MariaDB unifies AI, analytics & cloud in Enterprise Platform 2026

MariaDB has announced the release of MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2026 and a new partnership with Exasol in a move aimed at simplifying and enhancing enterprise data management for modern applications, including those powered by artificial intelligence.

Unified platform

The main update in MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2026 is the integration of transactional, analytical, and AI (vector) database engines within a single platform. This unification is designed to help organisations avoid the complexity of using multiple, fragmented database systems for different workloads.

The platform also introduces built-in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and AI agents. With these additions, MariaDB aims to provide enterprises with tools for developing agentic applications. In effect, AI agents can now autonomously access and analyse enterprise data stored in MariaDB's cloud-native, serverless environment, reducing the need for separate data pipelines and moving data between systems.

Vikas Mathur, Chief Product Officer at MariaDB, commented:

"The future of applications is agentic. AI agents need to probe, analyze and transact in real time and at enormous scale. At the same time, agents need to be grounded in insights contained in enterprise data that is trapped in fragmented silos today. MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2026 is purpose-built to eliminate that architectural friction. In combining transactional, analytical and AI workloads, we are enabling our customers to build the next wave of intelligent applications on a single database platform, shortening the path from raw transactional data to valuable business outcomes."

AI features and serverless environment

Among the new features are a native "RAG-in-a-Box" solution and embedded AI copilots. The RAG capabilities aim to ground large language models with specific business data stored in MariaDB, which can support the rapid development of generative AI and agentic applications. According to the company, all processes required for RAG are automated and optimised within the platform.

The AI copilots are preconfigured agents accessible via MariaDB Cloud. Two of these agents-a developer copilot and a DBA (Database Administrator) copilot-are intended to help users interact with their data using natural language or automate common database administration tasks.

An integrated Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server enables AI agents to interact across both MariaDB and external databases, facilitating advanced, scalable automation and operations.

The MariaDB Cloud environment now offers a serverless database infrastructure, which the company says provides scalability, operational simplicity, and cost efficiency, allowing application developers to pay only for the resources used.

MariaDB Exa partnership

Complementing the Enterprise Platform 2026 release, MariaDB has entered into a partnership with Exasol, integrating Exasol's analytics engine into the MariaDB platform. The result, branded MariaDB Exa, is available as an add-on and is intended to provide high-speed, large-scale analytics for operational and AI data within MariaDB.

This approach is described by both companies as a way for organisations to obtain real-time insights and analytics from operational data without relocating that data to different analytics systems.

Rohit de Souza, Chief Executive Officer at MariaDB, said:

"As organizations scale their AI initiatives and associated data, they need a modern system that is fast, flexible and cost-effective. MariaDB Exa allows organizations to extract real-time insights from large operational datasets very effectively and get immediate value from transactional information without the complexity of moving the data to a separate analytics system."

MariaDB Exa leverages a multi-node, high-availability architecture and claims to deliver query results 20 times faster than traditional OLTP databases, using MariaDB MaxScale to manage performance and failover.

Joerg Tewes, Chief Executive Officer at Exasol, commented:

"The Exasol Analytics Engine is purpose-built to handle the most demanding data workloads at an unmatched price-performance ratio, a claim validated by independent benchmarks showing we are up to 20 times faster than leading cloud competitors. Integrating this powerhouse engine into the MariaDB Enterprise Platform opens up a whole new opportunity to bring our powerful analytics engine directly to MariaDB customers. MariaDB customers can now deploy a truly converged database solution that supports the performance requirements of GenAI, real-time dashboards, and complex data science - all while maintaining data governance and strict cost control."

Performance, management and security

In benchmarking, MariaDB reports a 250% performance gain in MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.8 compared to version 10.6. Other core enhancements include an enterprise manager tool for system monitoring, query development, and schema management from a centralised interface. The latest iteration of MariaDB MaxScale features an enhanced database firewall, giving administrators more precise control over query rules for improved security.

MariaDB says all its customers can access the latest release immediately, with enhancements for MariaDB Cloud to follow.