“To many people, PostgreSQL and MySQL seem like similar, alternative databases. Both are quickly gaining popularity. Based on the track records of older versions, there’s a lot of debate over the speed of PostgreSQL and the durability of MySQL. But times have changed and each database has progressed. On both counts, the two packages are the closest they’ve ever been, so when deciding which to use in a Web application, a developer doesn’t always have a clear winner. […] If you’re looking for a database to prop up a Weblog or portal, you’ll find that many such packages rely on MySQL. It should be possible to port them to PostgreSQL, but if you’re looking for a turnkey package, chances are you’re not interested in doing too much porting work. If you’re migrating from Oracle, Sybase, or Microsoft SQL Server, I suggest PostgreSQL. Like those databases, PostgreSQL has triggers, stored procedures, and a rich set of built-in functions (including many functions for date manipulation). Also, PostgreSQL procedural language is easy to learn if you’re familiar with Oracle’s PL/SQL and SQL Server’s Transact-SQL.” Read the whole shootout article over at WebTechniques.
PostgreSQL vs MySQL, a Year Later
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Personally, I agree with the author. PostgreSQL is better in most cases for small business and for personal usage. Plus it scales up better under heavy load than mySQL.
Still, no one can beat Oracle though. Sure, they cost immenselly much, but for a large business who want to keep the integrity of their data, SQL Server, DB2 or Oracle are the only answers.
None of these open source dbs will be able to handle extremely large volumes of data and heavy load. But as I said, they are more than good enough for small business and personal usage.
Sybase IQ is still the fatest when it comes to data-mining applications. And their Adaptive Server flagship is more commonly used in the Fortune 500 companies. DB2 though has consistently been the leader in the last two years, and Oracle 8i/9 and it’s integrated JVM is awesome.
I haven’t used sybase 12.x with its’ in built Java so i can’t compare the two.
I agree with you on PostgreSQL. It is more intuitive for someone who has “commercial database experience” and surprisingly quick. MySQL has its’ place and i can understand why people like using it, but yeah i prefer PostgreSQL and i run it and Sybase 11.9.2 on my Mandrake Linux server.
cheers
peter
beos.loved.com
i meant fastest not fatest !!!
My preference is MySQL, easy to install and use. This tutorial is an example: http://www.sorgonet.com/linux/mysql
Of course it’s fast! It supports very little of the ANSI 92 spec. No programmatic transactionalization/Rollback. No cursors. No reliable table or tx locks. For a guestbook, sure, but *never* for a real application.