PostgreSQL Vs MSSQL

 

General Overview

 

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Developer

PostgreSQL Global Development Group

Microsoft

License

Open-source (PostgreSQL License)

Commercial (Microsoft proprietary)

Platform

Cross-platform (Linux, Windows, macOS)

Primarily Windows, but now supports Linux

Target Use

Best for OLTP, OLAP, and Hybrid Workloads

Best for Enterprise OLTP & BI Workloads

Cost

Free

Paid (Various Editions: Enterprise, Standard, Express, Developer)

Installation and Configuration

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Installation

Simple (Can be installed via package managers like apt, yum, etc.)

Requires GUI-based installer and licensing setup

Default Port

5432

1433

Configuration

Configurable via postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf

Managed through SSMS (GUI) and sp_configure

Database Structure

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Database Engine

Object-Relational Database

Relational Database

Schema Support

Yes (Multiple schemas per database)

Yes (Database-wide schema support)

Data Storage

MVCC (Multiversion Concurrency Control)

Page-based storage with Locking

Tablespaces

Yes

Yes

Security Features

 

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Authentication

MD5, SCRAM-SHA-256, LDAP, PAM, SSL, Kerberos

Windows Authentication, SQL Authentication, Azure AD

Role-Based Access

Yes

Yes

Row-Level Security

Yes (Implemented via Policies)

Yes (Implemented via Security Policies)

Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)

No (Requires third-party tools)

Yes (Built-in TDE)

Backup and Recovery

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Backup Types

Logical (pg_dump), Physical (pg_basebackup)

Full, Differential, Transaction Log backups

Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)

Yes (WAL Archiving)

Yes (Transaction Log)

Replication for HA

Streaming Replication, Logical Replication, Slony-I

Always On Availability Groups, Log Shipping, Replication

Performance and Optimization

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Query Optimization

Cost-based optimizer (Planner)

Cost-based optimizer

Indexes Supported

B-Tree, Hash, GIN, GiST, BRIN

Clustered, Non-Clustered, Columnstore

Parallel Query Execution

Yes (Parallel sequential scans, index scans, aggregations)

Yes (Parallel query execution supported)

Partitioning

Declarative Partitioning

Table Partitioning (Function-based)

Materialized Views

Yes (Refreshable)

Yes (Requires Manual Refresh)

High Availability and Replication

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Replication Support

Streaming Replication, Logical Replication

Transaction Replication, Merge Replication, Snapshot Replication

Clustering

Pgpool-II, Patroni

Always On Failover Cluster

Failover Mechanism

Manual or automatic via third-party tools (Patroni)

Always On Availability Groups

Monitoring and Maintenance

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Monitoring Tools

pg_stat_statements, pgAdmin, pgBadger

SQL Server Profiler, Extended Events, Performance Monitor

Database Health Check

pg_stat_activity, pg_locks, pg_stat_bgwriter

sp_who, sp_who2, sys.dm_exec_requests

Auto Maintenance

Autovacuum for dead tuple cleanup

Automatic Statistics Update

Integration and Extensions

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Procedural Languages

PL/pgSQL, PL/Python, PL/Perl, PL/Tcl

T-SQL

JSON Support

Yes (Native JSONB Storage)

Yes (JSON Data Type)

Full-Text Search

Yes (Built-in Full-Text Search)

Yes (Integrated FTS)

NoSQL Features

Supports JSON, XML, Hstore

Supports JSON, XML

Integration with Big Data

FDW (Foreign Data Wrappers) for Hadoop, MongoDB

PolyBase for Hadoop, Azure Synapse

Licensing and Cost

 

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Free Version

Completely free

Express Edition (Free but limited)

Enterprise Features

Available for free

Requires Enterprise Edition (Paid)

Support

Community Support, Paid Support via Third Parties

Microsoft Premier Support

Cloud and DevOps Integration

 

Feature

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Cloud Availability

Available on AWS RDS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean

Available on Azure, AWS RDS

Kubernetes Support

Yes (CloudNativePG, Patroni)

Yes (Azure Kubernetes Service)

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions, Jenkins

Azure DevOps, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)

Use Cases

 

 

Use Case

PostgreSQL

SQL Server (MSSQL)

Web Applications

Yes (Open-source, Flexible)

Yes (Enterprise-ready)

Banking & Finance

Yes (ACID-Compliant)

Yes (High Performance & Compliance)

Big Data & Analytics

Yes (Foreign Data Wrappers)

Yes (PolyBase, Columnstore Indexes)

Data Warehousing

Yes

Yes (Best with Integration Services)

Which One to Choose?

Choose PostgreSQL if:

You need a free, open-source, and flexible database.

You work in a Linux-heavy or cloud-native environment.

You need advanced JSON, NoSQL, and GIS features.

You want custom extensions and procedural language support.

Choose SQL Server (MSSQL) if:

You need enterprise-level support and performance.

You work in a Microsoft ecosystem (Azure, Windows Server, .NET).

You require seamless integration with SSIS, SSAS, and Power BI.

You need better GUI-based tools like SSMS for administration.



No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts