Oracle vs. PostgreSQL
Should you use Oracle or use free software? These are they reliable?
There are several alternatives to Oracle to manage large databases. Here we make a comparison with PostgreSQL. But Cassandra, used by Facebook and other social sites dealing with millions of transactions per day is another possibility.
Who uses PostgreSQL?
Some best known companies:
- Yahoo!. Uses a modified version of PostgreSQL for a database considered in 2008 as the largest in the world.
- MySpace. Social Network.
- Hi5. Social Network.
- Skype. Telephony.
- Sony. For its online gaming platform.
- Afilias. The registry for .org and .info domain names.
- The International Space Station. Gage of reliability!
The top websites all use alternatives to Oracle.
- Google: BigTable a proprietary system.
- Facebook: Cassandra, open source system that derives from BigTable.
- Youtube: BigTable.
- Yahoo!: PostgreSQL.
- Live (Microsoft). SQL Server.
- Wikipedia. MySQL.
- Twitter. MySQL and Cassandra.
Price
Oracle
Prices are for one processor core. If you use a processor with four cores on a server, multiply the price by four. (Référence).
- Standard Edition: 17500 dollars a core.
- Enterprise Edition: 47 500 dollars per core.
PostgreSQL
- Free.
Benchmark and Comparison
PostgreSQL is considered equivalent in performance to Oracle. One or the other may be faster for particular functions or time spent in optimization.
This benchmark shows PostgreSQL processing more data than Oracle and MySQL during the same time.
| Fonction | Oracle | PostgreSLQ |
|---|---|---|
SQL |
x | x |
Referential integrity |
x | x |
Transaction |
x | x |
Unicode |
x | x |
GUI |
x | x |
Max base size |
Illimited | Illimited |
Max table size |
4 GO | 32000 GO |
Max column size |
8 Ko | 16000 GO |
Max number of columns |
1000 | 250-1600 |
Max size of a blob |
Illimited | 1 GO |
Max size of a varchar |
4 KB | 1 GO |
Number of digits for a numerical value |
128 bits | Illimited |
Date: Far year |
9999 | 5874897 |
Lenght of a column name, in char. |
30 | 63 |
Different types of indexes |
6/10 | 10/10 |
SQL features |
11/11 | 10/11 |
Functions and procedures |
x | x |
Partitionment modes |
4/6 | 4/6 |
Compatibility with common OS |
4/5 | 5/5 |
The SQL ability PostgreSQL is lacking is the parallel processing that is to divide a single query into parts that can be performed simultaneously. This has nothing to do with simultaneous requests from multiple users.
Oracle is generally granted a greater ease to set up clusters. But it is always possible to rely to a specialized company for the installation.
Conclusion
PostgreSQL and Oracle are equivalent systems although one is free and the other very expensive. Nothing justifies the use of Oracle instead of PostgreSQL.
Many specialised companies offer services for their installation, development, maintenance, in both cases.
See also
Tools
- PostgreSQL. Free download.
- phpPgAdmin Equivalent to phpMyAdmin (MySQL) for PostgreSQL.
- pgAdmin Local desktop PostgreSQL database manager.
- Once:Radix. Access-like RAD for databases including Postgre.
- PostGIS. For spatial or geographical data, is better than the Oracle counterpart. Example: OpenStreetMap.
Documents
- Building PetaByte Warehouses with Unmodified PostgreSQL.
- PostgreSQL 9.0.
- PostgreSQL 9.1. New features to improve speed are numerous.
- The clock is ticking on Oracle. What future for Oracle?
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