Oracle Database 23ai is a robust, feature-rich commercial database suitable for enterprises requiring advanced security, scalability, and AI/ML integration, despite its high cost. PostgreSQL 16 is a versatile, open-source database ideal for organizations seeking a cost-effective, extensible, and community-supported solution with strong SQL compliance.
| Attribute | Oracle Database 23ai | PostgreSQL 16 |
|---|---|---|
| Data Types Supported | Supports a variety of data types, including the new ISO SQL standard-compliant Boolean data type for storing True/False values, Vector data type for storing vector embeddings, JSON, and XMLType. | Integer, Numeric, String, Boolean, Date/Time, Array, Range/Multirange, UUID, JSON/JSONB, POINT, LINE, CIRCLE, POLYGON, INET, CIDR, MACADDR, Custom data types |
| Scalability (Vertical and Horizontal) | Vertical scaling involves moving the database to a larger machine. Horizontal scaling is supported through Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), replication, database sharding, and Globally Distributed Databases. Oracle RAC enables transparent high availability and scalability using its cache fusion algorithm. | Vertical scaling primarily; Horizontal scaling via read replicas, data sharding, or logical replication |
| Security Features (Encryption, Auditing) | Includes advanced encryption options. Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) safeguards data at rest with AES 256 as the new default for tablespace encryption and the new encryption mode XTS. Offers comprehensive auditing features, including column-level auditing for tables and views, and advanced auditing with AI-driven logs. SQL Firewall helps address SQL injection attacks and compromised accounts. Data Dictionary Protection prevents unauthorized access to critical metadata. Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 is supported for secure connections. | Improved management of pg_hba.conf and pg_ident.conf, regular expression matching for user and database names, include directives for external configuration files, user authentication, access control, secure TCP/IP connections, encryption extensions, Row Level Security (RLS), Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) |
| High Availability and Disaster Recovery | Delivers high availability (HA), scalability, and disaster recovery (DR) features. Supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Data Guard, and GoldenGate for replication needs. Globally Distributed Database with RAFT-based replication provides fast failover with zero data loss. Transparent Application Continuity shields applications from outages. | Kubernetes operators (e.g., CloudNativePG, Patroni), replication features, redundancy, automated failover mechanisms (e.g., EFM, repmgr, Patroni) |
| ACID Compliance | Oracle databases are known for adhering to ACID properties. | ACID-compliant since 2001 (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) |
| Performance Benchmarks (TPC-H, TPC-DS) | Not available | Performance improvements in query parallelism, bulk data loading, and logical replication; Throughput results showed nearly no changes from 15.4 to 16.0 in benchANT benchmarks using YCSB, TPC-C, and TPC-H; Query planner optimizations for parallel FULL and RIGHT joins, aggregate functions with DISTINCT or ORDER BY, incremental sorts for SELECT DISTINCT queries, and window functions |
| Support for AI/ML Workloads | Includes built-in support for deep learning frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. Introduces automated machine learning (AutoML) features. Brings AI algorithms to where the data lives, improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and security of AI. Oracle AI Vector Search enables semantic search for unstructured data. | Integration with AI frameworks, pgvector extension for vector storage/querying/indexing, custom indexes using user-defined functions |
| Cloud Deployment Options | Can be deployed in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer, and Oracle Database@Azure. Optimized for cloud environments and supports multi-cloud deployments. | IBM Cloud, Google Cloud SQL, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for PostgreSQL |
| SQL Standard Compliance | Supports the ISO SQL standard-compliant Boolean data type. | Conforms to at least 170 of the 177 mandatory features for SQL:2023 Core conformance |
| Extensibility (Extensions, Plugins) | Not available | Highly extensible, supports custom data types, custom functions, extensions, and plugins (e.g., PostGIS) |
| Community Support and Documentation | Mentions Oracle Database documentation and community resources but does not offer a detailed comparison against PostgreSQL. | Strong reputation, dedicated open-source community |
| Licensing Costs and Model | Offers processor-based licensing and Named User Plus (NUP) licensing. Enterprise Edition: $47,500 per processor. Standard Edition 2: $17,500 per processor. Named User Plus: Approximately $350-$950 per user, with minimums. Support costs are 22% of the license fee annually, increasing 8% yearly. | Free and open source |