Ask HN: Postgres can solve pretty much everything that AWS or Azure does

2 points·nus07··3 comments

Do I need a cloud database or can I just keep using Postgres . There is pressure from the CTO to move to Azure but given the high costs I feel that existing Postgres infrastructure is enough . Am I not thinking ahead ?

View on HN

You should never move just to move. Postgres has an incredibly long scalability curve just on a single server or small cluster, and after you outgrow that, you can move to something clustered that's PG-compatible, either self-hosted or cloud, like CockroachDB, Citus, or a cloud DB like AWS Redshift. Whatever you do, don't lift-and-shift just for the fun of it (or to pump up your resume!)

Unless you are facing extreme variability (changes) in your workload (i.e., growing by 20% per week or something like that), you should probably stay where you are. There's absolutely nothing wrong with stable, predictable organic growth.

You are comparing an RDBMS with a cloud service provider, which is nonsensical.

"Microwave ovens can solve pretty much everything that Plato and Socrates does".

You need to frame your problem better. You can run Postgres _in_ AWS or Azure.

It's not nonsensical at all.

Both are platforms capable of storing data and running software using this data.

AWS, Azure as well as Postgres offer auth, queues, triggers, functions, document and table storage, and so on.

Yes, you can run Postgres on Azure; and you can run Azure on Azure, or Azure on your own bare metal, or Azure on VMs. I'm pretty sure it'd be possible to get Azure running on Postgres.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com