vioscaleAI
Comparison

MariaDB vs PostgreSQL

On the evidence we track, PostgreSQL leads this comparison with a composite score of 61/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

MariaDB full profile →PostgreSQL full profile →
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MariaDB50
★PostgreSQL61
Score
vioscaleAI score
MariaDB50 / 100low · 42%
PostgreSQL61 / 100medium · 60%
Pricing
Free tier
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Model
MariaDBopen_source
PostgreSQLopen_source
Price level
MariaDBfree
PostgreSQLfree
Transparent
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Integrations
Count
MariaDB17
PostgreSQL6
Security
Disclosure policy
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Gdpr
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL–
Scorecard
MariaDB4.7
PostgreSQL6.1
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Adoption
Dependent repos
MariaDB0
PostgreSQL0
Github stars
MariaDB8,358
PostgreSQL22,285
Stackoverflow questions
MariaDB–
PostgreSQL170,000
Activity
Commits last 30d
MariaDB100
PostgreSQL100
Release
Cadence days
MariaDB–
PostgreSQL90
History
MariaDB20 items
PostgreSQL–
License
Spdx
MariaDBGPL-2.0
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
Language
Primary
MariaDBC++
PostgreSQLC
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
MariaDB7 items
PostgreSQL8 items

Capabilities

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

Core
SQL model
MariaDBFull SQL
PostgreSQLFull SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions
MariaDBFull
PostgreSQLFull
Highest isolation level
MariaDB-
PostgreSQL-
Consistency
Consistency
MariaDBTunable
PostgreSQL-
Scale
Horizontal scale
MariaDBNatively distributed
PostgreSQLRead replicas
Replication
Replication
MariaDBSync
PostgreSQL-
Availability
Automatic failover / HA
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Deployment
Deployment
MariaDB-
PostgreSQLSelf-hosted
Serverless / scale-to-zero
MariaDB-
PostgreSQL✗
Compatibility
Wire compatibility
MariaDBMySQL protocol
PostgreSQL-
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Licensing
Licence class
MariaDBCopyleft
PostgreSQLPermissive OSS
Data types
JSON / document support
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Geo / spatial
MariaDBNative
PostgreSQLExtension

What each one is

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

MariaDB

A widely deployed open source database that evolved from MySQL while maintaining compatibility, offering advanced SQL capabilities, native vector search, pluggable storage engines, and multi-primary clustering for production workloads.

Independently observed

PostgreSQL

Leader

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.

MariaDB

Open source
as of verify ↗

PostgreSQL

Leader
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
macOS
MariaDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Windows
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Linux
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
MariaDB✗
PostgreSQL✓
Self-hosted
MariaDB✓
PostgreSQL✓

Integrations

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

MariaDB

17 total
  • MariaDB Connector/C
  • MariaDB Connector/Node.js
  • MariaDB Connector/ODBC
  • MariaDB Connector/J
  • MariaDB Connector/Python
  • MariaDB Connector/R2DBC
  • MariaDB Connector/C++
  • MySqlConnector for ADO.NET
  • ADO.NET Driver for MySQL
  • ODBC Driver for MySQL
  • JDBC Driver for MySQL
  • Node.js Driver for MySQL
  • C++ Driver for MySQL
  • C Driver for MySQL
  • C API for MySQL
  • PyMySQL
  • mysql-python
Independently observed

PostgreSQL

Leader
10 total
  • CloudNativePG
  • Kubernetes
  • Patroni
  • pgAdmin
  • pgVector
  • PostGIS
  • pgAudit
  • Spock
  • Cilium
  • Submariner
Independently observed
Still deciding?

MariaDB 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.