Tuesday, December 9, 2008

PostgreSQL Vs MySQL

My team decided to use PostgreSQL instead of MySQL. This got me interested in finding out why. Found these articles that helped me understand:

(a recent comparison, subtly votes in favor of PostgreSQL)
(this is the most concise comparison but is a little old, very nicely tabulated)
(a very old comparison to give some prespective)

In a nutshell, both are equally good in the current scenario; though before the 8th release of PostgreSQL,  MySQL held a distinct advantage. Currently PostgreSQL offers a wider range of features and on the whole MySQL is a bit faster. However with every release MySQL is inching towards more features and PostGreSQL towards more speed. MySQL is currently more widespread, perhaps because it is older and is preferred by the widespread PHP community. Another difference is the licensing. Both are open-source but MySQL is under GNU while PostgreSQL is under BSD.  

No comments: