With the recent announcement that tech giant AWS would be joining MariaDB as a Diamond sponsor, the news for MariaDB has been excellent (but the same cannot be said for MariaDB plc). Unfortunately, there are some not-so-good ones.
In an unexpected announcement, Microsoft has revealed its plan to sunset the Azure Database for MariaDB service. The move has surprised many in the cloud computing and database communities.
Azure users who have incorporated MariaDB into their workflows now have a ticking clock, with all workloads expected to be shut down by September 19, 2025.
Why is Microsoft Making This Move?
One of the primary assumptions is the streamlined focus on more popular database offerings, such as Azure MySQL, which Microsoft has recommended as the go-to migration choice for current Azure MariaDB users.
We’re making investments on our flagship offering of Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server that is better suited for mission-critical workloads. Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server has better features, performance, improved architecture, and more controls to manage costs across all service tiers compared to Azure Database for MariaDB.
We’ll let the DB experts decide whether this is the case. However, this is a blow to MariaDB, as Azure is one of the world’s largest cloud service providers, targeting mainly the enterprise segment.
Fortunately, the other major players in this market, Amazon (AWS) and Google (GCP), offer MariaDB in its role as one of the best RDBMS solutions.
The Road Ahead
While September 19, 2025, may seem distant, giving you plenty of time to continue using your MariaDB instances and prepare for migration, there is an important detail to remember.
After December 19, 2023, Azure portal users will not be able to create new MariaDB instances, and this will only be possible through the Azure CLI until March 19, 2024.
In other words, after five months, the Azure Database for MariaDB will effectively cease to exist, with only existing instances available. In this regard, Microsoft recommends that you start planning the migration to their MySQL offering as soon as possible. The migration guide is here.
For more information on the discontinuation of Azure Database for MariaDB, visit the announcement.
…or you can finally ditch Azure and go with someone else.
I always believed that Microsoft’s approach to Open Source would do more harm than good