CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL
CockroachDB
Distributed SQL for global cloud-native applications
PostgreSQL
The world's most advanced open-source relational database
| Feature | CockroachDB | PostgreSQL |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Databases | Databases |
| Sub-category | Distributed SQL | Relational |
| Maturity | stable | mature |
| Complexity | advanced | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | enterprise grade |
| License | BSL | PostgreSQL |
| License type | source-available | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 30.0K | 0 |
| Contributors | 500 | 1.5K |
| Commit frequency | weekly | daily |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | massive |
| Docs quality | good | excellent |
| Backing org | Cockroach Labs | PostgreSQL Global Dev Group |
| Funding model | vc_backed | community |
| Min RAM | 2 GB | 256 MB |
| Min CPU cores | 2 | 1 |
| Scaling pattern | distributed | vertical |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | No |
| Offline capable | Yes | Yes |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Go | C |
| API type | REST | SDK |
| Protocols | HTTP | PostgreSQL wire |
| Deployment | docker, apt, binary | apt, docker, binary |
| SDK languages | — | python, javascript, java, go, rust, ruby, c, php, c# |
| Team size fit | solo, small, medium, enterprise | solo, small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 1996 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use CockroachDB
- ✓ Primary use: global-applications
- ✓ Primary use: multi-region-deployment
- ✓ Primary use: strong-consistency
When to use PostgreSQL
- ✓ Primary transactional database for web applications
- ✓ GIS applications with PostGIS extension
- ✓ Time-series data with TimescaleDB extension
- ✓ Vector similarity search with pgvector for RAG
- ✓ JSONB document storage as MongoDB alternative
CockroachDB anti-patterns
PostgreSQL anti-patterns
- ✕ Horizontal sharding not native (need Citus)
- ✕ Not ideal for pure key-value workloads at massive scale
- ✕ Write-heavy append-only workloads better served by Cassandra
- ✕ Not a graph database