Pinecone vs PostgreSQL comparison

Pinecone and PostgreSQL are both solutions in the Vector Databases category. Pinecone is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0, while PostgreSQL is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4. Pinecone holds a 7.5% mindshare in VD, compared to PostgreSQL’s 5.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Pinecone users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of PostgreSQL users who would recommend it.

Pinecone

Read 6 Pinecone reviews

2,977 Views
2,977 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

PostgreSQL

Read 125 PostgreSQL reviews

7,275 Views
1,601 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Pinecone

PostgreSQL

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

PostgreSQL and Pinecone compete in the database category, with PostgreSQL focusing on general data management and Pinecone specializing in vector databases. PostgreSQL seems to have the upper hand due to its broader deployment options and cost-effectiveness, appealing to a wide range of organizations.

Features: PostgreSQL handles large SQL standards and supports multiple programming languages. It is known for its scalability in write-intensive tasks, cost-effectiveness, and open-source nature. Pinecone offers tools for semantic search, strong managed service features, and the flexibility to handle various data dimensions, attracting users with specific performance needs.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL could enhance features like partitioning and simplify its setup process. Pinecone requires improvements in feedback mechanisms and search speed, along with better onboarding processes for easier navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PostgreSQL is versatile in deployment, supporting on-premises and cloud environments. It benefits from a robust open-source community for support. Pinecone is limited to cloud deployments and may rely more on standardized customer support. Both offer good community support and documentation but lack traditional customer service structures.

Pricing and ROI: PostgreSQL provides substantial cost savings as an open-source solution, offering a quick return on investment with low setup costs. Pinecone's pay-as-you-go model, while potentially expensive, is cheaper than other vector databases, offering value through specialized features despite its higher cost.

To learn more, read our detailed Pinecone vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Pinecone vs. PostgreSQL

September 2025

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Helped 869,202 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Pinecone

Ranking in Vector Databases

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PostgreSQL

Ranking in Vector Databases

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Vector Databases category, the mindshare of Pinecone is 7.5%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 5.4%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vector Databases Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Pinecone	7.5%
PostgreSQL	5.4%
Other	87.1%

Vector Databases

Featured Reviews

Aakash Kushwaha

SDE at Alphablocks

Helps retrieve data, relatively cheaper, and provides useful documentation

Suppose I want to delete a vector from Pinecone or a multi-vector from a single document. Pinecone does not provide feedback on whether a document is deleted or not. In SQL and NoSQL databases, if we delete something, we get a response that it is deleted. The tool does not confirm whether a file is deleted or not. I have raised the issue with support. If we have 10,000 vectors in our index and do not use a metadata tag, it will take one to three seconds to complete a search. When I try to search using a metadata tag, the speed is still the same. The search speed must be much faster because I specify which vectors I need the data from.

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PavithrarajShetty

Software Architect at Tetherfi

Offers simplicity and is cheaply priced

I haven't gone through the scalability aspect since I was using MySQL Server. I haven't worked to a high level in PostgreSQL, but with MySQL Server, I have managed clustering and partitioning. I think I haven't put much focus on PostgreSQL, so I am not sure how it behaves or how it works.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The best thing about Pinecone is its private local host feature. It displays all the maintenance parameters and lets us view the data sent to the database. We can also see the status of the CD and which application it corresponds to."

"The product's setup phase was easy."

"The most valuable feature of Pinecone is its managed service aspect. There are many vector databases available, but Pinecone stands out in the market. It is very flexible, allowing us to input any kind of data dimensions into the platform. This makes it easy to use for both technical and non-technical users."

"The most valuable features of the solution are similarity search and maximal marginal relevance search for retrieval purposes."

"We chose Pinecone because it covers most of the use cases."

"The semantic search capability is very good."

"With the database, you can provide a multi-component at the same service with the same performance, scalability, or all those things."

"The product's deployment is easy."

"The solution is scalable, it is very good."

"We are able to create many different types of jobs and items with this solution making it one of the most valuable features."

"PostgreSQL has complete SQL dialects and is useful for writing sophisticated and complex queries. We have experience with Oracle database. My partner is experienced in DDA and he writes sophisticated SQL queries. The solution helps to get the job done in the best possible way. In today’s age, most developers do not have strong SQL knowledge or language command. They find it difficult to write even a SQL statement. These developers write cool queries which perform badly on the database end. As DBAs, we constantly urge the developers not to write bad queries, help them learn more, and write placebo commands."

"Clustering will be the number 1 feature. It is also open-source so it is free. It can also be clustered, to allow fault tolerance."

"The solution is quite stable."

"It's a standard reliable database management system."

Cons

"I want to suggest that Pinecone requires a login and API key, but I would prefer not to have a login system and to use the environment directly."

"Onboarding could be better and smoother."

"The product fails to offer a serverless type of storage capacity."

"Pinecone can be made more budget-friendly."

"For testing purposes, the product should offer support locally as it is one area where the tool has shortcomings."

"The tool does not confirm whether a file is deleted or not."

"The price could be better."

"The interface climate could be better."

"The pricing could be better."

"It would be good to have machine learning functionality in this solution, similar to Microsoft SQL Server and other solutions. Machine learning capability for a basic level or a common user would be useful. It can also have good reporting capabilities."

"The solution needs to improve the query, documentation, and JSON data functionality."

"They need to improve the user experience of the management."

"When you get a large number of records in a database and start doing various queries, it can adversely impact the performance of the live running systems. That's an area we continue to look at and mean to improve, but it is not only because of PostgreSQL. It is also because of the way the schemas are put together, and certain events are triggered. So, it is because of both parties."

"Instead of the installation agent downloading all the packages for the install, it should allow the user to download the packages separately on their own to do the install."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pinecone is not cheap; it's actually quite expensive. We find that using Pinecone can raise our budget significantly. On the other hand, using open-source options is more budget-friendly."

"I have experience with the tool's free version."

"I think Pinecone is cheaper to use than other options I've explored. However, I also remember that they offer a paid version."

"The solution is relatively cheaper than other vector DBs in the market."

"It could be much cheaper. If you would like to build an application on Amazon today, PostgreSQL is the standard database with Redshift. If you want other databases, you can add them, but PostgreSQL is the basis of everything. It's a question of money, that's it."

"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."

"The need for our customers to pay for licences is contingent on their projects and budgets."

"It is also open-source so it is free."

"We use the open-source version of PostgreSQL and not the enterprise edition."

"PostgreSQL is open-source, so if capable admins are available then the setup cost can be $0."

"We are using the free version of PostgreSQL."

"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."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	58
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	45

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pinecone?

We chose Pinecone because it covers most of the use cases.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pinecone?

I want to suggest that Pinecone requires a login and API key, but I would prefer not to have a login system and to use the environment directly.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Pinecone?

I've used Pinecone to streamline token generation for my chatbot's functionality. Specifically, I used it for the OpenNeeam Building.

See all answers

How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?

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 yo...

See all answers

What do you like most about PostgreSQL?

It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PostgreSQL?

The tool is free of cost. For now, it's not about making money. But once we perfect it, we can offer it to customers willing to pay for support and other services. Most of my deployments are free.

See all answers

Comparisons

Supabase Vector vs Pinecone

Compared 30% of the time

OpenSearch vs Pinecone

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Pinecone

Compared 13% of the time

LanceDB vs Pinecone

Compared 7% of the time

Elastic Search vs Pinecone

Compared 6% of the time

More Pinecone Competitors

Firebird SQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 31% of the time

MySQL vs PostgreSQL

Compared 12% of the time

MariaDB vs PostgreSQL

Compared 7% of the time

EDB Postgres Advanced Server vs PostgreSQL

Compared 7% of the time

Chroma vs PostgreSQL

Compared 6% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pinecone

September 2025

Download Pinecone product report

Buyer's Guide

PostgreSQL

September 2025

Download PostgreSQL product report

Overview

Pinecone is a powerful tool for efficiently storing and retrieving vector embeddings. It is highly praised for its scalability, speed, and ease of integration with existing workflows.

Users find it particularly useful for similarity search, recommendation systems, and natural language processing.

Its efficient search capabilities, seamless integration with existing systems, and ability to handle large-scale datasets make it a valuable tool for data analysis and retrieval.

Pinecone

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.

PostgreSQL

Sample Customers

1. Airbnb 2. DoorDash 3. Instacart 4. Lyft 5. Pinterest 6. Reddit 7. Slack 8. Snapchat 9. Spotify 10. TikTok 11. Twitter 12. Uber 13. Zoom 14. Adobe 15. Amazon 16. Apple 17. Facebook 18. Google 19. IBM 20. Microsoft 21. Netflix 22. Salesforce 23. Shopify 24. Square 25. Tesla 26. TikTok 27. Twitch 28. Uber Eats 29. WhatsApp 30. Yelp 31. Zillow 32. Zynga

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

Buyer's Guide

Pinecone vs. PostgreSQL

September 2025

Free Report: Pinecone vs. PostgreSQL

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