First, there’s the version of MySQL offered at mysql.com by the former MySQL, AB, which was bought by Sun for one billion dollars.

Then, there’s MariaDB being offered by Monty Widenius, former head at MySQL, AB.

Percona claims to be the high-performance MySQL version.

Then, there’s Drizzle, hosted on Ubuntu’s servers, but also blessed by Sun. It’s oriented toward cloud and net applications.

Ronald Bradford’s blog covers some of the differences.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is if you want a commercial license for MySQL, the only version for you is the version offered by Sun. The other variants are offered under the GNU GPL, which also commits you to use that license for your applications if you distribute them with the database.

Discussion at Slashdot.

Related posts:

1. Creating a Database in MySQL with MySQL Query Browser on Ubuntu Linux
2. Monty Widenius Is Still Trying to Save MySQL From Itself
3. Sun to Create a Java App Store on the Lines of Apple’s iPhone Store