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Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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
15
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 February 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 18.7%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 18.6%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Open Source Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Doug Meuross - PeerSpot reviewer
A reliable tool that offers good performance and is easy to use
I have had no issues with the stability of the product since it has always been a 100 percent reliable product and much better than the other databases available in the market. The multi-platform part is not good, especially when locked into things like Windows. You can judge your platform with Linux or Unix or whatever since they are good.
AdityaSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…

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."
"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."
"We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application."
"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."
"It helps us in detecting all kinds of problems in the code, such as bad quality, unclear code, or any violation in the code or best practices."
"The documentation is very well written."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution."
"It's a standard reliable database management system."
"What I like is that it's quite powerful in terms of performance."
"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 PostgreSQL database is similar to the SQL Server but has a slightly different technology that has similar resources as well. If the customer has the confidence using SQL Server, they will be fairly comfortable using this solution."
"PostgreSQL is very easy to use. I have experience in Oracle SQL and PostgreSQL uses the same syntax which makes it is easy for me to develop."
"The most valuable features are the price, stability, it is scalable and is used by our clients in small business environments, and it is a simple product to use."
"The system can perform faster analysis by providing it with a lot of memory. Speed is crucial for analytics. Currently, the main reason we haven't adopted Elasticsearch is that we lack the necessary expertise to manage it."
"This is an open-source solution, operates at a high speed, and supports more than one SQL language."
 

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 security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."
"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."
"I don't think the solution is very scalable, because the scalability of the performance when using more than one process is not very good."
"On large databases, we have some difficulties."
"It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product."
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."
"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."
"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."
"They need to have a better graphical interface. There is a tool called pgAdmin 4 that they use, which is free. It is written in Java, and it is slow. They need to have a better product that is similar to Toad for Oracle, but, of course, it is hard to get something that's really great and free. Other than that, it is great."
"The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality."
"The interface climate could be better."
"The pricing could be better."
"PostgreSQL uses high memory compared to its counterparts when a highly demanding load is involved, especially one that makes many concurrent connections to the database."
"It could be more secure."
"There are several features I would like to improve that aren't working as expected. It's likely that the latest version is doing something that was missed in the previous versions. For example, the output parameters — the stored procedures — is something new in PostgreSQL that Firebird has already had for a long time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's open-source and free."
"The tool is open source."
"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
"It is an open-source platform."
"It is also open-source so it is free."
"It is open source. There is no licensing."
"Our company pays for it. There are free versions available, but for advanced features, you obviously have to pay."
"There is an annual license."
"PostgreSQL is open-source, so if capable admins are available then the setup cost can be $0."
"The tool is cheaply priced compared to other RDBMS providers in the market."
"The solution requires a license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 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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Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
839,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.