vioscaleAI
Comparison

CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL

No clear leader: CockroachDB (65.0) and PostgreSQL (61.3) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

CockroachDB full profile →PostgreSQL full profile →
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CockroachDB65
PostgreSQL61
Score
vioscaleAI score
CockroachDB65 / 100medium · 65%
PostgreSQL61 / 100medium · 60%
Pricing
Free tier
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Model
CockroachDBfreemium
PostgreSQLopen_source
Price level
CockroachDBlow
PostgreSQLfree
Starting price
CockroachDB$0.06
PostgreSQL–
Transparent
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Integrations
Count
CockroachDB6
PostgreSQL6
Security
Certifications
Disclosure policy
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Gdpr
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Hipaa
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Iso27001
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Pci
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Scorecard
CockroachDB5.1
PostgreSQL6.1
Soc2
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Sla pct
CockroachDB99.99
PostgreSQL–
Adoption
Dependent repos
CockroachDB235
PostgreSQL0
Github stars
CockroachDB32,549
PostgreSQL22,285
Stackoverflow questions
CockroachDB–
PostgreSQL170,000
Activity
Commits last 30d
CockroachDB11
PostgreSQL100
Release
Cadence days
CockroachDB–
PostgreSQL90
License
Spdx
CockroachDB–
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
Language
Primary
CockroachDBGo
PostgreSQLC
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
CockroachDB6 items
PostgreSQL8 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for relational databases. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
SQL model
CockroachDBFull SQL
PostgreSQLFull SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions
CockroachDBFull
PostgreSQLFull
Highest isolation level
CockroachDBSerializable
PostgreSQL-
Consistency
Consistency
CockroachDBStrong
PostgreSQL-
Scale
Horizontal scale
CockroachDBNatively distributed
PostgreSQLRead replicas
Replication
Replication
CockroachDBConsensus (Raft/Paxos)
PostgreSQL-
Availability
Automatic failover / HA
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Deployment
Deployment
CockroachDBManaged
PostgreSQLSelf-hosted
Serverless / scale-to-zero
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✗
Compatibility
Wire compatibility
CockroachDBPostgres protocol
PostgreSQL-
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs
CockroachDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Licensing
Licence class
CockroachDBSource-available (BSL/SSPL)
PostgreSQLPermissive OSS
Data types
JSON / document support
CockroachDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Geo / spatial
CockroachDBNone
PostgreSQLExtension

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

CockroachDB

A cloud-native SQL database that scales automatically across machines without manual sharding, supporting ACID transactions and multi-region deployments. It survives node, zone, and regional failures with minimal disruption and is compatible with PostgreSQL applications.

Independently observed

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an open source relational database with over 35 years of active development. It supports transactions, user-defined functions, and a broad subset of SQL, widely used for data storage and retrieval in applications ranging from small projects to enterprise deployments.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

CockroachDB

from $0.06/vCPU-hourUsage-basedFree tier30-day trial

From $0.057/vCPU-hr. Free 30-day trial with $400 credit.

  • StandardFrom $0.057/vCPU-hr, 99.99% SLA
    • 99.99% availability SLA
    • Single- or multi-region on AWS and GCP
    • Row-level security
    • Column-level encryption
    • Private connectivity
    • +2 more
  • Mission Critical$0.162/vCPU-hr, 99.999% SLA
    • 99.999% availability SLA with multi-region
    • Egress controls
    • CMEK
    • PCI DSS & HIPAA compliance
    • All add-ons available
    • +1 more
as of verify ↗

PostgreSQL

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✗
macOS
CockroachDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Windows
CockroachDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Linux
CockroachDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
CLI
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Self-hosted
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
On-premise
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✗
Hybrid
CockroachDB✓
PostgreSQL✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (2)
  • pgvector
  • Kubernetes

CockroachDB

16 total - 14 not shared
  • Datadog
  • Splunk
  • Dynatrace
  • New Relic
  • Terraform
  • Vercel
  • HashiCorp
  • AWS
  • GCP
  • Azure
  • MOLT (Migration Tool)
  • PostgreSQL drivers
  • SQLAlchemy
  • Google Cloud
Independently observed

PostgreSQL

10 total - 8 not shared
  • CloudNativePG
  • Patroni
  • pgAdmin
  • PostGIS
  • pgAudit
  • Spock
  • Cilium
  • Submariner
Independently observed
Still deciding?

CockroachDB or PostgreSQL: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.