Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL comparison

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12,266 views|9,686 comparisons
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13,969 views|11,367 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

Overall, PostgreSQL is praised for its robustness, stability, efficiency, and customer service, while Firebird SQL receives appreciation for its integration capabilities and security measures. PostgreSQL users highlight its performance, scalability, and wide range of features, while Firebird SQL users value its speed, scalability, and resource management. Both have affordable pricing and efficient customer support, but PostgreSQL users note the need for better optimization and documentation, whereas Firebird SQL users want improved performance and error messaging.

Features: PostgreSQL offers robustness, scalability, and an extensive range of built-in data types. Users praise its excellent performance and advanced SQL functionality. On the other hand, Firebird SQL is valued for its seamless integration with programming languages, high-performance capabilities, and strong data security measures. Both products have their unique strengths.

Pricing and ROI: PostgreSQL offers flexible pricing options with manageable setup costs and fair licensing terms, catering to various budgets. On the other hand, Firebird SQL is known for its reasonable and affordable pricing, low setup costs, and straightforward licensing process. Both products have different approaches to cost and setup., PostgreSQL emerged as a valuable investment with impressive functionalities, scalability, security features, and seamless integration. Firebird SQL also yielded positive returns but lacks specific highlights.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL: Areas for improvement include enhancing overall performance and optimization, addressing difficulties during installation and configuration, improving documentation and resources for developers, and enhancing the user interface for easier navigation. Firebird SQL: Improvements needed in performance and speed, especially with larger datasets. Better documentation and detailed error messages are necessary for troubleshooting. Query optimization and compatibility with other databases should also be enhanced.

Deployment and customer support: The user reviews for PostgreSQL indicate that deployment and setup took either three months with an additional week or just one week. In contrast, the reviews for Firebird SQL are mixed, with some users stating a quick process of around a week for all phases and others reporting several months for deployment alone., PostgreSQL's customer service and support have been praised for their responsiveness, helpfulness, and effectiveness. Firebird SQL's customer service is highly regarded for their promptness, efficiency, knowledge, and friendliness.

The summary above is based on 17 interviews we conducted recently with PostgreSQL and Firebird SQL users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I appreciate the fact that, once the database is embedded, it doesn't need to be administered, and removes the requirement for a specific server.""The solution is very useful for stock management.""Robustness is the absolutely main feature.""We are happy with the event capabilities of Firebird SQL database. We can raise events from it and display them in our application.""I find the ease of deployment to be the most valuable aspect of this solution.""I like that we don't have to pay external fees to migrate this data. So, we are looking to relocate from Postgres or EDB.""Firebird SQL is an open-source solution.""The product was easy to use."

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"Postgres is rock solid when deployed according to best practices as documented by the PostgreSQL community. When it's installed correctly, PostgreSQL is an enterprise-grade solution.""The database has excellent performance.""The solution has many valuable features such as it easy to use and the interface is intuitive.""Scalable, stable, and easy to manage database system, with a straightforward installation.""The main value is that it is open source, which means it is free. Our organization has the initiative to go to open source to cut down on cost. Oracle costs us $6 million a year right now, which is killing us, and Postgres costs nothing. So, there is a big push to go to Postgres.""It's a standard reliable database management system.""PostgreSQL makes it very adaptable to several descriptions of a record. Instead of having several tables or several relations for one entity, I can adapt this entity. It can be a multiform entity. For example, here in Mexico, a company and a person can be sold to us as a physical entity or a physical person.""It has completely met our needs. It works, and it is robust. We haven't had any problems with what PostgreSQL does for us and the way it does it. That's why we've been using it for so long. We understand it, and it does the job."

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Cons
"This solution isn't very user-friendly, or intuitive, which could be improved when it is developed.""The security of the users could improve in Firebird SQL.""It is not easy to integrate the tool with Visual Studio.""The solution could improve by providing partitioning and encryption. It is not at the higher level of database solution but it could be with some upgrades.""Firebird SQL's performance has slowed since Firebird SQL 3 or 3.5 versions, where they developed over-the-wire encryption.""It would be nice to have a graphical user interface to handle the product.""The main feature I expect is to be able to work with different databases at the same time because that's a wishlist item for me.""It would be interesting if they added functionality with redundancy, reputation, and variability."

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"There are some products out there that have a slightly different method of implementation for the SQL language. Some of those are slightly better in some areas, and PostgreSQL is slightly better in some areas. I would probably like to match all of those products together. It is just down to the functionality. For example, Oracle has a number of options within SQL that are outside of what you would class as the SQL standard. PostgreSQL misses some of those, but PostgreSQL does other things that are better than what Oracle does. I would like to merge those two products so that there is a certain amount of functionality in a single product.""The solution could improve the integration.""PostgreSQL could improve by providing a geographical solution for tracking trucks and people in the field. They might already have features similar to this and I have not found them. I haven't done research about this topic.""The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality.""The user interface could be a bit better.""As PostgreSQL is an open-source product, you do have to do a bit more configuration and management yourself.""PostgreSQL is a stable system, but from a security point of view, it still needs improvement.""I'd like to see better memory management. I think that that's one of the few areas that Postgres does not handle as well as MySQL does or did."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is a public domain system as every customer can install it on their system without paying any license fee."
  • "It is okay."
  • "There is a yearly maintenance fee for the use of the solution."
  • "There is no licensing cost for this solution, as it is open-source."
  • "I was using the free version of Firebird SQL."
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is freely available."
  • "We are using the free solution, so there is no cost involved."
  • "Firebird SQL is an open-source solution, which means it is a free product."
  • More Firebird SQL Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Affordable solution."
  • "It is free. There is no license on it."
  • "It is also open-source so it is free."
  • "PostgreSQL is a free and open-source database."
  • "It is free, but if you need support, you can go for the commercial version called EnterpriseDB. They provide paid support, and they can even do hosting for you if you want standby and support."
  • "It is open-source. If you use it on-premise, it is free. It also has enterprise or commercial versions. If you go for the cloud version, there will be a cost, but it is lower than Oracle or Microsoft."
  • "The solution requires a license."
  • "We do not pay for licensing."
  • More PostgreSQL Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit your… more »
    Top Answer:Robustness is the absolutely main feature.
    Top Answer:We often use PostgreSQL for operations monitoring because we are a manufacturing company.
    Top Answer:We often find the solution's datetime datatype challenging.
    Ranking
    4th
    Views
    12,266
    Comparisons
    9,686
    Reviews
    8
    Average Words per Review
    397
    Rating
    8.0
    2nd
    Views
    13,969
    Comparisons
    11,367
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    391
    Rating
    8.6
    Comparisons
    MariaDB logo
    Compared 17% of the time.
    MySQL logo
    Compared 17% of the time.
    SQLite logo
    Compared 3% of the time.
    YugabyteDB logo
    Compared 2% of the time.
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    Firebird
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    Overview

    Firebird SQL is an open-source, cross-platform relational database management system that offers an enterprise-level database solution. The solution is designed to be highly secure, efficient, and compatible with various platforms and programming languages. Firebird can operate in both embedded and server modes.

    Firebird is an open-source project with an active community of developers and users. It is released under the Initial Developer's Public License (IDPL) and the InterBase Public License, allowing for free use, modification, and distribution. 

    The Firebird solution requires minimal configuration and its architecture allows it to efficiently handle databases ranging from a few KB to multiple terabytes. It is available for various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and several Unix-like platforms.

    What are the key features of Firebird SQL?

    1. ACID Compliance: Firebird provides full support for ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions, ensuring data integrity and consistency, even in the event of system failures or concurrent access.
    2. SQL Language Support: Firebird SQL provides extensive support for ANSI SQL, which is the standard SQL language, making it compatible with a wide range of applications and tools.
    3. Multi-Generational Architecture: Firebird employs a multi-generational architecture, which allows multiple versions of the same data to coexist within the database.
    4. Concurrency and Performance: Firebird offers efficient concurrency control mechanisms, including multi-version concurrency control (MVCC), which allows multiple transactions to access and modify data simultaneously without locking or blocking each other, improving overall performance.
    5. Embedded mode: In the embedded mode, the database engine is integrated directly into the application.
    6. Security Features: Firebird provides user authentication, role-based access control, and encryption capabilities. It supports various authentication methods, such as native Firebird user accounts, external authentication sources (e.g., Windows domains), and single sign-on (SSO) mechanisms.
    7. Backup and Restore: Firebird offers built-in backup and restore utilities, allowing users to create full or incremental backups of the database, as well as restore from these backups when needed.

    As part of being a commonly used open-sourced solution, Firebird boasts a vibrant community of developers and users. The community provides extensive documentation, third-party tools, and active forums for support. Businesses can also opt for professional support services offered by third-party vendors for added assurance.

    To summarize, Firebird SQL is a robust, scalable, and cost-effective database solution suitable for a wide range of applications and business sizes. Its comprehensive SQL support, security features, and cross-platform compatibility, combined with the active community support, make it a compelling choice for businesses looking to leverage the power of open-source software without compromising on performance or security.

      PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases. 

      It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable. 

      Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

      Sample Customers
      Elekt Labs, Streamsoft, wobe-systems GmbH, DRB Systems, Moscow City Hospital #31
      1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg
      Top Industries
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Comms Service Provider15%
      Computer Software Company14%
      Educational Organization8%
      Manufacturing Company7%
      REVIEWERS
      Computer Software Company15%
      Comms Service Provider13%
      Financial Services Firm10%
      University8%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company15%
      Comms Service Provider12%
      Financial Services Firm10%
      Government7%
      Company Size
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business85%
      Midsize Enterprise15%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business31%
      Midsize Enterprise16%
      Large Enterprise53%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business46%
      Midsize Enterprise20%
      Large Enterprise35%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business26%
      Midsize Enterprise14%
      Large Enterprise60%
      Buyer's Guide
      Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL
      March 2024
      Find out what your peers are saying about Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
      765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

      Firebird SQL is ranked 4th in Open Source Databases with 14 reviews while PostgreSQL is ranked 2nd in Open Source Databases with 119 reviews. Firebird SQL is rated 7.8, while PostgreSQL is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Firebird SQL writes "A stable and freely available tool with well-written documents". On the other hand, the top reviewer of PostgreSQL writes " A scalable and stable database for transactional purposes". Firebird SQL is most compared with MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite and Oracle MySQL Cloud Service, whereas PostgreSQL is most compared with EDB Postgres Advanced Server, MariaDB, MySQL, SQLite and YugabyteDB. See our Firebird SQL vs. PostgreSQL report.

      See our list of best Open Source Databases vendors.

      We monitor all Open Source Databases reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.