Is there a program that will host a MySQL database on my computer?

Is there a program that will host a MySQL database on my computer? I need one becasue I want to develop a site but I don't want to pay for hosting until it's done.

Try one of the Apache distributions like Wamp. this has the Apache web server, mysql and php.

All you need is to install a mysql server. You don't need Apache, or anything else. Get it from the mysql site. Once you have the server installed, and running, you can create your database, create tables, setup user permisisons, and then you're ready to tie it in with your test site.

Good luck.

xampp is super easy. In addition to just MySQL, it gives you all the pieces you need to run a "website" on your PC -- so it gives you the Apache piece as well as PHP (if that's what you're developing in). This is much, much easier than installing the individual bits and getting them to play nicely together.

If, however, you've already got an http server on your machine and just want to add MySQL to it, look at the second link and download MySQL directly (the community server is free).

The easiest way is to use XAMPP:

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Just download it, install it and it installs a pre-configured environment with mySQL and Apache web server.