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Writing & Documentation · head to head

Confluence vs MariaDB

Confluence logo

Confluence

Writing & Documentation

Your remote-friendly team workspace

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MariaDB logo

MariaDB

Database & Data Management

The open source relational database for the enterprise

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Confluence listed on UK G-Cloud at £5 to £11 per licence per month for Atlassian Confluence, via reseller Rapid X; MariaDB jSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
  • They diverge on capability: Confluence covers Page creation, MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Confluence and MariaDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Confluence and MariaDB differ
AttributeConfluenceMariaDB
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Macos, Ios, AndroidLinux, Unix, Windows, macOS
CategoryWriting & DocumentationDatabase & Data Management
Founded20022009

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Confluence

  • Page creation
  • Rich text editing
  • Macros
  • Templates
  • Comments
  • Version history
  • Content organization
  • Jira

Only in MariaDB

  • MySQL Compatibility
  • Aria Storage Engine
  • ColumnStore
  • Galera Cluster
  • MaxScale
  • Spider Engine
  • Temporal Tables
  • phpMyAdmin

Both cover

  • Windows support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Confluence

  • Knowledge basenot MariaDB
  • Meeting notesnot MariaDB
  • Process documentationnot MariaDB
  • Project planningnot MariaDB

MariaDB

  • Transaction processingnot Confluence
  • Data storagenot Confluence
  • Application backendnot Confluence
  • Reportingnot Confluence
  • Data analyticsnot Confluence

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Confluence

  • Listed on UK G-Cloud at £5 to £11 per licence per month for Atlassian Confluence, via reseller Rapid X

MariaDB

  • JSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
  • Galera Cluster maximum performance limited to the slowest node in cluster
  • InnoDB tables limited to 1,017 columns and 64 secondary indexes
  • Transaction size limits in Galera (128K rows and 2GB by default)
  • Less strict SQL type checking than PostgreSQL; allows implicit conversions

Pricing, plan by plan

Confluence

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Unlimited pages
    • Basic sharing
    • Search
  • Standard$5.5/month
    • Everything in Free
    • Advanced permissions
    • Macros

MariaDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the MariaDB review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Confluence if

  • You need page creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Macos, Ios, Android.
  • You also want rich text editing.
Confluence review

Choose MariaDB if

  • You need mysql compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want aria storage engine.
MariaDB review

Questions people ask

Is Confluence or MariaDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Confluence starts at Free and MariaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Confluence or MariaDB?
Confluence starts at Free and MariaDB at Free.
Does Confluence or MariaDB run on more platforms?
Confluence runs on Web, Windows, Macos, Ios, Android. MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
Can I use Confluence for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Confluence best used for?
Confluence is most often used for knowledge base, meeting notes, process documentation, project planning. Of those, knowledge base and meeting notes are not what MariaDB is typically brought in for.
What can Confluence do that MariaDB cannot?
Confluence covers Page creation, Rich text editing, Macros, Templates. MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster. Both handle Windows support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

MariaDB: Is MariaDB completely free and open source?

Yes. MariaDB Server is licensed under GPLv2 and guaranteed to remain perpetually free and open source, independent of any commercial entities.

Source
MariaDB: Is MariaDB backward compatible with MySQL?

Yes. MariaDB was designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Every application, driver, and configuration that worked with MySQL works with MariaDB without code changes.

Source
MariaDB: What are the storage engine options in MariaDB?

MariaDB supports multiple storage engines including InnoDB (transactional, default), Aria (crash-safe, good for read-heavy workloads), and MyISAM. The Aria engine is faster than InnoDB for certain read-heavy queries and full table scans.

Source
MariaDB: How much does MariaDB cost?

MariaDB Community Server is completely free to download and use. MariaDB offers paid enterprise support and managed cloud services for organizations needing professional support.

Source
MariaDB: Does MariaDB support native JSON storage?

MariaDB stores JSON using text fields (the JSON type is an alias for LONGTEXT), not as a native binary type like MySQL does. JSON support exists but is less sophisticated than MySQL's JSON functions and syntax.

Source
MariaDB: What scaling options does MariaDB provide?

MariaDB supports both scaling up (more cores, memory, storage) and scaling out (read replication, Galera Cluster with multi-node replication). However, Galera Cluster performance cannot exceed the slowest node in the cluster.

Source
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