What are the top 6 Post­greSQL al­ter­na­tives?

Post­greSQL is a very popular and versatile object-re­la­tion­al database, known es­pe­cial­ly for its strong security ar­chi­tec­ture and high flex­i­bil­i­ty. However, there are projects where other options may be a better fit. Here are six of the best al­ter­na­tives or additions to Post­greSQL.

What is Post­greSQL and what al­ter­na­tives are there?

The origins of the object-re­la­tion­al database Post­greSQL go back to the 1980s. In 1996, the ACID-compliant database man­age­ment system was of­fi­cial­ly released for the first time. Today, it is licensed under the Post­greSQL License and con­tin­u­ous­ly developed by an active open-source community. What makes Post­greSQL a popular choice for countless companies, in­sti­tu­tions, and projects is not only its long history and dedicated community. The system is con­sid­ered extremely secure and robust. Although it relies on a classic table structure, it is highly flexible thanks to numerous ex­ten­sions and can be scaled on a large scale. Its well-designed client-server ar­chi­tec­ture also allows this free solution to compete with many com­mer­cial databases.

Overall, Post­greSQL is con­sid­ered a very flexible choice that is also com­pat­i­ble with many NoSQL solutions, allowing it to be combined with them. Its open-source nature gives the database many strong ad­van­tages. However, there may be sit­u­a­tions or projects where another system is an even better fit—es­pe­cial­ly if you want to work in a non-re­la­tion­al way. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, the per­for­mance of Post­greSQL is not quite as strong as that of some other solutions. On top of that, getting started can be par­tic­u­lar­ly chal­leng­ing for beginners. If you’re looking for an al­ter­na­tive to Post­greSQL, here are six com­pelling options to consider.

MongoDB—The best NoSQL database for large amounts of data

Arguably the most versatile database available today is MongoDB. The pro­pri­etary NoSQL solution, which owes its name to the word “humongous”, has been around since 2009. Designed to ac­com­mo­date growing data volumes, MongoDB is trusted by major companies like eBay or Toyota.

If you’d like to learn more about the sim­i­lar­i­ties and dif­fer­ences between Post­greSQL and MongoDB, you can find a detailed com­par­i­son in our Digital Guide.

What are the benefits of MongoDB?

• The­o­ret­i­cal­ly in­fi­nite­ly scalable
• Flexible thanks to numerous features
• Can manage and store many different types of data
• High re­li­a­bil­i­ty and avail­abil­i­ty
• Com­pat­i­ble with many languages, systems and platforms
• Quick to get started
• One of the most suc­cess­ful NoSQL databases with a large community

MariaDB—The modern MySQL al­ter­na­tive with future potential

MariaDB was developed as a direct response to Oracle’s ac­qui­si­tion of MySQL, with the goal of providing a free and advanced database solution. Since 2009, this open-source fork of MySQL has not only offered full com­pat­i­bil­i­ty with the original but has often gone a step further tech­no­log­i­cal­ly in direct com­par­isons like MariaDB vs. MySQL.

MariaDB stands out with regular updates, high per­for­mance, and a wide range of storage engines—including ones designed for an­a­lyt­i­cal use cases. The database is suitable for both tra­di­tion­al web ap­pli­ca­tions and complex business ap­pli­ca­tions. Major or­ga­ni­za­tions like Mozilla have relied on MariaDB for years.

What are the benefits of MariaDB?

• Open source with in­de­pen­dent de­vel­op­ment
• Fully com­pat­i­ble with MySQL
• Suitable for both op­er­a­tional and an­a­lyt­i­cal data pro­cess­ing
• Fast query handling and high re­li­a­bil­i­ty
• SQL support and cross-platform usability
• No vendor lock-in
• Large community and active ongoing de­vel­op­ment

DynamoDB—The fully managed database from Amazon

If you’re after an al­ter­na­tive to Post­greSQL that’s beginner-friendly, DynamoDB fits the bill. Developed by Amazon and a part of the AWS portfolio since 2012, this server­less NoSQL solution is fully managed, so you don’t have to worry about upgrades or scaling. The security ar­chi­tec­ture comes pre­con­fig­ured and is regularly updated. Usage-based billing makes DynamoDB suitable for busi­ness­es of all sizes. With high avail­abil­i­ty and low latency, it’s a com­pelling choice. However, in­te­gra­tion with AWS means you have to rely on Amazon’s ecosystem.

What are the benefits of DynamoDB?

• Very user-friendly thanks to ad­min­is­tra­tion
• High level of security
• Unlimited scal­a­bil­i­ty
• Payment according to usage
• Good per­for­mance and high speed
• Embedded in the AWS ecosystem
• High avail­abil­i­ty

Redis—The quick addition or al­ter­na­tive to Post­greSQL

If Post­greSQL’s slight speed short­com­ings are a concern, Redis is a com­pelling addition to your database setup. You can also use it as an al­ter­na­tive to Post­greSQL. This NoSQL database stores data in memory, de­liv­er­ing response times of under one mil­lisec­ond. Ideal for real-time analyses, messaging and ad­min­is­tra­tive tasks, Redis shines in tasks that pri­or­i­tize low latency over massive data volumes. While it can scale both hor­i­zon­tal­ly and ver­ti­cal­ly, its strength lies in speed rather than data volume. As a user-friendly solution offering minimal latency, Redis is widely regarded as one of the world’s most popular key-value stores.

What are the benefits of Redis?

• Open source
• Out­stand­ing per­for­mance thanks to in-memory storage
• Response times of under one mil­lisec­ond
• Perfectly suited for real-time analysis
• Can be combined with Post­greSQL
• Hor­i­zon­tal­ly and ver­ti­cal­ly scalable
• Very user-friendly
• Com­pat­i­ble with many languages, platforms and systems

Apache Cassandra—The column-based NoSQL option

Apache Cassandra is a column-oriented NoSQL database designed for handling large and het­ero­ge­neous data sets. The system, which has been under de­vel­op­ment since 2008, is open source and features CQL, a query language based on SQL, fa­cil­i­tat­ing a smooth tran­si­tion from Post­greSQL. Praised for its ro­bust­ness, Cassandra ensures high avail­abil­i­ty across multiple nodes, making it highly reliable. Im­pres­sive query speeds are achieved without com­pro­mis­ing system security. Embraced by major cor­po­ra­tions like Apple and Netflix, Cassandra offers partially ACID-compliant, flexible and easily scalable solutions for en­ter­prise-level ap­pli­ca­tions and platforms.

What are the benefits of Apache Cassandra?

• Open source
• Hor­i­zon­tal­ly and ver­ti­cal­ly scalable and suitable for large data volumes
• CQL is similar to SQL, which makes querying easy
• High avail­abil­i­ty and re­li­a­bil­i­ty
• Partially ACID-compliant (Atomicity, Con­sis­ten­cy, Isolation, Dura­bil­i­ty)
• Flexible and versatile
• Strong per­for­mance and high speed

MySQL—The re­la­tion­al solution from Oracle

Since Oracle acquired MySQL in 2010, many users have switched to al­ter­na­tives like Post­greSQL. Nev­er­the­less, this re­la­tion­al database is still con­sid­ered a powerful solution for storing struc­tured data in table form. MySQL is highly reliable and can handle large volumes of data ef­fi­cient­ly. It offers various scaling options and numerous in­ter­faces. The system is also very clear and easy to un­der­stand, even for beginners. An active community and extensive doc­u­men­ta­tion are available as well. Switching from Post­greSQL is rel­a­tive­ly straight­for­ward thanks to the shared query language SQL, and the database’s per­for­mance is im­pres­sive. In addition to the free version, pro­pri­etary editions are also available.

What are the benefits of MySQL?

• Open source
• Very clear and easy to learn
• Also suitable for large amounts of data
• Fail-safe and fast
• High avail­abil­i­ty
• Com­pat­i­ble with numerous systems, platforms, and languages
• Part of the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
• Query language known from Post­greSQL
• Large community and extensive doc­u­men­ta­tion

We’ve already covered the sim­i­lar­i­ties and dif­fer­ences between MySQL and Post­greSQL in detail in our Digital Guide.