DB-EnginesInfluxDB: Focus on building software with an easy-to-use serverless, scalable time series platformEnglish
Deutsch
Knowledge Base of Relational and NoSQL Database Management Systemsprovided by solid IT

DBMS > Firebird vs. HarperDB vs. PostgreSQL

System Properties Comparison Firebird vs. HarperDB vs. PostgreSQL

Please select another system to include it in the comparison.

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameFirebird  Xexclude from comparisonHarperDB  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionFirebird is an open source RDBMS forked from Borland's InterBaseUltra-low latency distributed database with an intuitive REST API supporting NoSQL and SQL (including joins). Deployment of functions and databases simultaneously with a consolidated node-level architecture.Widely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL
Primary database modelRelational DBMSDocument storeRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.
Secondary database modelsDocument store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score21.06
Rank#31  Overall
#19  Relational DBMS
Score0.55
Rank#252  Overall
#38  Document stores
Score645.05
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Websitewww.firebirdsql.orgwww.harperdb.iowww.postgresql.org
Technical documentationwww.firebirdsql.org/­en/­reference-manualsdocs.harperdb.io/­docswww.postgresql.org/­docs
DeveloperFirebird FoundationHarperDBPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developer
Initial release2000 infoAs fork of Borland's InterBase20171989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL
Current release5.0.0, January 20243.1, August 202116.2, February 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoInitial Developer's Public Licensecommercial infofree community edition availableOpen Source infoBSD
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenonono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
Implementation languageC and C++Node.jsC
Server operating systemsAIX
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
OS X
server-less infoFirebird Embedded Server
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Linux
OS X
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Data schemeyesdynamic schemayes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyes infoJSON data typesyes
XML support infoSome form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.noyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.
Secondary indexesyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLyesSQL-like data manipulation statementsyes infostandard with numerous extensions
APIs and other access methodsADO.NET
C/C++ API
JDBC infoJaybird
ODBC
OLE DB
JDBC
ODBC
React Hooks
RESTful HTTP/JSON API
WebSocket
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Supported programming languagesC
C#
C++
Delphi
Java
JavaScript infoNode.js
Lua
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
.Net
C
C#
C++
ColdFusion
D
Dart
Delphi
Erlang
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Lisp
MatLab
Objective C
Perl
PHP
PowerShell
Prolog
Python
R
Ruby
Rust
Scala
Swift
.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresPSQLCustom Functions infosince release 3.1user defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.
Triggersyesnoyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesnoneA table resides as a whole on one (or more) nodes in a clusterpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesSource-replica replicationyes infothe nodes on which a table resides can be definedSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensions
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsnonono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integrityyesnoyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of dataACIDAtomic execution of specific operationsACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayes infoFeatures a multi-generational MVCC architecture, readers do not block writersyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyes, using LMDByes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.yesno
User concepts infoAccess controlUsers with fine-grained authorization conceptAccess rights for users and rolesfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

More information provided by the system vendor

We invite representatives of system vendors to contact us for updating and extending the system information,
and for displaying vendor-provided information such as key customers, competitive advantages and market metrics.

Related products and services
3rd partiesRedgate webinars: A series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users.
» more

Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools.
» more

Timescale: Calling all PostgreSQL users – the 2023 State of PostgreSQL survey is now open! Share your favorite extensions, preferred frameworks, community experiences, and more. Take the survey today!
» more

Instaclustr: Fully Hosted & Managed PostgreSQL
» more

CYBERTEC is your professional partner in PostgreSQL topics for over 20 years. As our main aim is to be your single-source all-in-one IT service provider, we offer a wide range of products and services. Visit our website for more details.
» more

Navicat Monitor is a safe, simple and agentless remote server monitoring tool for PostgreSQL and many other database management systems.
» more

pgDash: In-Depth PostgreSQL Monitoring.
» more

SharePlex is the reliable and affordable data replication solution for PostgreSQL migrations, high availability and more.
» more

Navicat for PostgreSQL is an easy-to-use graphical tool for PostgreSQL database development.
» more

Fujitsu Enterprise Postgres: An Enterprise Grade PostgreSQL with the flexibility of a hybrid cloud solution combined with industry leading security, availability and performance.
» more

We invite representatives of vendors of related products to contact us for presenting information about their offerings here.

More resources
FirebirdHarperDBPostgreSQL
DB-Engines blog posts

PostgreSQL is the DBMS of the Year 2023
2 January 2024, Matthias Gelbmann, Paul Andlinger

Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2022, defending the title from last year
3 January 2023, Matthias Gelbmann, Paul Andlinger

Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2021
3 January 2022, Paul Andlinger, Matthias Gelbmann

show all

Conferences, events and webinars

Monitoring PostgreSQL with Redgate Monitor
Webinar, 10-11am CT / 4-5pm BST, 22 May 2024

Recent citations in the news

DoNot Team's New Firebird Backdoor Hits Pakistan and Afghanistan
23 October 2023, The Hacker News

FIREBIRD'S HUBBARD TALKS DATA, AI, TIKTOK
14 December 2023, HITS Daily Double

Firebird - Analyst, Digital Marketing (US)
23 February 2024, Music Business Worldwide

Albany Firebirds single-game tickets on sale Friday
29 February 2024, Troy Record

AFP arrests man over alleged creation and sale of 'Firebird' RAT
15 April 2024, iTnews

provided by Google News

Startups of the Year 2023: Meet HarperDB - A Database and Application Development Platform
22 June 2023, hackernoon.com

Unlocking immersive golfing experiences with AWS Wavelength | Amazon Web Services
29 November 2022, AWS Blog

HarperDB: An underdog SQL / NoSQL database | ZDNET
7 February 2018, ZDNet

Stephen Goldberg Named 2023 Bill Daniels Ethical Leader of the Year | CU Denver Business School News
9 January 2023, business-news.ucdenver.edu

Build a Hacker News Clone using React and HarperDB — SitePoint
18 October 2021, SitePoint

provided by Google News

Introducing OCI Database with PostgreSQL: Completing Our Cloud Database Suite for Every Need
14 November 2023, blogs.oracle.com

Handle tables without primary keys while creating Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL zero-ETL integrations with Amazon ...
18 April 2024, AWS Blog

PeerDB raises $3.6M to accelerate PostgreSQL data movement
11 April 2024, SiliconANGLE News

Did One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack?
3 April 2024, The New York Times

General availability: Microsoft Entra ID integration with Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL | Azure updates
13 March 2024, Microsoft

provided by Google News



Share this page

Featured Products

Milvus logo

Vector database designed for GenAI, fully equipped for enterprise implementation.
Try Managed Milvus for Free

Neo4j logo

See for yourself how a graph database can make your life easier.
Use Neo4j online for free.

AllegroGraph logo

Graph Database Leader for AI Knowledge Graph Applications - The Most Secure Graph Database Available.
Free Download

Ontotext logo

GraphDB allows you to link diverse data, index it for semantic search and enrich it via text analysis to build big knowledge graphs. Get it free.

Datastax Astra logo

Bring all your data to Generative AI applications with vector search enabled by the most scalable
vector database available.
Try for Free

Present your product here