Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

Read 125 PostgreSQL reviews

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8,352 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Firebird SQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

In the competitive landscape of open-source database solutions, PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL stand out. PostgreSQL appears to have an edge due to its robust feature set and scalability, despite areas where improvement is possible.

Features: PostgreSQL is known for adhering to SQL standards, supporting complex queries, and handling scalability in write-intensive operations. Additionally, it offers extensive functionality suitable for users needing comprehensive features and standards compliance. Firebird's lightweight nature and ease of deployment across various platforms make it attractive, although it lacks the versatility and complexity found in PostgreSQL.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL could benefit from enhanced performance in read-only queries, improved SQL command support, and simpler installation processes. There is also a demand for better handling of large record sets and enhanced replication capabilities. Firebird users often seek improvements in database sharing, graphical interfaces, and handling large databases, especially regarding cryptography and encryption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PostgreSQL provides flexible deployment options across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, supported by a vibrant open-source community with ample resources. Firebird primarily targets on-premises deployments, offering limited direct customer service and relying heavily on community support for technical assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Both PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL are open-source with no licensing fees, offering significant cost advantages. While PostgreSQL might incur costs for third-party support and plugins, Firebird remains a cost-effective solution. Both promise a quick ROI due to their free availability and value offered against their capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: January 2025).

Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Firebird SQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Embedded Database (1st)

PostgreSQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Vector Databases (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 20.9%, down from 23.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 20.4%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Open Source Databases

Featured Reviews

Ruben Conti

Owner at Intersoftware sas

Offers good performance for up to a hundred end users, open source and easy to setup

Firebird can compete with well-known names like Oracle and SQL Server when you don't have more than a few hundred thousand users. It's a level below SQL Server, and the application of SQL is a kind of database you can rely on for situations where you don't have too much information to deal with. For example, you can use it for the internet or national projects, but when you have millions of users, then it's not possible for other services.

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AdityaSharma3

Vice President Business at Techmagnate: Digital Marketing Agency

Transaction processes are fast and good replication capability

Use cases include querying data warehouses and databases to fetch data for clients already working on PostgreSQL. We also use Postgres for building reports It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping. The query speed is fast, and the…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The product was easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Firebird SQL is the creation of databases."

"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."

"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."

"The solution is very useful for stock management."

"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."

"I can deploy it on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows — it's very easy."

"I appreciate the fact that, once the database is embedded, it doesn't need to be administered, and removes the requirement for a specific server."

More Firebird SQL pros

"The product is very similar to the SQL Server."

"It is very scalable and comes with a bonus: no licensing issues as you scale with your databases."

"The product's deployment is easy."

"The main value is that it is open source, which means it is free. Our organization has the initiative to go to open source to cut down on cost. Oracle costs us $6 million a year right now, which is killing us, and Postgres costs nothing. So, there is a big push to go to Postgres."

"The community support and the open-source community for it are good."

"It's a standard reliable database management system."

"Postgres is rock solid when deployed according to best practices as documented by the PostgreSQL community. When it's installed correctly, PostgreSQL is an enterprise-grade solution."

"The solution is quite stable."

Cons

"The main feature I expect is to be able to work with different databases at the same time because that's a wishlist item for me."

"The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption. It is not at the higher level of database solution but it could be with some upgrades."

"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."

"It is not easy to integrate the tool with Visual Studio."

"Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption."

"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."

"In the next release, it should support JSON, XML, and replication with third-party tools."

"On large databases, we have some difficulties."

More Firebird SQL cons

"When you get a large number of records in a database and start doing various queries, it can adversely impact the performance of the live running systems. That's an area we continue to look at and mean to improve, but it is not only because of PostgreSQL. It is also because of the way the schemas are put together, and certain events are triggered. So, it is because of both parties."

"It needs more integration."

"PostgreSQL is a stable system, but from a security point of view, it still needs improvement."

"There are some products out there that have a slightly different method of implementation for the SQL language. Some of those are slightly better in some areas, and PostgreSQL is slightly better in some areas. I would probably like to match all of those products together. It is just down to the functionality. For example, Oracle has a number of options within SQL that are outside of what you would class as the SQL standard. PostgreSQL misses some of those, but PostgreSQL does other things that are better than what Oracle does. I would like to merge those two products so that there is a certain amount of functionality in a single product."

"They need to improve the user experience of the management."

"Postgres should focus on building a stronger knowledge base. They also need to expand their integration capabilities, so more tools and resources are available to manage it."

"It could be improved by using parallelization. You want basically, distributed computing."

"Integration with other platforms could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is okay."

"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."

"The tool is open source."

"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."

"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."

"It's open-source and free."

"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."

More Firebird SQL pricing and cost advice

"It is open source. There is no licensing."

"The solution requires a license."

"It is free. There is no license on it."

"We use the open-source version of PostgreSQL and not the enterprise edition."

"It is open-source. If you use it on-premise, it is free. It also has enterprise or commercial versions. If you go for the cloud version, there will be a cost, but it is lower than Oracle or Microsoft."

"Affordable solution."

"The community version of Postgre is basically free."

"This solution can offer a cheaper choice for customers since it is open-source."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit yo...

What do you like most about Firebird SQL?

Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Firebird SQL?

It's open-source and free.

What do you like most about PostgreSQL?

It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PostgreSQL?

The tool is free of cost. For now, it's not about making money. But once we perfect it, we can offer it to customers willing to pay for support and other services. Most of my deployments are free.

What needs improvement with PostgreSQL?

Postgres should focus on building a stronger knowledge base. They also need to expand their integration capabilities, so more tools and resources are available to manage it. But it is more secure t...

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Product Reports

Embedded Database

Download Firebird SQL product report

Download PostgreSQL product report

Overview

Firebird SQL is an open-source, cross-platform relational database management system that offers an enterprise-level database solution. The solution is designed to be highly secure, efficient, and compatible with various platforms and programming languages. Firebird can operate in both embedded and server modes.

Firebird is an open-source project with an active community of developers and users. It is released under the Initial Developer's Public License (IDPL) and the InterBase Public License, allowing for free use, modification, and distribution.

The Firebird solution requires minimal configuration and its architecture allows it to efficiently handle databases ranging from a few KB to multiple terabytes. It is available for various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and several Unix-like platforms.

What are the key features of Firebird SQL?

ACID Compliance: Firebird provides full support for ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions, ensuring data integrity and consistency, even in the event of system failures or concurrent access.
SQL Language Support: Firebird SQL provides extensive support for ANSI SQL, which is the standard SQL language, making it compatible with a wide range of applications and tools.
Multi-Generational Architecture: Firebird employs a multi-generational architecture, which allows multiple versions of the same data to coexist within the database.
Concurrency and Performance: Firebird offers efficient concurrency control mechanisms, including multi-version concurrency control (MVCC), which allows multiple transactions to access and modify data simultaneously without locking or blocking each other, improving overall performance.
Embedded mode: In the embedded mode, the database engine is integrated directly into the application.
Security Features: Firebird provides user authentication, role-based access control, and encryption capabilities. It supports various authentication methods, such as native Firebird user accounts, external authentication sources (e.g., Windows domains), and single sign-on (SSO) mechanisms.
Backup and Restore: Firebird offers built-in backup and restore utilities, allowing users to create full or incremental backups of the database, as well as restore from these backups when needed.

As part of being a commonly used open-sourced solution, Firebird boasts a vibrant community of developers and users. The community provides extensive documentation, third-party tools, and active forums for support. Businesses can also opt for professional support services offered by third-party vendors for added assurance.

To summarize, Firebird SQL is a robust, scalable, and cost-effective database solution suitable for a wide range of applications and business sizes. Its comprehensive SQL support, security features, and cross-platform compatibility, combined with the active community support, make it a compelling choice for businesses looking to leverage the power of open-source software without compromising on performance or security.

Firebird

PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases.

It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable.

Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31

1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg

Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL