Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

Read 125 PostgreSQL reviews

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7,307 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Firebird SQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL are both open-source database solutions in the same category, but PostgreSQL seems to have the upper hand due to its scalability, performance, and extensive feature set according to user reviews.

Features: PostgreSQL includes complex query handling, extensive language support, and robust integration capabilities. Firebird SQL offers ease of deployment, strong transactional integrity, and minimal administration requirements, making it suitable for lightweight applications.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL could improve query speed, support for additional SQL standards, and further enhance scalability and replication. Firebird SQL could benefit from better handling of larger datasets, improved support for modern data trends, and increased popularity among larger user bases.

Ease Of Deployment and Customer Service: PostgreSQL supports versatile deployment options including on-premises and cloud environments with community-driven support. Firebird SQL is mainly used in on-premises setups, known for its ease of deployment with minimal maintenance.

Pricing and ROI: Both PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL are open-source, offering minimal costs and rapid ROI. Additional costs with PostgreSQL may arise from third-party products or services, while Firebird SQL remains completely free, appealing to cost-conscious businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: April 2025).

Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL

April 2025

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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

Firebird SQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Embedded Database (1st)

PostgreSQL

Ranking in Open Source Databases

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Vector Databases (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Open Source Databases category, the mindshare of Firebird SQL is 17.9%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 18.0%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Open Source Databases

Featured Reviews

Doug Meuross

Strategic Advisor at TradeWindow

A reliable tool that offers good performance and is easy to use

I have had no issues with the stability of the product since it has always been a 100 percent reliable product and much better than the other databases available in the market. The multi-platform part is not good, especially when locked into things like Windows. You can judge your platform with Linux or Unix or whatever since they are good.

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PavithrarajShetty

Software Architect at Tetherfi

Offers simplicity and is cheaply priced

I haven't gone through the scalability aspect since I was using MySQL Server. I haven't worked to a high level in PostgreSQL, but with MySQL Server, I have managed clustering and partitioning. I think I haven't put much focus on PostgreSQL, so I am not sure how it behaves or how it works.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product was easy to use."

"Firebird SQL is an open-source solution and can run on most operating systems, such as Linux, Unix, and Windows."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is reliable, offers good performance, and is easy to use."

"I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution."

"It helps us in detecting all kinds of problems in the code, such as bad quality, unclear code, or any violation in the code or best practices."

"The reliability and ease of management are very valuable."

"The documentation is very well written."

"Robustness is the absolutely main feature."

More Firebird SQL pros

"The solution is open-source and free to use."

"What I like is that it's quite powerful in terms of performance."

"It's quite scalable."

"The product is very similar to the SQL Server."

"We managed to reduce the storage space needed to 10% of the original size, without affecting data integrity, and we significantly improved the performance."

"This is an open-source solution, operates at a high speed, and supports more than one SQL language."

"The product is easy to use and works fast for relational databases."

"PostgreSQL has complete SQL dialects and is useful for writing sophisticated and complex queries. We have experience with Oracle database. My partner is experienced in DDA and he writes sophisticated SQL queries. The solution helps to get the job done in the best possible way. In today’s age, most developers do not have strong SQL knowledge or language command. They find it difficult to write even a SQL statement. These developers write cool queries which perform badly on the database end. As DBAs, we constantly urge the developers not to write bad queries, help them learn more, and write placebo commands."

Cons

"We would like to improve the management of very large databases."

"Database sharing is a capability that Firebird SQL lacks."

"It would be good to have more automation and integration with the tools from other vendors."

"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed."

"The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL."

"It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product."

"It is not easy to integrate the tool with Visual Studio."

"Technical support and performance could be better. We have some problems with this solution, but we don't know if the problem is with the database or the configuration. For example, sometimes, the users can't access the database."

More Firebird SQL cons

"Postgres should focus on building a stronger knowledge base. They also need to expand their integration capabilities, so more tools and resources are available to manage it."

"Instead of the installation agent downloading all the packages for the install, it should allow the user to download the packages separately on their own to do the install."

"It needs more integration."

"They need to have a better graphical interface. There is a tool called pgAdmin 4 that they use, which is free. It is written in Java, and it is slow. They need to have a better product that is similar to Toad for Oracle, but, of course, it is hard to get something that's really great and free. Other than that, it is great."

"PostgreSQL could improve by adding data warehousing tools."

"Sometimes, it becomes slow because of the network. So, there is room for improvement in performance."

"The database and applications can become very slow."

"They need to improve the user experience of the management."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."

"It's open-source and free."

"I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."

"The tool is open source."

"There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."

"There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."

"It is okay."

More Firebird SQL pricing and cost advice

"PostgreSQL is open-source, so if capable admins are available then the setup cost can be $0."

"It is free. There is no license on it."

"The solution requires a license."

"We are using the free version of PostgreSQL."

"It is open-source. If you use it on-premise, it is free. It also has enterprise or commercial versions. If you go for the cloud version, there will be a cost, but it is lower than Oracle or Microsoft."

"The tool is cheaply priced compared to other RDBMS providers in the market."

"It is also open-source so it is free."

"Affordable solution."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 Firebird SQL?

Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Firebird SQL?

It's open-source and free.

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.

What needs improvement with PostgreSQL?

Postgres should focus on building a stronger knowledge base. They also need to expand their integration capabilities, so more tools and resources are available to manage it. But it is more secure t...

Oracle MySQL Cloud Service vs Firebird SQL

Comparisons

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SQLite vs Firebird SQL

Compared 16% of the time

MariaDB vs Firebird SQL

Compared 15% of the time

DuckDB vs Firebird SQL

Compared 1% of the time

Compared 1% of the time

More Firebird SQL Competitors

MySQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 12% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs PostgreSQL

Compared 11% of the time

MariaDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 8% of the time

Chroma vs PostgreSQL

Compared 7% of the time

LanceDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 4% of the time

Product Reports

Download Firebird SQL product report

Embedded Database

April 2025

Download PostgreSQL product report

May 2025

Overview

Firebird SQL is an open-source, cross-platform relational database management system that offers an enterprise-level database solution. The solution is designed to be highly secure, efficient, and compatible with various platforms and programming languages. Firebird can operate in both embedded and server modes.

Firebird is an open-source project with an active community of developers and users. It is released under the Initial Developer's Public License (IDPL) and the InterBase Public License, allowing for free use, modification, and distribution.

The Firebird solution requires minimal configuration and its architecture allows it to efficiently handle databases ranging from a few KB to multiple terabytes. It is available for various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and several Unix-like platforms.

What are the key features of Firebird SQL?

ACID Compliance: Firebird provides full support for ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions, ensuring data integrity and consistency, even in the event of system failures or concurrent access.
SQL Language Support: Firebird SQL provides extensive support for ANSI SQL, which is the standard SQL language, making it compatible with a wide range of applications and tools.
Multi-Generational Architecture: Firebird employs a multi-generational architecture, which allows multiple versions of the same data to coexist within the database.
Concurrency and Performance: Firebird offers efficient concurrency control mechanisms, including multi-version concurrency control (MVCC), which allows multiple transactions to access and modify data simultaneously without locking or blocking each other, improving overall performance.
Embedded mode: In the embedded mode, the database engine is integrated directly into the application.
Security Features: Firebird provides user authentication, role-based access control, and encryption capabilities. It supports various authentication methods, such as native Firebird user accounts, external authentication sources (e.g., Windows domains), and single sign-on (SSO) mechanisms.
Backup and Restore: Firebird offers built-in backup and restore utilities, allowing users to create full or incremental backups of the database, as well as restore from these backups when needed.

As part of being a commonly used open-sourced solution, Firebird boasts a vibrant community of developers and users. The community provides extensive documentation, third-party tools, and active forums for support. Businesses can also opt for professional support services offered by third-party vendors for added assurance.

To summarize, Firebird SQL is a robust, scalable, and cost-effective database solution suitable for a wide range of applications and business sizes. Its comprehensive SQL support, security features, and cross-platform compatibility, combined with the active community support, make it a compelling choice for businesses looking to leverage the power of open-source software without compromising on performance or security.

Firebird

PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases.

It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable.

Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

Sample Customers

Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31

1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg