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Postgres

The world's most advanced open source database

As of 30 August 2026, Postgres is free to use. PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system with over 35 years of active development. Softwr lists it under Technology. Postgres is made by PostgreSQL Global Development Group, launched in 1996, available on Linux, Windows, macOS, Self-hosted.

Overview

What Postgres does

PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system with over 35 years of active development. It has earned a strong reputation for reliability, feature robustness, and performance.

What people use it for

  • Running a general purpose relational database for applications
  • Self-hosting an open source SQL database with no licence fee
  • Workloads needing extensions, JSON and full text search in one engine

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Postgres.

  • Each major version is supported for only 5 years after its initial release, after which it is end-of-life
  • Major version upgrades break on-disk compatibility and require a full dump and reload or the pg_upgrade tool
  • New major versions ship about once a year, so staying supported means a disruptive upgrade cycle
  • Minor releases contain only frequently-encountered bug fixes, low-risk fixes, security issues and data corruption fixes, so feature gaps are not addressed within a major version
  • There is no vendor SLA; commercial support must be bought separately from third party professional services listed by the project

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Postgres

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Pricing

What Postgres costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Community Edition

Free

  • Full database features
  • No limitations
  • Community support
  • All extensions available
  • Complete source code

Capabilities

Features

  • ACID compliance

  • Complex queries

  • Foreign keys

  • Triggers

  • Views

  • Stored procedures

  • JSON/JSONB support

  • Full-text search

  • Python

    Integration with Python

  • Java

    Integration with Java

  • Node.js

    Integration with Node.js

  • Ruby

    Integration with Ruby

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

How much does PostgreSQL cost to use?

PostgreSQL is completely free to download, install, and use. No licensing fees, subscription costs, or per-seat charges apply. The database is open source under the PostgreSQL License. Source: https://www.postgresql.org

Source
Are there commercial PostgreSQL support options available?

Official PostgreSQL (the project) is free. Commercial PostgreSQL services such as hosting, professional support, training, and managed database services are offered by third-party vendors, not the PostgreSQL project itself. Source: https://www.postgresql.org

Source
Do I need a license to use PostgreSQL commercially?

No. PostgreSQL is open source under the PostgreSQL License, which permits free commercial use without royalties, licensing fees, or support obligations. Source: https://www.postgresql.org

Source

Behind it

Who makes Postgres

Company
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
Based in
Open Source Project
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Postgres, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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