Database & Data Management · alternatives
Alternatives to PostgreSQL
22 database & data management tools sit alongside PostgreSQL in this directory. Below is what separates each from PostgreSQL on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 17
- Cheaper to start
- -
- PostgreSQL starts at
- Free
Why people look past PostgreSQL
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. PostgreSQL has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
The open source relational database for the enterprise
Priced and rated the same as PostgreSQL on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
The world's most popular open source database
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where PostgreSQL does not.
The cloud-native distributed SQL database
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where PostgreSQL does not.
Image and video API for developers
Priced and rated the same as PostgreSQL on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Serverless, highly scalable enterprise data warehouse
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where PostgreSQL does not.
Seamless multi-master sync with Apache CouchDB
Priced and rated the same as PostgreSQL on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Every PostgreSQL alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL (this page) | Free | - | - | |
| MariaDBOpen-source relational database, MySQL-compatible | Free | - | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| MySQLOpen-source relational database, widely used alternative | Free | Freemium | 3 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Cockroach LabsDistributed SQL database with PostgreSQL compatibility | Free | Freemium | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Cloudinary | Free | Freemium | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| BigQuery | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| CouchDB | Free | Open-source | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| dbt | Free, then $100/user/month | Freemium | 4 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Dgraph | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Amazon Aurora | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Apache Druid | Free | Open-source | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Couchbase | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Azure SQL | Free | - | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| DataStax | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Amazon Redshift | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs PostgreSQL |
| ClickHouse | Free | - | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Apache Pinot | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs PostgreSQL |
| Cassandra | Free | - | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Grist | On request | Subscription | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Knack | On request | Subscription | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Ninox | On request | Subscription | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Chroma | On request | Subscription | - | vs PostgreSQL |
| Convex | On request | Usage-based | - | vs PostgreSQL |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the PostgreSQL badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (17)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- MariaDB , Free
- MySQL , Free
- Cockroach Labs , Free
- Cloudinary , Free
- BigQuery , Free
- CouchDB , Free
- dbt , Free, then $100/user/month
- Dgraph , Free
What you would be giving up
PostgreSQL is most often brought in for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting, data analytics. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If PostgreSQL is broadly right and the question is cost, the PostgreSQL pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Database & Data Management category lists everything the directory holds, and best database & data management tools ranks them.
PostgreSQL runs on linux, windows, macos, bsd, unix. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about PostgreSQL alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to PostgreSQL?
- 22 other database & data management tools are listed in this directory, led by MariaDB, MySQL, Cockroach Labs, Cloudinary. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to PostgreSQL?
- 17 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: MariaDB, MySQL, Cockroach Labs, Cloudinary, BigQuery.
- Is there a reason to switch away from PostgreSQL?
- Nothing in the data flags one. PostgreSQL has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from PostgreSQL?
- PostgreSQL is most often brought in for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting, data analytics. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to PostgreSQL?
- CouchDB, Apache Druid, Apache Pinot are recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these PostgreSQL alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Database & Data Management, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored slot runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare PostgreSQL against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against PostgreSQL covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every database & data management tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Database & Data Management category, 22 tools beside PostgreSQL. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.