Comparison

Google Cloud Spanner vs PostgreSQL

On the evidence we track, PostgreSQL leads this comparison with a composite score of 60/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Google Cloud Spanner full profile →PostgreSQL full profile →

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Google Cloud Spanner44

★PostgreSQL60

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Google Cloud Spanner	PostgreSQLLeader
Vioscale score	44 / 100low · 39%	60 / 100medium · 56%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	free
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	5	10
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	6.1
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=openstack-helm%2Fpostgresql&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	21,899
Stackoverflow questionsadoption.stackoverflow_questions	-	170,000
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	90
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	PostgreSQL
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	C
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide
Content
Faqcontent.faq	-	8 items

Score

Vioscale score

Google Cloud Spanner44 / 100low · 39%

PostgreSQL60 / 100medium · 56%

Pricing

Free tier

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL✓

Model

Google Cloud Spannercommercial

PostgreSQLcommercial

Price level

Google Cloud Spannerlow

PostgreSQLfree

Integrations

Count

Google Cloud Spanner5

PostgreSQL10

Security

Disclosure policy

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL✓

Scorecard

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL6.1

Vulnerabilities

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQLCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=openstack-helm%2Fpostgresql&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL–

Adoption

Dependent repos

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL0

Github stars

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL21,899

Stackoverflow questions

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL170,000

Activity

Commits last 30d

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL100

Release

Cadence days

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL90

License

Spdx

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQLPostgreSQL

Language

Primary

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQLC

Market

Availability

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQLAvailable worldwide

Content

Faq

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL8 items

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Relational Databases
Capability	Google Cloud Spanner	PostgreSQL
Core
SQL model	Full SQL	Full SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions	Full	-
Highest isolation level	Serializable	-
Consistency
Consistency	Strong	-
Scale
Horizontal scale	Natively distributed	Read replicas
Replication
Replication	Consensus (Raft/Paxos)	-
Availability
Automatic failover / HA	✓	✓
Deployment
Deployment	Managed	Self-hosted
Serverless / scale-to-zero	-	✗
Compatibility
Wire compatibility	Postgres protocol	-
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs	✓	✓
Licensing
Licence class	Proprietary	Permissive OSS
Data types
JSON / document support	-	✓
Geo / spatial	-	Extension

Core

SQL model

Google Cloud SpannerFull SQL

PostgreSQLFull SQL

Transactions

ACID transactions

Google Cloud SpannerFull

PostgreSQL-

Highest isolation level

Google Cloud SpannerSerializable

PostgreSQL-

Consistency

Google Cloud SpannerStrong

PostgreSQL-

Scale

Horizontal scale

Google Cloud SpannerNatively distributed

PostgreSQLRead replicas

Replication

Google Cloud SpannerConsensus (Raft/Paxos)

PostgreSQL-

Availability

Automatic failover / HA

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL✓

Deployment

Google Cloud SpannerManaged

PostgreSQLSelf-hosted

Serverless / scale-to-zero

Google Cloud Spanner-

PostgreSQL✗

Compatibility

Wire compatibility

Google Cloud SpannerPostgres protocol

PostgreSQL-

Extensibility

Extensions / plugins / UDFs

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL✓

Licensing

Licence class

Google Cloud SpannerProprietary

PostgreSQLPermissive OSS

Data types

JSON / document support

Google Cloud Spanner-

PostgreSQL✓

Geo / spatial

Google Cloud Spanner-

PostgreSQLExtension

What each one is

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

Google Cloud Spanner

Google Cloud's globally distributed, multi-model database supporting relational, graph, key-value, and search capabilities with native PostgreSQL interface and Gemini AI integration.

Independently observed

PostgreSQL

Leader

PostgreSQL is a mature open-source relational database system combining strong data integrity with comprehensive features and active community maintenance.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Google Cloud Spanner

Usage-basedFree tier90-day trial

Usage-based pricing: compute capacity (nodes/processing units, hourly), storage (monthly), backups, data replication, network bandwidth. Free 90-day trial instances. Optional 1-year and 3-year committed use discounts. Three editions available: Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus.

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

PostgreSQL

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Google Cloud Spanner	PostgreSQL
WindowsPlatforms	-	✓
LinuxPlatforms	-	✓
CLIPlatforms	-	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

Windows

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL✓

Linux

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL✓

CLI

Google Cloud Spanner–

PostgreSQL✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL✓

Self-hosted

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PostgreSQL✓

Integrations

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

Google Cloud Spanner

5 total

Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform
Gemini CLI
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Agent Development Kit (ADK)
Data Agent Kit

Independently observed

PostgreSQL

Leader

10 total

CloudNativePG
Kubernetes
Patroni
pgAdmin
pgVector
PostGIS
pgAudit
Spock
Cilium
Submariner

Independently observed

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