PostgreSQL
The database that outlives the frameworks around it — relational integrity, JSON when you need it, and vectors for the AI era.
What it is, and why we use it.
PostgreSQL is the open-source relational database that quietly became the industry default. It enforces your data's correctness (constraints, transactions, foreign keys), then stretches to cover what would otherwise need extra systems: JSONB for document workloads, full-text search, PostGIS for geo, and pgvector for AI embeddings. Thirty years of engineering, zero licence fees.
Postgres is under effectively everything we ship. One well-modelled Postgres instance routinely replaces a NoSQL store, a search service and a vector database — three bills and three failure modes collapsed into one boring, replicated system. We treat schema design as product design.
PostgreSQL vs MySQL vs MongoDB.
Postgres against the other database defaults — the one table we end up drawing for almost every client.
| Dimension | PostgreSQL | MySQL | MongoDB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Relational + JSONB documents | Relational | Documents |
| Data integrity | Strictest — constraints as a feature | Good | Application's job |
| Beyond tables | Search, geo, vectors — built in or one extension away | Limited extensions | Search and vectors via Atlas services |
| Schema changes | Transactional DDL — migrations are safe | Riskier on big tables | Schemaless — drift is the risk |
| Ecosystem | Every ORM, every cloud, every BaaS (Supabase is Postgres) | Ubiquitous | Strong but vendor-centred |
Postgres wins when
- Data correctness is non-negotiable — money, health, identity
- One system should cover relational, search and vector work
- You're building for a decade, not a demo
MySQL wins when
- The team or hosting estate is already MySQL-shaped
- Classic read-heavy web workloads
- Existing replication expertise matters
MongoDB wins when
- Documents genuinely match the domain
- Schema flexibility beats integrity early on
- The team is committed to the Atlas platform
Nobody gets fired for choosing Postgres — but that's not why we do. It's the only piece of infrastructure we deploy that gets more capable every year while staying free. The boring choice, compounding.
Thinking about PostgreSQL?
Tell us what you're building — we'll tell you honestly whether PostgreSQL is the right tool for it.