MySQL and MariaDB are both open-source database technologies. You can use them to store data in a tabular format with rows and columns. MySQL is the most widely adopted open-source database. And it’s the primary relational database for many popular websites, applications, and commercial products. MariaDB is a modified version of MySQL. MariaDB was made by MySQL’s original development team due to licensing and distribution concerns after MySQL was acquired by Oracle Corporation. Since the acquisition, MySQL and MariaDB have evolved differently. However, MariaDB adopts MySQL’s data and table definition files and also uses identical client protocols, client APIs, ports, and sockets. This is intended to let MySQL users switch to MariaDB hassle-free.