Question:
I hear that MariaDB can be used as a fully-fledged replacement for MySQL. Are MySQL and MariaDB really interchangeable?
Can I use MariaDB as a replacement for MySQL with WordPress, Drupal, Joomla (any other content management system)?
Answer:
Yes.
MariaDB is a fork of MySQL. MariaDB has all the features and functionality of MySQL (and more).
MariaDB was created by the creator of MySQL. It’s a drop in replacement for MySQL. It means that you can replace MySQL by MariaDB and keep all the data files, your application source code, database connectors, etc. There’s no need to change anything.
In other words, you can install MariaDB instead of MySQL. You don’t have to change anything else. Everything will work the same as with MySQL.