4:02 Recorded at FOSDEM 2026, Brussels
Where is MariaDB going in 2026, and does it still speak MySQL?
What MariaDB does next
The 2026 MariaDB roadmap from its creator: MySQL compatibility, full outer joins and parallel queries, and the open source route into a first tech job.
Monty Widenius, Creator of MySQL and MariaDB · with 
Luca Berton
Michael "Monty" Widenius is the original creator of MySQL and MariaDB. He still writes code for MariaDB and works with the MariaDB Foundation on its community and university programmes.
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In brief
- 2026 is about MySQL compatibility: making the one-to-one move to MariaDB as frictionless as possible.
- The two big technical projects on Monty's own desk are full outer joins and parallel queries.
- With around 400 million installations, MariaDB is likely the largest open source database after SQLite.
- Alternative MySQL-protocol databases are not drop-in replacements; they are all different.
- The way into a tech career is public open source work: pick a beginner-friendly ticket and ship it.
Chapters
Why this conversation
You do not often get the creator of the database underneath a good part of the web standing at a booth, happy to talk. At FOSDEM 2026 in Brussels, Monty Widenius was at the MariaDB Foundation stand, and he gave us a few minutes on the 2026 roadmap, the state of the open source database landscape, and the advice he gives young developers who want to be noticed.
What is next for MariaDB in 2026
When you created a database with roughly 400 million installations worldwide, what keeps you busy? For Monty and the MariaDB team, 2026 is about pushing the technical boundaries while welcoming new users.
The immediate focus is MySQL compatibility. As Monty put it with a smile, there has been a lot of “entertainment” coming out of Oracle lately, and it has sent a wave of MySQL users looking for a truly open source alternative. MariaDB is working to make that one-to-one transition as painless as possible.
It is not only about compatibility. Monty is personally tackling two of the biggest projects on the list this year: full outer joins and parallel queries, both heavy-hitting features for complex data workloads and performance.
The open source database landscape
I asked about the alternative implementations built on the MySQL protocol, such as TiDB. Monty was pragmatic: they use similar protocols and features, but “they are all different”, and they are not drop-in, one-to-one replacements.
Rather than worrying about competition, the team is focused on its own scale. With around 400 million installations, MariaDB is likely the biggest open source database in the world, second only to the embedded SQLite. The real challenge for 2026 is to keep growing adoption and keep every one of those users happy.
How young talent gets hired
The most inspiring part of the chat was about the next generation. The MariaDB Foundation is partnering with universities to put open source contributions directly into coursework. You do not need to be in one of those programmes to use the same route in, though. When I asked how an aspiring programmer can connect with the Foundation and show what they can do, the answer was a short masterclass in career building:
“For anybody who is a programmer and wants to be able to show their talents to the world, the easiest way they can do that is to be part of some open source project.”
The playbook, as Monty described it: go to MariaDB’s Jira, the bug and feature tracker; filter for the issues tagged beginner-friendly; claim one, write the code and submit the pull request; then work with the core team to get it merged. “After you are done with lots of contributions, you will be known, and people will compete to hire you.”
The advice travels. A public track record in any significant open source project, whether a database, an automation tool or Kubernetes itself, is something no CV can match.
Why it matters beyond MariaDB
The Oracle situation Monty referred to fits a pattern worth watching. When a major vendor makes licensing or governance decisions that alienate its users, the open source alternative absorbs the demand. CentOS gave way to Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, Terraform’s licence change to OpenTofu, Redis to Valkey, and now MySQL users are increasingly evaluating MariaDB.
For engineers running databases in production, the compatibility work means migration paths keep getting smoother. The upcoming parallel query support is particularly relevant for teams running analytical workloads next to transactional ones. If you automate database deployments or run database clusters on Kubernetes, MariaDB’s trajectory in 2026 is one to follow.
A massive thank you to Monty for his time, his humility, and everything he has done and continues to do for the open source community.
Mentioned in this episode
Transcript
Read the full transcript (automatic transcription, unedited)
0:00 Hi friends, super excited VIP personal here. This is Mr. Monty that created with Maria DB
0:09 and MySQL
0:10 MySQL of course. Um, thank you so much and we are in for them 2026.
0:17 Yeah.
0:17 And super excited about what is going on and what are you working interesting at the moment. uh currently I’m working on uh even more MySQL compatibility because we have so many MySQL users are coming as and who want to move to Maria DB because of the entertainment that Oracle has done the last few weeks. So uh I’m trying to do do that easier. Uh I’m also working on some bigger projects for this year for full out join and parallel queries on the top of my list. Wow. Sounds sounds very challenging.
0:54 Yeah.
0:55 And what do you think will be the main challenge for 2026? basically increase adoption of Mar that always always been uh one of our big uh biggest challenges and uh ensuring that everybody’s happy with us because and we also have a ever growing developer community and um and thanks to the foundation uh we are able to manage all the pull requests that we uh get and know we are working with universities who wants to have students as part of their courses is submit pull request to us to show that they can collaborate with with open source to be able to manage all of those will probably be one of bigger challenges this year.
1:39 Wow. Is is great that you are also training young talent and this part of this and I was just wondering I know that there are other alternative implementation on of the same protocol. How do you see the trend going? I’m on top of my mind I’m thinking about TB that offer to be like a uh one to one replacement or some uh
2:01 no but it not one they have a similar protocol and similar features but we all different so uh we have no in mid about 400 million installations of database installation so we may be the biggest uh opensource database except of course SQL light so we are doing good
2:20 yes of course you you have you have proven track let’s
2:24 and many big organization have rely on you Yeah, but still MySQL has a really good name and and lots of uh uh press around them. So, it will take some time before we overcome them in the mind of the developers. Cool. Thank you so much for all the work that you done for the community. Thank you.
2:46 I’m a huge fan of yourself, huge fan of you and all the initiative that you are carry on. And I was just wondering how we can uh how can people connect with the foundation and uh how how young talent can uh get in contact for these opportunities. So um for anybody uh who who is a programmer and want to be able to show their talents for the world the easiest way they can do that is to be part of some open source project and with Marb and especially foundation we are trying to make that very easy in our Jira which is our bug tracker and feature tracker we have features that are uh marked beginner friendly anybody who wants to
3:31 contribute to the source and make a name of themsel it’s very easy to do that with Maria DB and and after you done lots of contributions, you will be known and people will compete to hire you.
3:48 So guys, if you want to be hired or you’re looking for opportunity, sounds maybe this is the best shot. Thank you. Thank you Monty for all your work and look forward for a great 2026.
4:00 Thank you. Bye.
4:01 Bye.
About Monty Widenius
Michael "Monty" Widenius is the original creator of MySQL and MariaDB. He still writes code for MariaDB and works with the MariaDB Foundation on its community and university programmes.
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Discussion
Questions for Monty, or something we got wrong? The conversation continues under the video on YouTube.