Category Archives: Stories
I always enjoy real production stories where MariaDB is used in demanding environments and the people involved are willing to share the architecture, the challenges, and the decisions made along the way.
Pradip Shah from luroConnect recently documented how his team migrated a 500+ GB production MariaDB database from Amazon RDS to self-managed MariaDB on EC2.
Moving from RDS to EC2 is often expected to bring significant cost savings because you are moving from a fully managed database service to infrastructure that you operate yourself. The usual question, however, is whether those savings come at the expense of performance, reliability, or operational simplicity.
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Database migrations are rarely only about replacing one database server with another.
In real production systems, especially in fintech, a migration is usually about reducing risk, keeping the application online, improving scalability, and giving teams more room to evolve the architecture without freezing product development.
This story is about a fintech B2B enterprise that migrated from a monolithic PostgreSQL 12 environment to MariaDB 11. The company runs a payments-related platform for discounts and cashback, where users can check balances, transaction history, applicable discounts, and other account information. The payment-related part of the workload was mostly transactional, while the rest was mixed, with roughly 60% reads and 40% writes.
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Continue reading “From PostgreSQL 12 to MariaDB 11: A Gradual Fintech Migration with 23% Lower TCO”
At the MariaDB Foundation, clarity of purpose matters. In an ecosystem as foundational as open-source databases, confidence is built not through slogans, but through predictability, restraint, and long-term commitment.
As I reflect upon what we learned in 2025 and how we can serve the database community in 2026, one thought stands out: MariaDB is the natural successor to MySQL, as Oracle loses its interest in the development of what has been the default Open Source Relational DBMS.
The MariaDB Foundation recognises its responsibility. As uncertainty around MySQL’s long-term direction continues to grow, the global community of users, operators, and vendors quite reasonably seeks continuity.
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Continue reading “Making MariaDB the Natural Successor to MySQL”
This blog post is based on the YouTube presentation “MariaDB vs PostgreSQL: Technical Deep Dive | Architecture, Performance & Design Trade-offs” by Manoj Vakeel, part of MariaDB Foundation’s ongoing series exploring core database design choices and how they impact modern workloads.
The goal here is not to pick a “winner,” but to provide clear architectural insight for CTOs, database engineers, and system architects making decisions in 2025 and beyond.
“Both are powerful engines — both are proven in production — but they take very different routes to get there.” — Manoj Vakeel, MariaDB plc
Why this matters
PostgreSQL and MariaDB are two of the most widely adopted open-source relational databases.
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Continue reading “MariaDB vs PostgreSQL: Understanding the Architectural Differences That Matter”
Strengthening the Board with industry leaders is a key goal for the MariaDB Foundation in 2025 – and beyond.
At the MariaDB Foundation, we believe that leadership in open source isn’t just about code — it’s about courage, community, and conviction. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that Frank Karlitschek, founder and CEO of Nextcloud, has joined the MariaDB Foundation Board.
This is more than a new appointment — it’s a signal of where we’re heading as a Foundation: towards deeper collaboration with open-source and database pioneers who share our European values and our vision for digital independence.
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Phillippe Balzli, CTO at zvoove Switzerland AG, shared in an interview with Kaj Arnö of MariaDB Foundation how the company navigated legacy software, rapid growth, and evolving customer needs – all with the help of MariaDB.
Who is zvoove?
zvoove Switzerland AG is a Swiss-based software company that provides tailored solutions for personnel service providers. The company has evolved significantly over the years, transitioning from M&D Computers to backoffice, and finally to zvoove Switzerland AG. Current CTO Phillippe Balzli took over leadership in 2023, continuing the company’s journey toward modern, scalable infrastructure built on MariaDB.
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August may have been a holiday month for many, but the MariaDB community certainly didn’t take a break. From Amsterdam to Bengaluru, from deep technical dives to festive dinners, August brought us fresh insights, new collaborations, and plenty of reasons to be excited about the road ahead.
Community Interaction at Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit in Amsterdam
MariaDB Foundation proudly joined the Open Source Summit in Amsterdam, hosted by the Linux Foundation (LF OSS). Alongside me, Vlad Radu represented the Foundation at our booth – joined by none other than Michael “Monty” Widenius (founder of both MariaDB and MySQL) and Sergei Golubchik (Chief Architect of MariaDB Server).
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Continue reading “This Month in MariaDB Foundation: August 2025”
At the MariaDB Foundation, we’re constantly engaging with users, partners, and collaborators to understand how MariaDB fits into their infrastructure—and what we can do better. A recent conversation between our Executive Chairman Kaj Arnö and Renato Furter from Switch.ch, Switzerland’s national research and education network, revealed valuable insights into open source adoption, digital sovereignty, and collaboration across European academia.
From MySQL to MariaDB: Why Switch Made the Move
Switch has been a MariaDB user for years. Their journey began with MySQL, like many institutions in academia. But when Oracle’s roadmap grew increasingly opaque and development around MySQL 5.7 stagnated, the Switch team made a practical decision: migrate to MariaDB.
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