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MySQL v. PostgreSQL

2 points by ghiotion ↗ HN
I've been a long time user of MySQL. I neither love it, nor hate it; but I do find that it meets all my database needs. I was reading the Reddit job posting the other day and I see that they use Postgres as their database and I thought to myself, "is there something I'm missing?" I've never really looked into Postgres, but it seems like I see it popping up all over the place. What's the consensus? Is Postgres superior to MySQL in some way I'm unaware?

6 comments

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noodle
postgre used to be superior due to the fact that it had a ton of features that mysql didn't have. now they're approximately even, although postgre does still have more robust features.

mysql, i believe, performs better in most situations and configurations. in the black art of performance tweaking, you can tweak them both down pretty well, but mysql still stays better performing (edited to add:) in general. YMMV based on the needs of your app.

st3fan
... it depends ...
noodle
yeah, there's no doubt about the fact that its situational.

just like picking a language

gaius
In terms of stored procedure language and locking strategy Postgres is still light-years ahead of MySQL. You can almost think of Postgres as the free Oracle. Going feature-for-feature by introduction date, MySQL is 10-15 years behind.
davidw
Historically, Mysql was "faster" than Postgres (it's called Postgres or PostgreSQL) in the same way that a bicycle without brakes was faster at going down hills. These days, Postgres is a lot faster, and Mysql, with InnoDB, has things like transactions that make it an actual database. I've always been partial to Postgres because it was an actual database with more features and without any of the licensing weirdnesses of Mysql.