Editorial take
Why it stands out
When someone says “Postgres costs $X,” they mean RDS/Neon—not postgresql.org downloads.
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Tool profile
Open source relational database known for reliability, extensibility, strong SQL support, and broad adoption.
Transactional systems of record for SaaS
The open-source relational database that balances SQL standards, extensions, and decades of operational hardening.
PostgreSQL is released under the PostgreSQL License, a permissive open-source license similar in spirit to BSD/MIT—no fee for running the database. Practically every team buys managed Postgres (Amazon RDS, Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Flexible Server, Neon, Supabase, Crunchy Bridge, etc.) priced per vCPU, storage, IOPS, and HA replicas, or self-hosts on VMs and pays engineer time instead.
This catalog entry is the project; pick a provider row when forecasting dollars.
Quick fit
Editorial take
When someone says “Postgres costs $X,” they mean RDS/Neon—not postgresql.org downloads.
What it does well
Primary use cases
Fit notes
Compare with
Pressure-test this pick against nearby alternatives.
Pricing snapshot
PostgreSQL itself is free, open-source software. The license cost is $0, and actual spend comes from managed hosting, compute, storage, backups, networking, or the labor required to run it yourself.
Alation
PaidEnterprise data catalog
Enterprise data intelligence and catalog platform for search, governance, trust, and AI-ready knowledge layers over organizational data.
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