We use it for processing files mostly. It integrates basically with the SQL Server. On the server-side it uses the SQL Server, then from the files that are generated from SQL Server we do have an application running using Microsoft, and we attach it to a Postgres server. We do is for the backups there from time to time.
Head of Technical Support at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
Free to use, stable, and quick to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The product is very similar to the SQL Server."
- "I'm not really able to customize it."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Overall, the solution is very good.
The solution is free to use.
It is easy to use and quite stable. It's as robust as Oracle, however, SQL Server is easier to use I think.
The product is very similar to the SQL Server.
The installation is quite fast.
What needs improvement?
If you look at overall PostgreSQL, it could be easier to use.
I'm not yet able to use all of the features on the product at this time.
I'm not really able to customize it.
The integration could be easier. SQL Server has an easier integration process, for example, as a comparison.
With Postgres, you can run it in Windows Server, however, there are other things that you have to run.
The product is more for technical people. For example, SQL Server is for anybody. Even newer users can just pick it up and learn from it and mess with it and run it. You can't do that with PostgreSQL. It has more of a learning curve. YOu need more training and documentation.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for about five years. We've used it for a while, however, it is only on a few workstations.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very good and very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are only a couple of users at this time as we restrict it only to local implementations. Per store, we do have certain applications that use it.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't reached out to techncial support. As with Linux, if you want tech support then you have to pay a subscription for it. The free version is, with what we have here, working well and we haven't had problems.
I have only a couple of people helping me with regards to the tech support, internally. That's why we spend a lot of time focusing more on the SQL Server and the Microsoft products.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use other products.
I've also used Oracle and Microsoft SQL. This product is free and more robust than Oracle, however, Microsoft SQL might be easier to use.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is pretty quick. It's not hard to set up. I wouldn't describe it as a complex process.
We only have a couple of people on staff that can handle deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is free. You don't have to pay a license fee.
What other advice do I have?
The last one that we used is version 11 or something like that. I'm not sure if that's the latest version or not.
Postgres is similar to Linux. It's designed for people who would know what they want, who would have to set up what they need, and they would use it, and they know that it's straightforward, so that other people cannot just go in and mess with it.
I'd rate the product as a nine out of ten.
I'd recommend the solution to other users.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CEO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The Foreign Data Wrapper means we can integrate it, and provide interoperability with other databases.
Valuable Features
- Replication which enables us to use it for High Availability.
- The Foreign Data Wrapper means we can integrate it, and provide interoperability with other databases.
- Multi-master Replication helps us to distribute a database geographically without any hassle or performing maintenance for synchronization as this it is all done during the replication process.
- PostgreSQL has a cleanly designed object basis RDBMS, so there are many opportunities to hook/plugin the PostgreSQL to get more functionalities and features.
Improvements to My Organization
Before using PostgreSQL, we had a database issue that we were trying to solve with Oracle. However, Oracle is quite expensive and I heard from a colleague that Oracle increases their charges year on year.
Room for Improvement
There are many places that it could be improved through the provision of more plug-ins and extensions, such as data distribution, load balancing, new data types, indexing and searching, etc. They could also make it easier to access data manually.
PostgreSQL is Open Source Project, it is never ending development process and maintenance. Since 1996 up to now already 20 Years, PostgreSQL has been borne as Open Source, while before it was an academic research. There are already some improvement actually, such as: Load-balancing can be achieved by Multi-master Replication or PostgresXL with real clustering model. Multi-master replication a.k.a Bi-Directional Replication is best implemented in data distribution topology.
There are many solution from that new features. It already a time to go to implement it on High Performance Transaction system, huge system implementation, mission critical system, most of the time, PostgreSQL is implemented in the financial and service industries, including banks, insurance, loan companies etc.
As an Object based Relational Database, there are many opportunity for expansion of PostgreSQL in many ways. We can create another data type, we can create another programming languages for functions. etc. There are limitless opportunity for expansion of PostgreSQL features, and it is already surpassed Oracle, in terms of Performance, Capability and Enterprise Features.
Use of Solution
We've been using it since 2003, when it was v7.x
Deployment Issues
We have had no issues around the deployment.
Stability Issues
Usually stability issues are caused by misconfiguration or misuse.
Scalability Issues
We've been able to scale it for our needs.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Since this is open source it doesn't have its own support. Therefore, my company provides support as a Maintenance Service Provider. We offer 24/7 support as well as the delivery of sophisticated deployment, tuning, consultation, and support of PostgreSQL.
Initial Setup
It was straightforward.
Implementation Team
We were helped in the implementation by the vendor. You should always let an expert do the implementation as if it is configured incorrectly it can have a big impact on performance.
Other Advice
I would recommend PostgreSQL to anyone who wants to save costs and deploy a reliable enterprise class database server.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
PostgreSQL
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about PostgreSQL. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Technology Architect at Broadridge Financial Solutions
Fast bulk data load and extract feature using COPY is useful.
Valuable Features:
The graphical query plan analyzer in pgAdmin III tool is a very valuable feature. Fast bulk data load and extract feature using COPY is a very useful feature I have used.
Improvements to My Organization:
Helped solve my problem to extract large amount of data in a specific order on a Greenplum application.
Room for Improvement:
String manipulation functions can be improved. I could not find reverse string function and ended up writing my own. Similarly array functions like length of array etc where not available and we created our own.
Use of Solution:
I've used it for 4 years now.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Partner - PostgreSQL support manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees
It is secured by design, with their own firewall for host-based authentication.
What is most valuable?
PostgreSQL provides the perfect combination of freedom, reliability, stability, security, performance, power, and ease of use. Freedom because it is the only world-class RDBMS not owned by a company. Reliability because anyone looking among the tons of public bugs from other RDBMSs such as Oracle or DB2, and does a comparison with PostgreSQL bugs, will feel confident. PostgreSQL is secured by design, with their own firewall for host-based authentication. PostgreSQL has a superior optimizer, the performance is very good in heavily loaded environments, and it has unique features such as partial indexes and full text search support with GIN indexes. Regarding power, PostgreSQL is a best of breed RDBMS in terms of SQL capability, procedural languages (many of them), programming language and datatypes support (including JSON) and async LISTEN/NOTIFY. Finally, the ease of use or autonomy, is a very valuable factor; PostgreSQL have all the configuration in two single files (postgresql.conf and the "firewall" pg_hba.conf).
How has it helped my organization?
We have migrated some databases from Oracle to PostgreSQL lowering licensing fees and reducing the vendor lock-in, gaining sovereignty.
What needs improvement?
The are many items in my wish list - parallel access (in development), incremental backups, standard MERGE statement (there is a similar INSERT/ON CONFLICT DO), snapshot queries (SELECT AS OF TIMESTAMP), better monitoring stats views, a "trace" feature for a specified running backend, allow streaming replication for a standby from a previous major release in order to minimize downtime during upgrades (this could be difficult with physical standbys, maybe could be easier with logical replication). Of course, everybody needs to keep in mind that any wish list needs to point to the core features, because PostgreSQL is FOSS, and there are other ecosystems out there developing third party features. Here, my wish list for third party software factories is the HTTP->PL/pgSQL adapter, that will enable the development of an Enterprise Web Application Development Framework with just a database (like Oracle APEX).
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used this solution for more than six years. I started using it in 2009.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Deployment is very easy in PostgreSQL.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding stability, I never viewed runaway processes, nor needed to execute kill or use the Linux IPCRM command against PostgreSQL resources, unlike Oracle and DB2.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is possible to scale-up (simply adding resources), on demand and without restrictions because PostgreSQL is free. Further, it is possible to realize read scalability with hot standbys.
How are customer service and technical support?
Very good, based on the few opportunities where I have had to post a problem. I always got an answer quicker in the PostgreSQL forum than opening Oracle SRs or IBM APARs, and the resolutions were also more accurate.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have more than 10 years of DBA experience, working with Oracle, DB2 and MySQL too. All of them have pluses and minuses, and I usually need to explain that nobody can claim "X is better to Y", at least with the universe limited to world-class RDBMS like PostgreSQL, Oracle, DB2 and MySQL. Of course, certain scenarios can mean that one RDBMS is better positioned than another to handle.
How was the initial setup?
The learning curve is much friendlier with PostgreSQL than with Oracle or DB2. In fact, this could be a risk, because heavily loaded production environments usually needs DBA monitoring and intervention.
What about the implementation team?
I did it in-house. The only advice is to read and learn from PostgreSQL documentation and related books or blogs. PostgreSQL is easy to start, but is a complex RDBMS with many screws to adjust.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is no pricing/licensing at all. Of course, there are many companies offering PostgreSQL support at different costs and some specialized in several languages/countries.
What other advice do I have?
Ask the community. I believe any committed PostgreSQL user will be happy to help and provide advice.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: As a Logos Consulting partner, I offer PostgreSQL support services, focused on the Uruguayan market.
Director Of Sales Marketing at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to use, simple installation, and helpful documentary available online
Pros and Cons
- "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 performance of PostgreSQL could improve."
What is our primary use case?
We are using PostgreSQL for databases.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
The performance of PostgreSQL could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using PostgreSQL for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my usage of PostgreSQL, it has been stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
PostgreSQL is scalable.
We have approximately 70 people using the solution in my organization.
How are customer service and support?
When our engineers have difficulty we use Google to search for a solution online. There is information online that can be very helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used MariaDB and Oracle MySQL.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is very simple and took three to four hours.
What about the implementation team?
I did the implementation of PostgreSQL. We have a team of three manages and fifteen engineers that do the maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is an annual license.
What other advice do I have?
I rate PostgreSQL an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Systems Administrator at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Comprehensive, integrates well, and does what it is supposed to do
Pros and Cons
- "It is a pretty comprehensive database system. Its performance is good, and it does what it is supposed to do. It also integrates very well."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use it as a backend for some vendor-supplied tools and products. We also do a certain amount of software development, and we use it as the database platform behind our own software.
We have a number of deployments, and the version number very much depends on the vendor software requirements. We have on-premises and cloud deployments.
What is most valuable?
It is a pretty comprehensive database system. Its performance is good, and it does what it is supposed to do. It also integrates very well.
What 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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it probably for two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of the number of users, the users on PostgreSQL itself are probably application-level users, so you may only find two or three accounts per instance, but the application-level users can easily go up to 300.
How are customer service and technical support?
We use the open-source product. We don't take it from any given supplier. So, we haven't got any tech support.
The tech support primarily is me. I am a systems administrator, and I do database administration as well. If we need any further in-depth support, depending on which product is sitting on top of that database, we will go to the vendor, but like most IT teams, we would admit that Google is your best friend.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Sybase. We've actually transitioned most of it over to PostgreSQL.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to install. The deployment duration depends on what you're deploying. If you just want a database, I can have a PostgreSQL database installed and deployed in probably about 20 minutes. If you're looking for clustering or failover and mirroring, that would obviously impact the time, but it doesn't take a significant amount of time.
What about the implementation team?
I deploy it myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is open source. There is no licensing.
What other advice do I have?
It is a very good RDBMS, and I'm quite happy with it. It does what it says, and it does it fairly well. I've seen some bits that are stronger in other products and some bits that are weaker in other products. My recommendation would depend on the requirements and the use cases.
I would rate PostgreSQL a nine out of 10. It does its job adequately, and I am quite happy with what it does at the moment. You wouldn't hear a 10 from me for any database vendor at the moment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior IT Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 1-10 employees
Scales well and offers a quick and easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is quick and easy."
- "It would be great if the solution offered even more integration capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
Typically, our team runs the database and then the applications, on Postgres. However, I'm not part of the development process.
What is most valuable?
The solution is quite stable and very reliable.
On the cloud side of the product, the solution scales quite well.
The initial setup is quick and easy.
What needs improvement?
I don't work directly on development, however, I haven't heard of any complaints from the development team in general. I can't speak to any features that may be missing. Our team seems quite satisfied with it overall.
It would be great if the solution offered even more integration capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for the past two or three years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability, overall, has been good. I have not heard of issues with bugs or glitches. I cannot recall it crashing or freezing. Its performance has been reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale well. However, this is mostly the case on the cloud, which more easily can scale as there are no physical limitations to hold a company back. If a company needs to scale using this solution, it can do so with relative ease, specifically if they use a cloud deployment.
We only have about ten to 15 or so users on the solution right now. On the products we produce there may be more, however, that varies. There could be a hundred or so users.
We have plans to continue to use the solution going forward.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't really use technical support too often. We have our own team that we can turn to, and they can handle most, if not all, issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've used a few other products previously. We're also using MongoDB, or at least, we will be, in an application that we've just started.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex at all. I would describe it as straightforward and rather simple.
The deployment is quick as well. It might have taken us about 45 minutes to an hour or so to get everything up and running. It's great.
We have a technical team or two or three people that can manage the deployment and maintenance. You don't need a big team.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation process ourselves. We didn't need the assistance of any consultants or integrators. It was pretty straightforward, and therefore we didn't need the extra help.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is a direct service, and it is free to use. There isn't a licensing fee.
What other advice do I have?
We are simply a customer and end-user. We don't have a business relationship with PostgreSQL.
The solution is deployed both on the cloud and on-premises. We use more than one deployment model.
I can't recall the exact version number we are using, however, it's my understanding that it is not necessarily the latest version.
I'd recommend this product to other organizations. It's worked well for us so far.
In general, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director of Operations / Senior Software Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Since we are using Django/Python – it works great with PostgreSQL as well. The current features that really help us are Full-Text Search, Array Fields, and JSON Fields.
What is most valuable?
PostgreSQL does a great job with scalability and performance. Since we are using Django/Python – it works great with PostgreSQL as well. The current features that really help us are Full-Text Search, Array Fields, and JSON Fields.
How has it helped my organization?
By using PostgreSQL, it was easy to get all the developers configured and running. With using it as our back-end for data storage, our company isn’t worried about data loss or data integrity, especially with snapshots and WAL. Our company is also able to run reports and do analytics off data in custom tables.
What needs improvement?
The only thing I would really want/need to improve is pgAdmin3. pgAdmin3 is a nice tool for SQL Admin and Queries. But, I wish it would allow multiple queries to be run and displayed in the output pane.
Also, it would be amazing if Full-Text Search would work on encrypted data, but I don’t know how that would be possible with any kind of speed.
In regard to pgAdmin 3, there are so many times I’m in one window running different queries. In Microsoft SQL Server, you can select and execute multiple queries and they are shown in the output pane as separate sections. In pgAdmin3, I have to open multiple windows and execute separate queries and jump from window to window looking at / comparing results.
For the Search/Encryption, PostgreSQL supports having certain fields encrypted in the database (https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/encryption-options.html). It also supports Full Text Search (https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/datatype-textsearch.html). But, if we encrypt the fields where the lexemes are stored, search won’t work. (Some of the lexemes could give too much information if a user got their hands on the table.)
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for three years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
So far, we haven’t had issues with deployment, stability or scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
Everything we have needed, we’ve been able to find on https://www.postgresql.org/ or StackOverflow.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had used Microsoft SQL Server in our previous company. But, the licensing terms kept getting more and more onerous. We started looking at PostgreSQL from the reviews and recommendations, especially since it was open source and Amazon RDS started supporting it.
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup was very straightforward. EnterpriseDB has a great graphical installer to help install on our Dev machines (MacBook Pros). And, AWS RDS makes it is very easy to get set up as well. It allows us to spend our time developing, where our expertise is.
What about the implementation team?
Our initial implementation was done in-house. As long as you follow the step-by-step directions, everything worked great. We also have a managed services company that helps manage the PROD/Staging configuration as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing/licensing is the reason we went with PostgreSQL. As a startup, every dollar counts and PostgreSQL has enabled to us to have an enterprise solution at a fraction of the cost of Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.
What other advice do I have?
PostgreSQL is an amazing product. Very easy to implement and there are many libraries to make it easy to use PostgreSQL as a back-end database solution, no matter what coding language you are using.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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