MySQL databases are often bundled with shared hosting accounts, but many hosting companies include them in second-tier plans, charging a slightly higher monthly rate. MySQL Hosting's entry-level plan offers 50 megabytes of web space and one MySQL database for $9.95 a month. That positions it competitively compared to many shared hosting providers offering a single-database MySQL bundle as a premium plan, but above discounters such as Go Daddy, which offer shared hosting with MySQL for as little as $3.95 a month.

MySQL's new service is hosted by Rackspace in its San Antonio data center. "We have extended our strong partnership with Rackspace to create this completely MySQL-optimized hosting solution that will make it easy for virtually anyone to use MySQL," said Zack Urlocker, MySQL AB vice president.

MySQL is the leading open source database, and is widely used in web applications written in the PHP server-side scripting language. MySQL is present in more than 5 million installations, according to MySQL AB, and is used by companies including Yahoo, NASA and The Associated Press. It's a key ingredient in popular "LAMP" hosting plans, which feature the Linux operating system, Apache server, MySQL database and scripting in PHP, Perl or Python. MySQL AB maintains the code for MySQL, which is released under the GNU General Public License, and also offers paid support for the database.