PostgreSQL vs MySQL — Which One Should You Choose?

PostgreSQL and MySQL are the two most popular open-source databases. Here’s how they compare.

At a Glance

Feature	PostgreSQL	MySQL
Type	Object-relational	Relational
SQL compliance	Highly compliant	Partial
ACID	Full out of the box	Depends on storage engine
JSON support	Excellent (binary JSON)	Good (JSON type)
Full-text search	Built-in	Built-in (InnoDB)
Replication	Sync, async, logical	Async, group, semi-sync
License	PostgreSQL license	GPL or commercial
Best for	Complex queries, analytics, geospatial	Web apps, read-heavy workloads

When to Pick PostgreSQL

Analytics and reporting — PostgreSQL’s advanced indexing (GIN, GiST, BRIN) and CTE support make complex queries faster to write and run.

Geospatial data — PostGIS is the gold standard for location-based queries. MySQL’s spatial support is basic by comparison.

Data integrity — If your application can’t tolerate data loss, PostgreSQL’s crash recovery and MVCC implementation are more robust.

JSON/document workloads — PostgreSQL’s JSONB type is indexed and supports GIN indexes for fast document queries.

When to Pick MySQL

Simple web applications — WordPress, Drupal, and most PHP applications use MySQL. If your framework defaults to MySQL, stick with it.

Read-heavy workloads — MySQL with InnoDB handles high read concurrency efficiently.

Replication simplicity — MySQL’s asynchronous replication is straightforward to set up.

Managed hosting — More cloud providers offer optimized MySQL (RDS, Aurora, PlanetScale). PostgreSQL managed options are growing but still less numerous.

Syntax Differences

Case Sensitivity

-- MySQL (case-insensitive by default)
SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = 'Alice';  -- matches 'alice', 'ALICE'

-- PostgreSQL (case-sensitive)
SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = 'Alice';  -- only matches 'Alice'

LIMIT / OFFSET

-- Both support the same syntax
SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY id LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20;

-- MySQL also supports the shortcut form
SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY id LIMIT 20, 10;  -- OFFSET, LIMIT

Auto-Increment

-- MySQL
CREATE TABLE users (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY
);

-- PostgreSQL (SERIAL or IDENTITY)
CREATE TABLE users (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY
);

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose PostgreSQL if:

You need complex queries, CTEs, or window functions
Data integrity matters more than raw speed
You work with geospatial or JSON data
You want the closest thing to standard SQL

Choose MySQL if:

You’re building a standard CRUD web app
Your framework/tooling expects MySQL
You need easy replication
You want the widest hosting availability

Related: Learn SQL JOINs to work with either database.