PostgreSQL Reviews and Pricing - page 14

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Co-Founder, Technical Manager, Consultant at a hospitality company with 51-200 employees

Apr 28, 2016

Large open-source extensions, modules and software helpers eco-system.

What is most valuable?

Flexible stored procedures and external functions
WITH clauses
Partitioning
Large open-source extensions, modules and software helpers eco-system

How has it helped my organization?

The documentation is very well written and detailed, it helps to implement the right features for your needs in a timely manner.

What needs improvement?

Parallel processing of queries.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for 12 years.

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What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

There's been no issues deploying it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product always worked as described.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've had no issues scaling it.

How are customer service and support?

There is no tech support, however there is a lot of information available in forums or sites like serverfault.com.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used MySQL. PostgreSQL syntax is much clearer and consistent, and its stored procedures are powerful and fast. The documentation is also much better and of more help.

How was the initial setup?

On Debian, the provided packages are very easy to install and provide automatic updates. On Mac OS X, EnterpriseDB provides packages that work very well but as not as well integrated than in Debian.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented in-house. PostgreSQL databases needs some maintenance but that can be easily automated by a skilled administrator.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

PostgreSQL is free and open source.

What other advice do I have?

Read the documentation.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

reviewer1519272 - PeerSpot reviewer

reviewer1519272

Full Stack Developer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Apr 20, 2021

Many job creation types available but needs improved documentation

Pros and Cons

"We are able to create many different types of jobs and items with this solution making it one of the most valuable features."

"The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality."

What is our primary use case?

I am using the solution for data analytics, mainly for ERP because we use Hadoop and Hadoop is a dependency of PostgreSQL through the platform.

What is most valuable?

We are able to create many different types of jobs and items with this solution making it one of the most valuable features.

What needs improvement?

The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for two years.

How are customer service and technical support?

I think the technical support should improve for this solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used MySQL and am currently using it for other projects. MySQL is a little easier to use.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is more difficult to install than other solutions I have used.

What other advice do I have?

I rate PostgreSQL a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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Software Architect and Senior Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jun 7, 2016

It's a stable RDBMS. I believe that drivers should be improved.

Valuable Features

PostgreSQL is a stable RDBMS. It's free, and supports standard SQL.

Improvements to My Organization

I have developed many portals and internet commercial sites with this RDBMS. It's easy and quick to publish portals and websites when you have this in production.

Room for Improvement

I believe that drivers must be better. For example, the .NET drivers could be more robust for the latest Entity Framework version.

Use of Solution

I've been using it for two to three years.

Stability Issues

There have been no performance issues.

Scalability Issues

It's been able to scale for our needs.

Customer Service and Technical Support

PostgreSQL is a community RDBMS. There are many articles, blogs, examples and information about its features on the internet.

Initial Setup

The initial setup is easy because it's only a package. It can be setup either on the cloud or with hosting providers once it's installed.

Implementation Team

I have used GoDaddy hosting, and Amazon EC2 with PostgreSQL. I don't have any problems.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

My only cost is for the server that PostgreSQL is hosted on.

Other Solutions Considered

I've worked with MySQL, Firebird, etc. and, in my opinion, PostgreSQL is more scalable.

Other Advice

It is a good free RDBMS. It's stable, scalable and reliable.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

CEO - Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 15, 2016

It has allowed us to run a Scada database.

How has it helped my organization?

It has allowed us to run a Scada database, which reads data every 2 minutes. It does it in a very smooth way.

What needs improvement?

I would like to have better support for real-time applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for three years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No at the time. Our application fits very well.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No at the time. Our application fits very well.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No at the time. Our application fits very well.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have used online free help.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

MySQL but not in the same scale.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What other advice do I have?

Analyze very carefully the hardware requirements.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Database Expert with 201-500 employees

Feb 27, 2014

A quick look at PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL at glance

PostgreSQL is a first class product with high end enterprise class level features. This first chapter is a general review on the product with a brief talk on the database's history.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

Following the works of the Berkeley's Professor Michael Stonebraker, in 1996 Marc G. Fournier asked for any volunteer interested in revamping the Postgres 95 project.

The answer came from Bruce Momjian,Thomas Lockhart, and Vadim Mikheev, the very first PostgreSQL Global Development Team.

Features

Every time a new major release is released, new powerful features join the rich set of the product's functionalities. Here is a small excerpt of what the latest version offers in terms of flexibility and reliability.

Write ahead logging

Like any RDBMS worth of this name, PostgreSQL has the write ahead logging feature. In short, when a data block is updated the change is saved in a reliable location, the so called write ahead log. The effective write on the datafile is performed later. Should the database crash the WAL is scanned and the saved blocks are replayed during the crash recovery. PostgreSQL stores the redo records in fixed size segments, usually 16 MB. When the wal segment is full PostgreSQL switches to a newly created or recycled wal segment in the process called log switch.

Point in time recovery

When the log switch happens it is possible to archive the previous segment in a safe location. Taking an inconsistent copy of the data directory is possible to restore a fully functional cluster because the archived wal segments has all the information to replay the physical data blocks on the inconsistent data files. The restore can be, optionally stopped at a given point in time. For example is possible to recover a PostgreSQL cluster to one second before the a catastrophic happening (e.g. a table drop).

Standby server and high availability

The inconsistent snapshot can be configured to stay up in continuous archive recovery. PostgreSQL 8.4 supports the warm standby configuration where the standby server does not accept connections. From the version 9.0 it is possible to enable the hot standby configuration to access the standby server in read only mode.

Streaming replication

The wal archiving doesn't work in real time. The wal shipping happens only after the log switch and in a low activity server this can leave the standby behind the master for a while. Using the streaming replication a standby server can get the wal blocks over a database connection in almost real time.

Transactional

PostgreSQL fully supports the transactions and is ACID compliant. From the version 8.0 the save points were introduced.

Procedural languages

Among the rich of feature procedural language pl/pgsql, many procedural languages such as perl or python are available for writing database functions. The DO keyword was introduced in the 9.1 to have anonymous function's code blocks.

Partitioning

The partitioning, implemented in PostgreSQL is still very basic. The partitions are tables connected with one empty parent table using the table's inheritance. Defining check constraints on the partitioned criteria the database can exclude, querying the parent table, the partitions not affected by the where condition. As the physical storage is distinct for each partition and there's no global primary key enforcement nor foreign keys can be defined on the partitioned structure.

Cost based optimizer

The cost based optimizer, or CBO, is the one of PostgreSQL's point of strength. The query execution is dynamically determined and self adapting to the underlying data structure or the estimated amount of data affected. PostgreSQL supports also the genetic query optimizer GEQO.

Multi platform support

PostgreSQL nowadays supports almost any unix flavor and from the the version 8.0 is native to Windows.

Tablespaces

The tablespace support permits the data files fine grain distribution on the OS filesystems.

MVCC

The way PostgreSQL keeps things consistent is the MVCC which stands for Multi Version Concurrency Control. The mechanism is neat and efficient, offering great advantages and one single disadvantage. We'll see in detail further but keep in mind this important sentence.
There's no such thing like an update in PostgreSQL.

Triggers

Triggers to execute automated tasks on when DML is performed on tables and also views are supported at any level. The events triggers are also supported.

Views

The read only views are well consolidated in PostgreSQL. In version 9.3 the support for the materialized and updatable was added. Also the implementation is still very basic as no incremental refresh for the mat views nor update is possible on complex views. Anyway it is still possible to replicate this behavior using the triggers and procedures.

Constraint enforcement

PostgreSQL supports primary keys and unique keys to enforce local data meanwhile the referential integrity is guaranteed with the foreign keys. The check constraint to validate custom data sets is also supported.

Extension system

PostgreSQL implements the extension system. Almost all the previously known contrib modules are now implemented in this efficient way to add feature to the server using a simple SQL command.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Jun 24, 2014

Can you tell me, please, what tools are available for using PostgreSQL with web pages?

it_user5931 - PeerSpot reviewer

Developer at a university with 51-200 employees

Apr 17, 2013

PostgreSQL is a Powerful and Full Featured Relational Database Management System

Valuable Features:

Before PostgreSQL, I am an avid user of MySQL for a long time. When I began my masters in a renowned school, I was introduced to PostgreSQL and started to like it. Here are the few things I have loved about Postgres: • It is free and compatible in all platforms • It performs very quickly and can outperform Oracle, SQL server and IBM DB2 • It uses SQL windowing functions which are rarely found in other open source database platforms • It uses CREATE EXTENSION which can easily extend without changing the database structure and no code compilation • It has multiple programming languages such as SQL, PL/pgSQL, PL/Perl, PL/Python, PL/Java, and PL/R etc. • The custom type support is very easy to use and very sophisticated which competes Oracle in terms of performance

Room for Improvement:

• Windows versions were released ten years after the initial release • Replication is not so powerful in later versions • Postgres is not so popular compare to MySQL • PostgreSQL community has lesser support

Other Advice:

I cannot stress how highly I recommend PostgreSQL to my fellow programmers. The features and functionalities are beyond the abilities of other free database platforms and are comparable to the proprietary ones. Some advanced features may also be seen to the license databases but you’ll amaze how advance PostgreSQL may become in the future but in zero cost.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user6579Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Jun 9, 2013

Yes agree with ambapo, Procedural language support is one of the great feature and advantage of PostgreSQL.

See all 3 comments

it_user1077 - PeerSpot reviewer

Developer at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Aug 4, 2012

PostgreSQL is one of the best Open Source, Object-Relational Data Base Management System available in the market with great features

Valuable Features:

1) Supports large part of SQL standards like Complex queries, stored procedures.2) As source code is free and open, it can be easily distributed, modified and extended according to user requirements.3) PostgreSQL also proves to be a cost-effective solution for organization's as this product is designed and created to have much lower maintenance without compromising on features.4) Excellent GUI tools available for PostgreSQL like pgAdmin III.

Room for Improvement:

1) It tends to be slower when processing a large number of records.2) Does not support the entire ANSI SQL 92' standard.3) More open source applications (software stacks) supports MySQL, but some of them may not support PostgreSQL4) Comparatively small user community than MySQL 5) Installation and setup is bit complex and requires technical know how. Though PostgreSQL is comparatively slower than MySQL, but can handle a heavier workload, and also supports various SQL features like foreign keys, triggers, stored procedures and transaction rollback.

Other Advice:

Great Documentation, active community support, excellent management & development tools and availability on various platforms makes PostgreSQL a good data base management system.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user6579Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Jul 27, 2013

Nice review by Engineer359. Yes PostgreSQL is one of the best Open Source RDBMS available in the market which doesn't need any license cost. Agree with author on pros and cons mentioned by him for the PostgreSQL. Even i would like to add some points based on my experience.
1) Complete support for sub queries
2) Great GUI tool PG Admin
3) Support Views
4) Extensible
5) Great Documentation available on internet

See all 2 comments

Information Technology Technician at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Feb 14, 2018

Has robust backup and recovery integration, but should consider including the possibility to use query routers on sharded clusters

What is our primary use case?

We use PostgreSQL for most part of our mission critical applications.

The solution has a very robust backup and recovery integration, and has good ANSI SQL language.

How has it helped my organization?

We are considering migrating to this platform due to its robust backup and recovery solution, among many other features.

What is most valuable?

Robust backup and recovery integration.
Follows ANSI SQL.
opensource
easy to integrate with applications and high level programming languages such as; python, ruby, java, C, perl, php...

What needs improvement?

Possibility to use query routers on sharded clusters.
Remove the limitations of how many changes one can have on the databases before it requires to reset all blocks, which are very painful.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Yes, as the database grows, one has to perform a full vacuum in order to continue to work on the database.

Another issue is that the "archive_command"s are executed in sequence, instead of in parallel, and as the WAL size is fixed to 16MB, and it is not possible to change in a configuration file, this will have a huge impact of protecting the WAL logs to a backup system.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

10 out of 10.

Technical Support:

10 out of 10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switch to this solution due to its stability and that it is open source.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What was our ROI?

The software is free, and very easy to find for skilled people.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Use backup software that integrates with the solution.

We selected "DB Protection for PostgreSQL", which has some nice features to perform block level incremental forever using IBM Spectrum Protect.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we reviewed MongoDB, MariaDB, and MySQL.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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