As we have discussed through the new MySQL Community Engagement initiative, we are sharing metrics that highlight how the community contributes to MySQL. These measures help us understand the growth of community participation, recognize the people helping improve the product, and identify where we can continue to strengthen the contributor experience.

The MySQL community delivered an exceptional level of engagement for the 26.7 release. With 43 community contributions, this release reflects a remarkable amount of collaboration from developers, users, and partners working directly with the project.

Community Contributions

Bar chart titled “Community Contributions by Version.” Contributions were 18 for version 9.2, 21 for 9.3, 18 for 9.4, 9 for 9.5, 8 for 9.6, 11 for 9.7, and 43 for version 26.7, showing a substantial increase for 26.7.

The 43 contributions in 26.7 are more than double the 21 contributions recorded for 9.3 and a significant increase from the 11 contributions in the previous release, 9.7. This is a clear sign of momentum. The community is bringing more fixes, improvements, ideas, and real-world experience into MySQL.

Unique Contributors

Just as encouraging is the breadth of participation. The 26.7 release includes 18 unique contributors, compared with 13 in 9.7. More contributors means more perspectives helping to improve the product, more experience from different environments and workloads, and more opportunities for community members to influence MySQL’s direction.

Bar chart titled “Unique Contributors by Version.” The number of unique contributors rises from 8 in version 9.2 to 14 in version 9.6, dips slightly to 13 in 9.7, then increases to 18 in version 26.7.

New Contributors

We are also seeing healthy growth at the entry point to the contributor community. Nine new contributors participated in 26.7, compared with eight in each of the two previous releases. Each new contributor represents an important connection to the broader MySQL ecosystem and potentially the beginning of a long-term relationship with the project. Welcoming participants, helping them navigate the contribution process, and recognizing their work remain essential to building a sustainable open-source community.

Bar chart titled “New Contributors by Version.” New contributors increase from 6 in versions 9.2 and 9.3 to 7 in 9.4 and 9.5, 8 in 9.6 and 9.7, and 9 in version 26.7.

Bug Activity

Bug activity provides another valuable view of community engagement. As of September 1, 2026, the Bug Metrics data shows 1,653 bugs filed since January 1, 2025, with 858 resolved. Between the July 31 and September 1 reporting points, the number of filed bugs increased from 1,577 to 1,653, an increase of 76 bugs. Resolved bugs increased from 819 to 858, an increase of 39 resolutions.

Stacked bar chart titled “Bugs Filed/Fixed since January 1, 2025.” Blue segments show open bugs and orange segments show resolved bugs. On July 14, 2026, there were 1,519 open and 776 resolved bugs. On July 31, there were 1,577 open and 819 resolved. On September 1, there were 1,653 open and 858 resolved, showing increases in both measures over the reporting period.

This is useful context for the contribution story. A highly engaged community helps surface issues, validate behavior across a broad range of deployments, and identify opportunities to improve the product. Continued investment in triage, review, and resolution will help turn that incoming community feedback into product improvements even more quickly.

Latest Monthly Drop to GitHub

The latest monthly drop has also been added to the MySQL Server GitHub repository. Community members can explore the changes in the trunk commit history, follow ongoing development, and see how contributions continue to move into the codebase.

Product Downloads

Community engagement also shows up in the interest surrounding a new release. On July 30 and 31, MySQL 26.7 recorded nearly 35,000 downloads, demonstrating strong early demand from users eager to explore the latest innovation release.

Bar chart titled “Downloads.” MySQL 9.7 Early Access Release 1 recorded 3,955 downloads, 9.7 Early Access Release 2 recorded 7,030 downloads, and the MySQL 26.7 Early Access Release recorded 3,599 downloads.

The Early Access download data provides one view of this interest across recent releases. These early download figures are an important signal of how quickly the community is engaging with new MySQL capabilities and beginning to evaluate them in their own environments.

Pie chart titled “MySQL 9.7 Downloads, Up to July 31, 2026, 906,942.” Downloads are divided among versions 9.7.0 with 500,561 downloads, 9.7.1 with 376,501 downloads, and 9.7.2 with 29,880 downloads.

Downloads are not only a measure of adoption. They represent opportunities for users to test new functionality, share feedback, report issues, and ultimately contribute to the continued improvement of MySQL. The strong early response to 26.7 reinforces the value of making innovation releases available to the community and listening closely to what users discover.

Wrap Up

The 26.7 release shows real momentum: more contributions, a broader contributor community, new participants joining the effort, and a strong core of returning community members. The latest monthly drop to the MySQL Server GitHub repository carries that momentum into the codebase, making it easier for the community to follow ongoing development and explore the changes taking shape in trunk.

Thank you to everyone who reported an issue, submitted a contribution, reviewed a change, or helped another contributor participate! Your work makes MySQL stronger for the entire community.