MariaDB
MariaDB is a community-developed, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) that is a fork of MySQL, created after Oracle's acquisition of MySQL. It is designed for high performance, reliability, and compatibility with MySQL, offering features like storage engines, replication, and clustering. MariaDB is widely used in web applications, data warehousing, and enterprise environments due to its scalability and active development community.
Developers should learn MariaDB when building applications that require a robust, MySQL-compatible database with enhanced features like better performance optimizations, security improvements, and open-source licensing. It is ideal for use cases such as e-commerce platforms, content management systems (e.g., WordPress), and data-intensive applications where reliability and community support are priorities. Choosing MariaDB over MySQL can provide benefits like faster query execution and more frequent updates without licensing fees.