MariaDB can be used as an alternative of MySQL since years. MariaDB has better performance than MySQL [1][2] and is default alias for mysql-server in many linux distros. Thus, we need to clearly mention MariaDB as an alternative, add minimum required version, etc.
[1] https://smalldatum.blogspot.com/2024/04/sysbench-on-small-server-mariadb-and.html
[2] https://smalldatum.blogspot.com/2024/04/sysbench-on-less-small-server-mariadb.html