- MySQL 5.7 is no longer supported and will not receive any bugfixes or security updates after October 2023. Users need to upgrade to either MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.11. - MySQL is developed by Oracle while MariaDB has its own independent foundation. MariaDB aims to be compatible with MySQL but also has unique features like storage engines. - Both MySQL 8.0 and MariaDB 10.11 are good options to upgrade to. Users should consider each product's unique features and governance model as well as test which one works better for their applications and use cases.