PostgreSQL

Three strengths

• Reliable by design. It has been ACID-compliant since 2001, and it supports replication and point-in-time recovery. 1
• Many kinds of data. Alongside ordinary tables, it handles JSON, XML, arrays, dates and geometry. 1
• Free and open source. It's open source, and you can define your own data types and functions or add extensions such as PostGIS. 1

What it is

Every app needs somewhere to keep its records: customers, orders, messages, settings. A database is that place. It stores information in an organised way, so it survives when the app is closed, many people can use it at once, and the app can find what it needs quickly. PostgreSQL (often shortened to Postgres) is a relational database, which means it keeps information in tables of rows and columns that link to each other, and you ask it questions in SQL, the standard language for working with data. 1

Its roots go back to 1986, when Professor Michael Stonebraker led the POSTGRES research project at the University of California, Berkeley. 2 In 1994 Andrew Yu and Jolly Chen added an SQL interpreter, and the result was released to the web as Postgres95. By 1996 it had been renamed PostgreSQL, a name chosen to show the link between the original POSTGRES and the newer versions that speak SQL. 2 The core platform has nearly 40 years of active development. 1

That long track record shows up in its guarantees. It has been ACID-compliant since 2001, which means a group of changes either all completes or none of it does, so your data is never left half-updated. 1 It also follows the SQL standard closely: as of version 18, released in September 2025, it meets at least 170 of the 177 mandatory features in the SQL:2023 Core standard. 1

It's popular too: 55.6% of developers surveyed in 2025 said they use it. 3

We choose it because it's free, proven and flexible enough for most jobs. Because it can store JSON alongside ordinary tables, one database can often hold both neatly structured records and looser, changing ones. 1

How we use it

PostgreSQL is our default database for a new build. We start there unless a project gives us a reason not to, such as a client running on Microsoft, where we reach for SQL Server, or records that keep changing shape, where MongoDB can suit better. When you'd like a ready-made back end built on top of PostgreSQL, we also work with Supabase.

In Software Development, it's where your app's records live, in a database that's free to run and built to grow with the app. In Data Solutions, it's one of the stores we connect to and organise your data in. In Solution Architecture, it's the database we weigh first when we plan a system, so the choice lines up with what you need and what you already run.

References

1. The PostgreSQL Global Development Group, "About", postgresql.org. https://www.postgresql.org/about/ (accessed 28 October 2026)
2. The PostgreSQL Global Development Group, "Appendix: A Brief History of PostgreSQL", PostgreSQL documentation. https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/history.html (accessed 28 October 2026)
3. Stack Overflow, "2025 Developer Survey: Technology", survey.stackoverflow.co, 2025. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology (accessed 28 October 2026)