whichdb
vs

openGauss vs PostgreSQL

openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines. PostgreSQL: The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database.

key differences

  • openGauss is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than PostgreSQL (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is none in openGauss and addon in PostgreSQL.
  • Only openGauss has columnar storage, in-memory, encryption at rest.
  • Only PostgreSQL has change data capture, pub/sub, online schema changes.

choose opengauss for

  • +Chinese banking and telecom core systems
  • +Domestic-database replacements for Oracle in China
  • +HTAP workloads mixing row and column tables
  • +On-prem deployments on ARM servers

best at · OLTP, HTAP, Vector search

choose postgresql for

  • +General-purpose application backend
  • +SaaS multi-tenant data
  • +Geospatial applications with PostGIS
  • +Semantic search alongside relational data with pgvector

best at · OLTP, Geo, Search

openGaussHuawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines.
PostgreSQLThe extensible, standards-first open-source relational database.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP, Vector, Document
Document, Spatial
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
openGauss Community (Huawei-led)
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
First release
2020
1996
Latest version
7.0.0 LTS (Sep 2026)
18.6 (Aug 13, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Mulan Permissive Software License v2
Open source (permissive)PostgreSQL License
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
6.7
93.2
Rank
#357
#1
GitHub stars
795
22.6K
Stack Overflow questions
–
178.8K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
Addon
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Single node, Primary replica, Client server, In memory
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Huawei Cloud
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
✓
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
✓
✓
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
✓
Columnar storage
✓
—
In-memory
✓
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
—
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
✓
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, C, Python, Go, C#
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Best for
OLTP, HTAP, Vector search
OLTP, Geo, Search, Content
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

openGauss vs PostgreSQL: FAQ

What is the difference between openGauss and PostgreSQL?

openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines. PostgreSQL: The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database. openGauss is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than PostgreSQL (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is none in openGauss and addon in PostgreSQL. Only openGauss has columnar storage, in-memory, encryption at rest.

When should I choose openGauss over PostgreSQL?

Choose openGauss for chinese banking and telecom core systems; domestic-database replacements for Oracle in China; and HTAP workloads mixing row and column tables. Choose PostgreSQL for general-purpose application backend, SaaS multi-tenant data and geospatial applications with PostGIS.

Is openGauss or PostgreSQL more popular?

PostgreSQL ranks #1 on the WhichDB Score (93.2/100) and openGauss ranks #357 (6.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are openGauss and PostgreSQL open source?

Yes. openGauss is open source. License: Mulan Permissive Software License v2. Yes. PostgreSQL is open source. License: PostgreSQL License.