Apache Derby vs. PostgreSQL

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apache Derby
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Apache Derby is an embedded relational database management system, originally developed by IBM and called IBM Cloudscape.N/A
PostgreSQL
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
PostgreSQL (alternately Postgres) is a free and open source object-relational database system boasting over 30 years of active development, reliability, feature robustness, and performance. It supports SQL and is designed to support various workloads flexibly.N/A
Pricing
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Best Alternatives
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Small Businesses
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.6 out of 10
InfluxDB
InfluxDB
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.6 out of 10
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.6 out of 10
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apache DerbyPostgreSQL
Likelihood to Recommend
Derby is absolutely the best when it comes to needing a small, embeddable RDBMS in your applications. Certain jobs, like Risk Modeling, are perfect for a database that is small enough to fit into memory with no trouble then store data from various sources, and then allow a user to access those data sets quickly.
Read full review
PostgreSQL is ideal for handling databases that contain large volumes of information due to its efficiency, speed and above all because of the good management it makes of our resources, it also behaves very well in distributed environments of high demand, if you want a database of stable data and excellent performance PostgreSQL is one of the best.
Read full review
Pros
  • Embedded SQL-capable database client and server
  • Good performance for a file-based database
  • Zero cost open source solution
Read full review
  • Advanced spatial capabilities by using PostGIS extension
  • Very fast data processing and support of native ANSI SQL language syntax allows maintaining capability and scalability of database
  • Fast data aggregation, even by SQL or stored routines/functions
  • Well documented, free for use, great community. A lot of examples, and for this reason - lesser threshold for junior developers to start with
Read full review
Cons
  • Not as well positioned in the market as the "big dogs" (Oracle, MSSQL)
  • Been around awhile, and not a lot of exposure. This I believe is primarily due to it's relation to the Apache Project (which is not bad, but they don't force big, lumbering corporate volume licensing on you), and thus people are a bit gun-shy about NOT throwing money at something
  • Java is still "slow" compared to C/C++, thus making Derby a bit slow too
Read full review
  • The performance of PostgreSQL has been enhanced through the years, but always is better to have as much performance as we can.
  • The replication services could be done directly within the database, and more easily.
  • The Object Orientation of the Database could be extended, and albeit it manages inheritance of tables, and accepts XML and JSON as primary types, it would be wonderful if one could attach methods more easily to tables (to make them more like classes), and instances (rows for example).
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
As a needed software for day to day development activities
Read full review
Usability
No answers on this topic
Postgresql is the best tool out there for relational data so I have to give it a high rating when it comes to analytics, data availability and consistency, so on and so forth. SQL is also a relatively consistent language so when it comes to building new tables and loading data in from the OLTP database, there are enough tools where we can perform ETL on a scalable basis.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
PostgreSQL's availability is top notch. Apart from connection time-out for an idle user, the database is super reliable.
Read full review
Performance
No answers on this topic
The data queries are relatively quick for a small to medium sized table. With complex joins, and a wide and deep table however, the performance of the query has room for improvement.
Read full review
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
AWS, Heroku, and Digital Ocean all provide Postgres-as-a-service, where you pretty much never need to administrate it yourself but they do it for you. The Postgres community also has developed awesome and reasonably priced extensions, such as Citus DB and CockroachDB in case you need additional support for running it. If you need documentation, Postgres's docs are super thorough and their official forms are active.
Read full review
Online Training
No answers on this topic
The online training is request based. Had there been recorded videos available online for potential users to benefit from, I could have rated it higher. The online documentation however is very helpful. The online documentation PDF is downloadable and allows users to pace their own learning. With examples and code snippets, the documentation is great starting point.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
The online documentation of the PostgreSQL product is elaborate and takes users step by step.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
SQLite is another open-source zero-cost file-based SQL-capable database solution and is a good alternative to Apache Derby, especially for non-Java-based solutions. We chose Apache Derby as it is Java-based, and so is the solution we embedded it in. However, SQLite has a similar feature set and is widely used in the industry to serve the same purposes for native solutions such as C or C++-based products.
Read full review
In this case, Postgres is preferred because it handles large data sets and requires fewer hardware resources than its competitor, MySQL. Compared to PostgreSQL, Microsoft products are excellent, but the installation process for MS SQL is lengthy. PostgreSQL has an advantage over its competitors in that it can adapt or configure third-party programs, applications, or settings.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
The DB is reliable, scalable, easy to use and resolves most DB needs
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Saved money on database licensing.
Read full review
  • Easy to administer so our DevOps team has only ever used minimal time to setup, tune, and maintain.
  • Easy to interface with so our Engineering team has only ever used minimal time to query or modify the database. Getting the data is straightforward, what we do with it is the bigger concern.
  • It's free. You can't beat that.
Read full review
ScreenShots