Amazon Aurora
MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible cloud relational database service offering high performance and high availability
YugabyteDB
Scalable PostgreSQL-compatible distributed SQL for cloud-native workloads
YugabyteDB delivers PostgreSQL-level functionality with strong consistency, horizontal scaling, and multi-region resilience, enabling real-time OLTP applications to grow across clouds and Kubernetes clusters.
Overview
Highlights
PostgreSQL 15 compatibility with full YSQL feature set
Distributed ACID transactions using Raft and hybrid logical clocks
Native multi-region, multi-cloud deployment with automatic failover (RPO 0, RTO ≈ 3 s)
Advanced query engine with Cost‑Based Optimizer, parallel execution, bitmap and HNSW vector indexes
Pros
- Strong consistency without sacrificing horizontal scalability
- Familiar PostgreSQL interface reduces learning curve
- Built-in resilience and zero-data-loss recovery
- Open-source license with enterprise‑grade features
Considerations
- Operational complexity of managing distributed clusters
- Higher resource usage compared to single-node databases
- Limited support for some PostgreSQL extensions
- Performance overhead for cross-region latency-sensitive workloads
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Fit guide
Great for
- Real-time e-commerce platforms requiring global low-latency reads
- IoT streaming pipelines that need fault-tolerant transactional storage
- Microservice architectures deployed on Kubernetes across multiple clouds
- AI/ML applications leveraging pgvector for vector similarity search
Not ideal when
- Small, single-node workloads where simplicity outweighs scalability
- Legacy applications tightly coupled to proprietary database features
- Environments with strict on-prem hardware constraints and no cloud
- Use cases demanding sub-millisecond local latency without cross-region replication
How teams use it
Globally distributed e‑commerce checkout
Maintain ACID transactions across continents while serving fast read replicas, ensuring zero data loss during regional outages.
Real-time sensor data ingestion for smart cities
Ingest high‑velocity IoT streams with strong consistency and automatic scaling, enabling immediate analytics and alerts.
AI recommendation engine with vector search
Store embeddings using pgvector and HNSW indexes for rapid similarity queries, powering personalized recommendations.
Multi‑cloud microservice data layer
Deploy YugabyteDB on Kubernetes clusters in AWS and GCP, achieving seamless failover and consistent data across clouds.
Tech snapshot
C30%
C++24%
Java15%
PLpgSQL11%
Rust7%
TypeScript4%
Frequently asked questions
Is YugabyteDB compatible with existing PostgreSQL tools?
Yes, the YSQL API reuses PostgreSQL’s query layer, so standard drivers, ORMs, and extensions that are supported by PostgreSQL 15 work with YugabyteDB.
How does YugabyteDB ensure data durability during failures?
It uses Raft consensus for replication, providing RPO 0 (no data loss) and automatic failover with recovery typically within three seconds.
Can I run YugabyteDB on Kubernetes?
Fully supported; YugabyteDB runs as containerized pods and can span multiple zones, regions, or clouds within a Kubernetes cluster.
What licensing governs YugabyteDB?
The database is released under the Apache 2.0 license, offering permissive open-source usage.
Does YugabyteDB support vector similarity search?
Yes, the recent release adds pgvector with HNSW indexing, enabling efficient high-dimensional vector queries.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 10,055
- Watchers
- 10,055
- Forks
- 1,206
Repo age8 years old
Last commit3 hours ago
Primary languageC
Last synced 3 hours ago