---
title: "MariaDB Server 10.4 Alpha Now Available"
publish_date: 2018-11-09
updated_date: 2021-09-02
author: "MariaDB"
channel:
  - name: "Product"
    url: "/resources/blog/channel/product.md"
---

# MariaDB Server 10.4 Alpha Now Available

The first *Alpha* release of MariaDB Server 10.4 is now available!

In the spirit of release early, release often, with this first version of MariaDB Server 10.4.0 we are delivering a number of exciting features, including:

- An instant DROP COLUMN for InnoDB
- Parentheses for UNION/EXCEPT/INTERSECT operations
- Crash safe system tables by using Aria
- SET PASSWORD support for ed25519 and other authentication plugins
- Internal optimizations

In addition to these features, we are continuing to work on a further enhancements for 10.4 such as:

- More instant ALTER TABLE operations for InnoDB
- Application time period tables
- Additional security enhancements

This is an alpha release and it should not be used in production. We encourage you to test MariaDB Server 10.4 and share your feedback with us.

[Release Notes](https://staging-mdb.com/kb/en/library/mariadb-1040-release-notes/)

[Download Now](https://staging-mdb.com/downloads/?tab=mariadbtx&group=mariadb_server&version=10.4.0&showall=1#mariadbtx)