vs

OrioleDB vs PostgreSQL

OrioleDB: Cloud-native storage engine for PostgreSQL with undo logs, no VACUUM bloat and row-level WAL. PostgreSQL: The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database.

key differences

  • Horizontal scaling is none in OrioleDB and addon in PostgreSQL.
  • Only PostgreSQL has full-text search, vector search, geospatial, change data capture, materialized views.

choose orioledb for

  • +Write-heavy Postgres OLTP suffering from bloat
  • +Evaluating next-generation Postgres storage on Supabase
  • +High-concurrency workloads on large multi-core servers

best at · OLTP

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

overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
–
Document, Spatial
Type
Extension
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Supabase (OrioleDB team)
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
First release
2021
1996
Latest version
beta19 (Oct 1, 2026)
18.6 (Aug 13, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)PostgreSQL License
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
11.1
93.2
Rank
#287
#1
GitHub stars
4.3K
22.6K
Stack Overflow questions
–
178.8K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
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, Shared storage
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
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
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Best for
OLTP
OLTP, Geo, Search, Content

OrioleDB vs PostgreSQL: FAQ

What is the difference between OrioleDB and PostgreSQL?

OrioleDB: Cloud-native storage engine for PostgreSQL with undo logs, no VACUUM bloat and row-level WAL. PostgreSQL: The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database. Horizontal scaling is none in OrioleDB and addon in PostgreSQL. Only PostgreSQL has full-text search, vector search, geospatial, change data capture, materialized views.

When should I choose OrioleDB over PostgreSQL?

Choose OrioleDB for write-heavy Postgres OLTP suffering from bloat, evaluating next-generation Postgres storage on Supabase and high-concurrency workloads on large multi-core servers. Choose PostgreSQL for general-purpose application backend, SaaS multi-tenant data and geospatial applications with PostGIS.

Is OrioleDB or PostgreSQL more popular?

PostgreSQL ranks #1 on the WhichDB Score (93.2/100) and OrioleDB ranks #287 (11.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are OrioleDB and PostgreSQL open source?

Yes. OrioleDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. PostgreSQL is open source. License: PostgreSQL License.