Compare various solutions to deploy PostgreSQL in Kubernetes

There are multiple ways to deploy and manage PostgreSQL in Kubernetes. Here we will focus on comparing the following open source solutions:

• Crunchy Data PostgreSQL Operator (PGO)
• CloudNative PG from Enterprise DB
• Stackgres from OnGres
• Zalando Postgres Operator
• Percona Operator for PostgreSQL

Generic

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Open-source license	Apache 2.0	AGPL 3	Apache 2.0, but images are under Developer Program	Apache 2.0	MIT
PostgreSQL versions	12, 13, 14	14	12, 13, 14	11 - 14, 15 in Beta	11 - 14
Kubernetes conformance	Various versions are tested	Various versions are tested	Various versions are tested	Various versions are tested	AWS EKS

Maintenance

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Operator upgrade
Database upgrade	Automated and safe	Automated and safe	Manual	Manual	Manual
Compute scaling	Horizontal and vertical	Horizontal and vertical	Horizontal and vertical	Horizontal and vertical	Horizontal and vertical
Storage scaling	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual, automated for AWS EBS

PostgreSQL topologies

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Warm standby
Hot standby
Connection pooling
Delayed replica
Tablespaces

Backups

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Scheduled backups
WAL archiving
PITR
GCS
S3
Azure

Monitoring

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Solution	Percona Monitoring and Management	Exposing metrics in Prometheus format	Prometheus stack and pgMonitor	Exposing metrics in Prometheus format	Sidecars

Miscellaneous

Feature/Product	Percona Operator for PostgreSQL	Stackgres	CrunchyData	CloudNativePG (EDB)	Zalando
Customize PostgreSQL configuration
Helm
Transport encryption
Data-at-rest encryption	Through storage class	Through storage class	Through storage class	Through storage class	Through storage class
Create users/roles	limited				limited

---

Last update: 2023-02-02