RDBMS has dominated the storage of information for a long period of time. The information stored is mainly personal data, manufacturing records, and many others.

In relational database models, table format is used to store data, different from the standard data management model.

Today, relational databases use SQL as their query language. What I am going to discuss in this article are the two major relational database management systems.

To delve straight into the subject, I will introduce MySQL and PostgreSQL to you and later draw a PostgreSQL vs MySQL comparison between their features and finally help you choose the best framework if there is one.

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MySQL is Oracle-backed RDBMS and it is the most famous large-scale database server to date. Being an open-source system, it has powered a number of applications and websites online.

It is an easy-to-setup and requires minimal fine-tuning for high performance.

It works for hand in hand with other third-party GUI tools like Adminer, HeidiSQL, MySQL Workbench, and dbForge Studio to make MySQL easy to get started with.

MySQL is rich with features and supports the majority of SQL functionalities expected of RDBMS. Its flexibility makes it a popular choice for many web applications.

Its prolific security features are paramount to its adverse acceptance and popularity.

MySQL is a platform-independent and ACID compliant. One more feature is the ease of access to support. I beg to limit it there for now.



PostgreSQL is an open-source objective-RDBMS.

It has become a better option for corporations with complex and high-volume data operations because of its powerful technology.

It employs multi-version concurrency control (MVCC) which allows multiple tasks simultaneously and efficiently.

With over 30 years of active development that has earned it a strong reputation for reliability, robustness and impeccable performance, the powerful ads-on like the popular PostGIS geospatial database extender is a wow.

It is for the same reason that it has won the trust of the giant companies like Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, and Instagram.

With PostgreSQL, you can define your own data types, build custom functions or write code from different programming languages still without recompiling your database.


Key difference

PostgreSQL and MySQL are the most used RDBMS in the world today, nobody can deny that they are the authority leaders in relational database management systems.

Their features, though they overlap, still one has to make a decision to choose a database that best suits their project and meets their deliverables better.

It all comes down to how you wish to approach the problem facing your project and the project requirements beforehand.

I am going to enlist the outstanding features available in both systems and finally guide you through your process of finding the best RDBMS.



When you inspect the governance model of technology, you will find an outstanding difference between PostgreSQL and MySQL.

PostgreSQL developed by the Global Development group under an open-source license similar to MIT license, while MySQL project has its source code open-sourced to the public under GNU license with multiple proprietary agreements currently owned by Oracle and has various paid versions.

SQL Compliance

A set of regulations required of a database to adhere to when implementing SQL standards.

PostgreSQL is the most SQL compliant as it meets 160 of the 179 core features of SQL standards and optional features.

On the contrary, MySQL is partially SQL compliant because it does not implement full SQL standards, however, it does provide additional useful non-SQL features like CHECK constraints.


Fortunately, both PostgreSQL and MySQL are cross-platform RDBMS.

They both support the following operating systems: Solaris, Windows OS, Linux and additionally HP-UX OS – developed by the giant tech HP alongside Unix OS. In contrast, MySQL extends support to the open-source FreeBSD OS.

Programming languages

A system that supports multiple programming languages allows programmers from different backgrounds to code in a language they are comfortable in, which in essence increases efficiency.

A system that supports multiple programming languages is advantageous to developers because they are at liberty to accomplish tasks from client-side or server-side, whichever works best for them.

PostgreSQL was written in C and supports the following programming languages: C/C++, Delphi, JavaScript, Java, Python, R, Tcl, Go, Lisp, Erlang and .NET among others.

On the other hand, MySQL is written in C and C++ and supports the following programming languages: C/C++, Erlang, PHP, Lisp, Go, Perl, Java, Delphi, R, and Node.js.

Security features

Security is the most important factor, too good to overlook when choosing a system to work on.

A system to qualify as reliable, it should endeavor to implement robust and top-notch security features in order to secure databases from threats and illegitimate resources. In this case, MySQL incorporates multiple security features and therefore it is highly secure.

It executes security protocols based on the Access Control List (ACL) for user operations such as queries and connections.

PostgreSQL offers native SLL support for connections for encryption and client/server communications. SE-PostgreSQL is a feature that provides additional access controls based on SELinux policy.

Access methods

Both MySQL and PostgreSQL DBMS support all access standards and have common access methods which include JOBC, ODBC, and ADO.NET


This is the process of electronic copying of data from a computer or server to another, which allows all users to access the same information.

MySQL uses master replication – each node is a master and has access to update data.

Both PostgreSQL and MySQL can implement master-slave replication, one node becomes a master and controls data storage by other nodes. PostgreSQL can implement other types using third-party extensions.


PostgreSQL is appropriate for use in large systems where data needs authentication and reads/write speeds are critical.

It also supports enhancers in proprietary solutions; concurrency without reading locks, SQL server, and Geospatial data support. Generally, PostgreSQL is best suited for systems that require the execution of complex queries, data warehousing, and analysis.

MySQL is the best fit for web-based projects which require a database for data transactions. It works exceptionally in Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) where read speed is necessary.

When stressed with heavy loads or complex queries, MySQL underperforms.


PostgreSQL has a vibrant community behind its successful continuous development and improvement of existing features.

MySQL community is also large but focuses on maintaining existing features while some new features pop-up occasionally.



While it is important to keep in mind where these systems will be employed, the actual performance of an RDBMS can be measured by evaluating a variety of features using outlined metrics of possible scenarios. It majorly depends on the requirements and the nature of the project at hand.