MySQL is the world's most popular open source database. Whether you are a fast growing web property, technology ISV or large enterprise, MySQL can cost-effectively help you deliver high performance, scalable database applications.

MySQL is a popular choice of database for use in web applications, and is a central component of the widely used LAMP open source web application software stack (and other 'AMP' stacks). LAMP is an acronym for "Linux, Apache, MySQL,Perl/PHP/Python." Free-software-open source projects that require a full-featured database management system often use MySQL.

For proprietary use, several paid editions are available, and offer additional functionality. Applications which use MySQL databases include: TYPO3, MODx, Joomla, WordPress, phpBB, MyBB, Drupal and other software. MySQL is also used in many high-profile, large-scale websites, including Google (though not for searches), Facebook, Twitter, Flickr,  and YouTube.

Major features as available:

• A broad subset of ANSI SQL 99, as well as extensions
• Cross-platform support
• Stored procedures, using a procedural language that closely adheres to SQL/PSM
• Triggers
• Cursors
• Updatable views
• Online DDL when using the InnoDB Storage Engine.
• Information schema
• Performance Schema
• A set of SQL Mode options to control runtime behavior, including a strict mode to better adhere to SQL standards.
• X/Open XA distributed transaction processing (DTP) support; two phase commit as part of this, using the default InnoDB storage engine
• Transactions with savepoints when using the default InnoDB Storage Engine. The NDB Cluster Storage Engine also supports transactions.
• ACID compliance when using InnoDB and NDB Cluster Storage Engines
• SSL support
• Query caching
• Sub-SELECTs (i.e. nested SELECTs)
• Built-in Replication support (i.e. Master-Master Replication & Master-Slave Replication) with one master per slave, many slaves per master. Multi-master replication is provided in MySQL Cluster, and multi-master support can be added to unclustered configurations using Galera Cluster.
• Full-text indexing and searching
• Embedded database library
• Unicode support
• Partitioned tables with pruning of partitions in optimizer
• Shared-nothing clustering through MySQL Cluster
• Multiple storage engines, allowing one to choose the one that is most effective for each table in the application.
• Native storage engines InnoDB, MyISAM, Merge, Memory (heap), Federated, Archive, CSV, Blackhole, NDB Cluster.
• Commit grouping, gathering multiple transactions from multiple connections together to increase the number of commits per second.