MariaDB is an open-source relational (SQL) database created as a community fork of MySQL after Oracle's acquisition of MySQL AB, maintained today by the independent MariaDB Foundation. It's the seventh most-used database in developer surveys, at roughly 22.5% usage share. Developers pick it as a nearly drop-in MySQL replacement that's fully community-governed, with no single corporate owner controlling its direction.
MariaDB's SQL syntax is nearly identical to MySQL's — most MySQL queries and client libraries work against MariaDB unmodified.
CREATE TABLE products (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
price DECIMAL(8,2) NOT NULL
);
INSERT INTO products (name, price) VALUES ('USB Cable', 6.99);
SELECT name, price
FROM products
WHERE price < 10.00
ORDER BY price ASC;Install the server directly, or run one in Docker, then connect with the mariadb CLI client (a drop-in for the mysql client).
# Docker: run a local MariaDB instance
docker run --name maria-db -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret -p 3306:3306 -d mariadb:11
# connect with the mariadb CLI
mariadb -h 127.0.0.1 -u root -p