but MySQL relational database system does.
• MySQL relational database management system has a smaller and slow connection pool. On the other hand, MariaDB relational database management system has a more extensive and faster connection pool that is capable of supporting 200,000+ connections.

Similarities between MariaDB and MySQL 

Here are some of the main similarities between MariaDB and MySQL relational database management systems:

• Both MySQL and MariaDB are open-source databases.
• MySQL and MariaDB are both relational database management systems (RDBMS).
• MySQL and MariaDB support SQL (Structured Query Language) commands for querying the database and tables.

Conclusion

Now that you know what MySQL and MariaDB relational database management systems are, along with the difference between these two, you might be wondering which one you should choose. In my opinion, when it comes to querying and replication, MariaDB outperforms MySQL. As a result, if you seek a powerful relational database solution, MariaDB is a good option. Furthermore, MariaDB smoothly supports a large number of simultaneous connections without very much performance loss.

In this article, you have explored MariaDB vs MySQL in great detail. If you have any queries related to the topic, please feel free to send your queries to us as a comment. We will be happy to answer all your queries.