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PostgreSQL vs CockroachDB

August 13, 2021

PostgreSQL vs CockroachDB: Cloud Consulting Comparison

Choosing a database management system (DBMS) for your cloud usage comes with many considerations. Two popular DBMS in the market are the PostgreSQL and CockroachDB. PostgreSQL has been in use since 1996 while CockroachDB was released in 2016. This article will give an unbiased comparison of PostgreSQL vs CockroachDB for cloud consulting purposes. We will also provide statistical comparisons to help you make an informed decision.

Technical Differences

PostgreSQL is an open-source relational database system that uses the SQL language. It provides a variety of features that make it popular among developers, such as extensibility and storage capacity management. On the other hand, CockroachDB is a distributed database management system that features SQL support and is designed to work on clusters of machines. It provides scalability, resiliency and consistency across a distributed system.

Comparison

  • Performance: Both PostgreSQL and CockroachDB can handle large-scale data workloads. Performance benchmarks showed that CockroachDB outperforms PostgreSQL in write-heavy scenarios, but shows lower performance in read-heavy environments.

  • Scalability: CockroachDB has more efficient horizontal scalability over PostgreSQL due to its architecture. PostgreSQL requires a lot of effort to horizontally scale due to its tightly coupled and monolithic database design. However, PostgreSQL is more flexible than CockroachDB when it comes to vertical scalability.

  • Consistency: CockroachDB supports ACID compliant transactions across clusters, providing strong consistency. PostgreSQL provides a high level of data consistency but demands database administrators to ensure data consistency at an application-level.

Which one would suit you better?

Choosing the appropriate database management system (DBMS) for your cloud solution requires you to analyze your use case. Considerations such as scalability, performance, and database consistency must be taken into account before your final decision. If you need a more traditional relational database that’s appropriate for conventional data modeling, PostgreSQL is a better option. On the other hand, if your cloud solution demands the efficiency of distributed databases, then CockroachDB is likely the right choice for you.

Conclusion

We have compared PostgreSQL vs CockroachDB based on different criteria and usage scenarios. Consider which one of them will be more suitable for your use case. Whichever you choose, both DBMS are efficient and fit for modern cloud-based applications.

References

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