PostgreSQL vs. SQLite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PostgreSQL
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
PostgreSQL (alternately Postgres) is a free and open source object-relational database system boasting over 30 years of active development, reliability, feature robustness, and performance. It supports SQL and is designed to support various workloads flexibly.N/A
SQLite
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
SQLite is an in-process library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. The code for SQLite is in the public domain and is thus free for use for any purpose, commercial or private. SQLite is one of the most widely deployed databases in the world.N/A
Pricing
PostgreSQLSQLite
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PostgreSQLSQLite
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PostgreSQLSQLite
Considered Both Products
PostgreSQL
Chose PostgreSQL
  1. MySQL - doesn't have transactional support for schema migrations, and has a more restrictive license
  2. DB2 - not free
  3. SQLite - doesn't have full foreign key constraint support
Chose PostgreSQL
Being open source, PostgreSQL offers the highest performance among its peers. It has a strong support community where we can find solutions to most of the queries. It's suited for GIS (Geospatial) based applications, making it unique from its peers. There are fewer databases …
Chose PostgreSQL
A free corporate professional product. Who does not want to have such a thing, we hesitated because we did not know the product before and frankly we did not want it at first. But when we give it a chance, it has been running smoothly for years.
Chose PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL outperforms every other option. It is faster, more flexible, more reliable, easier to maintain, and more consistent in behaviour than any of the other offerings.
Chose PostgreSQL
I think Postgres stacks up great against all modern database solutions and has continued to be a trend leader in this space.
Chose PostgreSQL
The features between these database are quite comparable - except for possibly MongoDB. MongoDB being a different type of database and geared towards big data - I don't compare it to PostgreSQL. The other two I have used and would say PostgreSQL does fairly well when compared …
SQLite
Chose SQLite
PostgreSQL is more advanced features then sqlite, however it needs a server and complexity is high for low level development work. for offline work sqlite is best. DuckDB is great for analytics , it is the data base for analytics and better then sqlite for analytical purpose. …
Chose SQLite
We looked at other traditional RDBMS products, but found them to be cumbersome to deploy. They take up more space, and consume more computing resources than SQLite does. While the performance or direct integration to our primary applications may have been better or easier if we …
Chose SQLite
SQLite is considered better against these two depending on the needs and phase of the project. If we require a lightweight yet reliable database which should also be portable across different platforms and speed is the most important part of the query and data security is not …
Chose SQLite
I think there is no real competition between them.
In "SQLite" you can hear "light" when you don't need to store a big amount of data and when you need something easy to deploy, SQLite is a good choice, I didn't find those qualities in other database systems I knew.
Best Alternatives
PostgreSQLSQLite
Small Businesses
InfluxDB
InfluxDB
Score 8.8 out of 10
InfluxDB
InfluxDB
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SQLite
SQLite
Score 8.0 out of 10
Neo4j
Neo4j
Score 7.5 out of 10
Enterprises
SQLite
SQLite
Score 8.0 out of 10
Neo4j
Neo4j
Score 7.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PostgreSQLSQLite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(56 ratings)
8.1
(14 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(9 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.3
(7 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PostgreSQLSQLite
Likelihood to Recommend
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
PostgreSQL is best used for structured data, and best when following relational database design principles. I would not use PostgreSQL for large unstructured data such as video, images, sound files, xml documents, web-pages, especially if these files have their own highly variable, internal structure.
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Open Source
SQLite is a lightweight and efficient database management system. With SQLite, performance increases as memory are added. It's reliable and well-tested before release. SQLite handles memory allocation and I/O errors gracefully. SQLite provides bug lists and code-change chronologies. All bugs are disclosed, and it's compatible with iOS, Android, MAC, and Windows. SQLite is open-source, allowing developers to tailor it to their specific needs.
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Pros
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  • It works well with external data sources and runs on platforms with stable performance.
  • Clients can rest assured that their personal information will be safe and secure.
  • Many forums discuss setup and usage, and most are free.
  • Adding tooling applications to a computer is unlimited.
  • PostgreSQL runs on many OS platforms and supports ANSI SQL, stored procedures, and triggers.
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Open Source
  • Our products are using SQLite in embedded Linux and in Windows software.
  • It is truly a stable cross-platform database.
  • The fact that it is a zero-configuration database engine, it is particularly a nice advantage when you work in the embedded world.
  • Being a single database file, it provides ease for those who need to quickly transfer data to someone else, or quickly browse data.
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Cons
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  • Clearer indications on what is the query plan, to optimize the query
  • More out of the box, Postgres specific, SQL functions
  • It would be nice to have a more visual aid of the relationship between all tables, but possibly this depend more on the UI used
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Open Source
  • Although it is excellent at what it does, you should be really careful and plan accordingly if you know that your database is going to scale at a huge level because it is not suitable of databases which are of Enterprise level and demands top-notch security and protection.
  • If your project involves multiple people working on the same database simultaneously, then that becomes a big problem, because it only allows single write at one time. You really need to be forward thinking in a manner to predict if this database will cater to all the needs of your project.
  • The most common difficulty with this is the lack of some of the basic functionality which is present in the other premier databases like Joints, Stored Procedure calls, Security and permission grants. If you do require all those things then you are better off not using this software.
  • Lastly, if you are using this in an Andriod App development cycle then also your options are limited because it does not integrate with PostgreSQL and MYSQL.
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Likelihood to Renew
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
As a needed software for day to day development activities
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Usability
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
Postgresql is the best tool out there for relational data so I have to give it a high rating when it comes to analytics, data availability and consistency, so on and so forth. SQL is also a relatively consistent language so when it comes to building new tables and loading data in from the OLTP database, there are enough tools where we can perform ETL on a scalable basis.
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Open Source
I have given this rating cause its irreplaceable in some of the areas like no more installation need except from a single library. I find dialect is simple in use cases. its suitable for any professionals with various skill levels. its easily connect with various os and devices. very less maintenance or administration required.
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Reliability and Availability
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
PostgreSQL's availability is top notch. Apart from connection time-out for an idle user, the database is super reliable.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Performance
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
The data queries are relatively quick for a small to medium sized table. With complex joins, and a wide and deep table however, the performance of the query has room for improvement.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
There are several companies that you can contract for technical support, like EnterpriseDB or Percona, both first level in expertise and commitment to the software.
But we do not have contracts with them, we have done all the way from googling to forums, and never have a problem that we cannot resolve or pass around. And for dozens of projects and more than 15 years now.
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Open Source
I haven't needed support yet.
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Online Training
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
The online training is request based. Had there been recorded videos available online for potential users to benefit from, I could have rated it higher. The online documentation however is very helpful. The online documentation PDF is downloadable and allows users to pace their own learning. With examples and code snippets, the documentation is great starting point.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
The online documentation of the PostgreSQL product is elaborate and takes users step by step.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
Although the competition between the different databases is increasingly aggressive in the sense that they provide many improvements, new functionalities, compatibility with complementary components or environments, in some cases it requires that it be followed within the same family of applications that performs the company that develops it and that is not all bad, but being able to adapt or configure different programs, applications or other environments developed by third parties apart is what gives PostgreSQL a certain advantage and this diversification in the components that can be joined with it, is the reason why it is a great option to choose.
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Open Source
We looked at other traditional RDBMS products, but found them to be cumbersome to deploy. They take up more space, and consume more computing resources than SQLite does. While the performance or direct integration to our primary applications may have been better or easier if we had gone with a traditional RDBMS, the performance of SQLite has been more than acceptable. The performance and speed to deploy made SQLite a much more attractive option for us than a traditional RDBMS.
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Scalability
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
The DB is reliable, scalable, easy to use and resolves most DB needs
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  • Easy to administer so our DevOps team has only ever used minimal time to setup, tune, and maintain.
  • Easy to interface with so our Engineering team has only ever used minimal time to query or modify the database. Getting the data is straightforward, what we do with it is the bigger concern.
  • It's free. You can't beat that.
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Open Source
  • No licensing fees has a net increase on ROI
  • The active community has kept support costs low, further increasing ROI
  • The wide range of supported platforms and high level of compatibility has increased ROI by reducing time spent porting the database model to any platform specific solutions.
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