Updated June 21, 2023
Difference Between Oracle vs PostgreSQL
Oracle is a product from Oracle Corporation that provides several cloud services based on applications or platforms. In contrast, PostgreSQL or Postgres is a relational database management system created as an open-source application by PostgreSQL Global Development Group Regents of the University of California. In terms of versioning, PostgreSQL brings out new versions every once in a while to add or update new features to match the changing technological standards in the market. Oracle issues the latest versions with improved tool functioning qualities.
What is Oracle?
Oracle is one of the largest vendor of RDBMS (relational database management system) in the IT market. It is called an Oracle database, Oracle DB, or Oracle marketed by Oracle.Oracle database was developed in 1977 by Lawrence Ellison, who is built around a relational database in which users can access data through an application or query language called SQL (structured query language). Oracle Corporation first commercialized Oracle RDBMS in 1979. Oracle database is available in different editions such as Enterprise, Standard, express, and Oracle Lite. Oracle database runs on major platforms like Windows, UNIX, Linux, and MacOS. The biggest rival for the Oracle database is the Microsoft SQL Server.
What is PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL didn’t support SQL until 1994 – QUEL language was used to query data from it. Later on, SQL support was added. PostgreSQL became open-source in 1996. PostgreSQL supports all features of RDBMS with an addition of other features that are not available in RDBMS, such as views, stored procedures, indexes, and triggers, in addition to the primary key, foreign key, and atomicity features. It runs on major platforms such as UNIX, MacOS, Windows, and Linux. It supports video, text, audio, images, programming interfaces for C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, etc., and open database connectivity.
Head To Head Comparison Between Oracle vs PostgreSQL (Infographics)
Below are the top 7 differences between Oracle vs PostgreSQL Performance:
Key Differences Between Oracle vs PostgreSQL
Both Oracle vs PostgreSQL Performance are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Differences:
- The PostgreSQL database is an open-source and object-relational database management system, whereas Oracle is a commercial relational database management system available in different editions.
- Oracle has secondary database models like the document store, key-value store, RDF store, and graph DBMS. In contrast, PostgreSQL has secondary database models like Document and key-value store models.
- Oracle was implemented in C and C++ programming language, whereas PostgreSQL was developed in the C programming language.
- Oracle vs PostgreSQL supports data schemes, typing, XML support, secondary indexes, and SQL.
- Oracle supports programming languages such as C/C++, C#, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, Scala, Cobol, Tcl, Java, visual basic, etc. In contrast, PostgreSQL supports different programming languages such as .Net, C/C++, Python, Java, PHP, Perl, and Tcl.
- Oracle supports two types of replication methods, master-slave, and master-master replication, whereas PostgreSQL supports only one kind of replication, such as master-slave replication.
- Oracle database has support for horizontal partitioning, whereas PostgreSQL has support for declarative partitioning from PostgreSQL 10.0
- Oracle database uses PL/SQL scripts on the server side, whereas PostgreSQL uses user-defined functions as server-side scripts.
- Oracle database supports different APIs and access methods such as JDBC, ODBC, Oracle call interface, and ODP.NET. In contrast, PostgreSQL supports APIs and other access methods such as ODBC, JDBC, native C library, streaming API for large objects, and ADO.NET.
Oracle vs PostgreSQL Comparison Table
The primary Comparison between Oracle vs PostgreSQL Performance is discussed below:
| Basis of Comparison |
Oracle |
PostgreSQL |
| The Total Cost of Ownership | The price of acquisition and product support for the Oracle database is high, and we need to pay in addition to every extra feature we need, which is a high price. So TCO is high for the Oracle database. | As PostgreSQL is open-source, there is no fee for acquisition and product support which are free of cost. We can get all the available features of the PostgreSQL database for free as it is open-source. |
| Support | Customer support for the Oracle database is not free; it is almost one-fourth of the license cost and increases by 3 to 5 % annually. | Customer support for PostgreSQL is free, but it will take time to resolve the issue, as the developer’s community will solve it. We can opt for paid service by PostgreSQL professionals, which will be less costly than Oracle DB support cost. |
| Productivity | Oracle database productivity is more due to its technical superiority. Oracle database provides more transactions per second than PostgreSQL. | PostgreSQL productivity is less than Oracle database as it provides less number of transactions per second than Oracle DB. |
| Safety | Oracle database has more advanced security, but we need to purchase as part of the editions provided by Oracle corporation, which have some features that protect the database. | PostgreSQL has good security support but is less advanced than the Oracle database. Still, those features are not relevant to worse conditions of the database, i.e. the total collapse of technical support or database crash or shutdown. |
| Scalability | Oracle database offers four sockets with standard editions for scalability, but we need to buy enterprise editions for high-workload projects, which is a little costly. | PostgreSQL offers scalability support for free-of-cost expansions such as proxy from Skype allocating information in database clusters and cluster-based storage solutions based on PostgreSQL. |
| Updates | Oracle database releases new or updated versions once in two to three years with quality changes concerning demand in the market. | PostgreSQL releases new or updated versions once in four to five years, but they continuously add new features and updates to be up to date with market trends and requirements. |
| Handling large data volume | Oracle database enterprise edition handles more data effectively than PostgreSQL based on other equal conditions and machine types. So it is not fair to compare as productivity depends on various factors. | PostgreSQL database handles a large amount of data effectively, boosting the productivity of 10 to 30 pages on machines with large volumes of memory. So it depends on various factors. |
Conclusion
Finally, It’s an overview of Oracle vs PostgreSQL comparison in different aspects. After reading this Oracle vs PostgreSQL article, I hope you will better understand these topics. We have seen the Difference Between Oracle and PostgreSQL. I can say that PostgreSQL is more powerful than Oracle in many instances, being open-source, compatibility with other RDBMS, and ease of use with a large community of developers. We can decide on the database based on the concrete project. PostgreSQL is used in many industries, such as Hospital applications, patient genetics, B2B applications, etc.
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