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CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CockroachDB
Ranking in Vector Databases
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (12th), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (10th)
PostgreSQL
Ranking in Vector Databases
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vector Databases category, the mindshare of CockroachDB is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 6.4%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vector Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
PostgreSQL6.4%
CockroachDB0.9%
Other92.7%
Vector Databases
 

Featured Reviews

SC
Manager, Software Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Provides developer-friendly environment with robust security and cost-efficiency
The platform should provide a UI feature where users have the ability to manage it. The CockroachDB platform should have a chatbot where users can inquire about pricing or seek solutions for queries, rather than relying on email support. The current UI only provides SQL playground, which is technical. There should be a UI playground where users with limited technical knowledge can run and update queries, similar to phpMyAdmin or Adminer. Latency optimization could be improved for globally distributed applications, particularly in query routing. For multi-region deployment, CockroachDB requires at least three plus replicas across data centers to achieve strong consistency across regions, which increases infrastructure costs including compute, storage, and networking. The disadvantages include cost-efficiency with multi-region deployment and schema migration speed, which should be faster compared to other drivers. The query optimizer should handle complex queries better through the UI interface.
AC
Senior Assosiate Consultant at Applied Materials
Real-time data capture optimizes database performance but Views create problems
One of the most valuable features is real-time data capture; it optimizes database performance. I think using real-time data capture reduces job running time and the amount of data sent at once with batch loads. Replicating the same data daily isn't optimal, so real-time reception improves application performance and reduces latency.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The initial setup and deployment are simple."
"The most valuable feature is that CockroachDB is a distributed database, which can deploy nodes running in different regions."
"CockroachDB is excellent for managing relationships in RDBMS with multiple benefits such as the ability to create views and dynamic queries that save data and reduce the use of complex algorithms in code."
"What I like best is its ability to solve data residency issues. The main advantage is auto geo partitioning, built into the product. This means we don't have to spin up separate servers in each region, which would be much more costly."
"The subset of SQL that my client is using is completely supported."
"CockroachDB is highly reliable."
"The availability and the easy to use feature is the most valuable. The documentation is also good."
"The product has valuable security features."
"It is very scalable and comes with a bonus: no licensing issues as you scale with your databases."
"The most valuable feature is the performance."
"PostgreSQL is stable. It's available, stable, and reliable."
"Postgres is rock solid when deployed according to best practices as documented by the PostgreSQL community. When it's installed correctly, PostgreSQL is an enterprise-grade solution."
"It is very useful for both structured and unstructured data. You can store unstructured and structured data in PostgreSQL. It is easy to use. You can easily manage things through PostgreSQL Admin. It is cost-effective. Its on-premise version is free. It is agnostic of on-premise or cloud. You can install it on the cloud or on-premises. It is available with all clouds, and you can also install it on desktop or Windows Servers."
"I like that you can move any relational database from Oracle to PostgreSQL. I also like that it's pretty stable."
"The performance is good."
"Postgres has some functions called JSONB aggregators or other aggregators, which are quite useful."
 

Cons

"I would like CockroachDB to have more compatibility with PostgreSQL, especially with the connection string and technical integrations."
"The initial setup and pricing could be improved."
"We are looking for more features to support distributed high availability and geo-partitioning."
"Cockroach does not support all types of protocols. I need to improve it myself to support a CouchDB on my network."
"The closer they can make CockroachDB to being completely compatible with Postgres, the better. It's almost compatible, but not completely. If it was, it would be nice to just be able to use Postgres libraries without any fiddling."
"For multi-region deployment, CockroachDB requires at least three plus replicas across data centers to achieve strong consistency across regions, which increases infrastructure costs including compute, storage, and networking."
"I think the engine itself could be improved. If you miss a partition key, it should be able to be modeled. This is where AI could be really helpful. For example, if a user is from Australia, the system should know to look for their data there first instead of searching in the US or another continent."
"I find the serverless offer a bit confusing."
"A better graphic user-interface would be nice to see."
"The search option is not very good."
"PostgreSQL’s performance could be improved."
"The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality."
"I had some issues when I integrated with the Jupyter Notebook."
"PostgreSQL could improve by providing a geographical solution for tracking trucks and people in the field. They might already have features similar to this and I have not found them. I haven't done research about this topic."
"The performance of PostgreSQL could improve."
"The interface climate could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price depends on the user's company and the contract model they enter into with CockroachDB. Depending on the contract model one enters into with CockroachDB, the product may or may not be expensive."
"I've used CockroachDB at a small scale on the free accounts because we are only testing."
"The platform is affordable even for the enterprise version. It provides value for investment in terms of performance."
"The solution's pricing is not cheap. However, the good thing is that customers are willing to pay for it if they want it."
"The pricing is good but can be made cheaper. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"There is an annual license."
"It is free. In terms of operating costs, it basically needs the same platform on which Oracle runs."
"It is free, but if you need support, you can go for the commercial version called EnterpriseDB. They provide paid support, and they can even do hosting for you if you want standby and support."
"We do not pay for licensing."
"It is free. There is no license on it."
"We use the open-source version of PostgreSQL and not the enterprise edition."
"It is an open-source platform."
"It is also open-source so it is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business57
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise46
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with CockroachDB?
The platform should provide a UI feature where users have the ability to manage it. The CockroachDB platform should have a chatbot where users can inquire about pricing or seek solutions for querie...
What is your primary use case for CockroachDB?
We have been using CockroachDB for the last two years. From 2023, we started working on a product similar to Google Capture. We decided to work with CockroachDB with Hasura. Hasura is a UI for the ...
What advice do you have for others considering CockroachDB?
The tech support deserves a rating of nine out of ten. My overall rating for CockroachDB is 8 out of 10.
How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit yo...
What do you like most about PostgreSQL?
It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PostgreSQL?
The tool is free of cost. For now, it's not about making money. But once we perfect it, we can offer it to customers willing to pay for support and other services. Most of my deployments are free.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

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Find out what your peers are saying about CockroachDB vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.