diff --git a/charts/pixelfed/Chart.lock b/charts/pixelfed/Chart.lock
index 7241f20..2e7c13f 100644
--- a/charts/pixelfed/Chart.lock
+++ b/charts/pixelfed/Chart.lock
@@ -5,5 +5,8 @@ dependencies:
 - name: valkey
   repository: oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts
   version: 2.2.3
-digest: sha256:ca16c63a3650650ff09c9555a4f62fb6a2d54ce588ad9a87c531c685090a1138
-generated: "2025-01-23T21:44:17.516108504Z"
+- name: mariadb
+  repository: oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts
+  version: 20.2.2
+digest: sha256:ab9c547cea93017a3a65f289e1573ee936a6925d3762200bb24d6e5dc512003c
+generated: "2025-01-23T22:50:10.925885+01:00"
diff --git a/charts/pixelfed/Chart.yaml b/charts/pixelfed/Chart.yaml
index 69aa9a9..226e519 100644
--- a/charts/pixelfed/Chart.yaml
+++ b/charts/pixelfed/Chart.yaml
@@ -36,3 +36,8 @@ dependencies:
     version: 2.2.3
     repository: oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts
     condition: valkey.enabled
+
+  - name: mariadb
+    version: 20.2.2
+    repository: oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts
+    condition: mariadb.enabled
diff --git a/charts/pixelfed/README.md b/charts/pixelfed/README.md
index 32dec37..7862c3c 100644
--- a/charts/pixelfed/README.md
+++ b/charts/pixelfed/README.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ A Helm chart for deploying Pixelfed on Kubernetes
 
 | Repository | Name | Version |
 |------------|------|---------|
+| oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts | mariadb | 20.2.2 |
 | oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts | postgresql | 16.4.5 |
 | oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts | valkey | 2.2.3 |
 
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ A Helm chart for deploying Pixelfed on Kubernetes
 | ingress.hosts[0].paths[0].pathType | string | `"ImplementationSpecific"` |  |
 | ingress.tls | list | `[]` |  |
 | livenessProbe | object | `{}` | This is to setup the liveness probe more information can be found here: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-liveness-readiness-startup-probes/ |
+| mariadb.enabled | bool | `false` | enable mariadb subchart - currently experiemental for this chart read more about the values here: https://github.com/bitnami/charts/tree/main/bitnami/mariadb |
 | nameOverride | string | `""` | This is to override the chart name. |
 | nodeSelector | object | `{}` | put the pixelfed pod on a specific node/nodegroup |
 | phpConfigs | object | `{}` | PHP Configuration files Will be injected in /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d |
diff --git a/charts/pixelfed/charts/mariadb-20.2.2.tgz b/charts/pixelfed/charts/mariadb-20.2.2.tgz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a983469
Binary files /dev/null and b/charts/pixelfed/charts/mariadb-20.2.2.tgz differ
diff --git a/charts/pixelfed/values.yaml b/charts/pixelfed/values.yaml
index a4b4606..69242f4 100644
--- a/charts/pixelfed/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/pixelfed/values.yaml
@@ -587,3 +587,8 @@ pixelfed:
       access_key_id: ""
       # --  key in existing Kubernetes Secret for secret_access_key. If set, ignores s3.secret_access_key
       secret_access_key: ""
+
+mariadb:
+  # -- enable mariadb subchart - currently experiemental for this chart
+  # read more about the values here: https://github.com/bitnami/charts/tree/main/bitnami/mariadb
+  enabled: false