The best databases, according to hackers
22 databases were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 3 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended databases with the badge. Each figure is 50 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Handles queues, JSON, search, vectors
A free, open-source relational database people trust for nearly everything (queues, JSON, search, vectors) and run for years; critics cite query planner limits and horizontal scaling difficulty.
Strong productivity for building business apps
Recommended as a historic, approachable database tool for building business apps quickly. Critics say index corruption, repair needs and multi-user strain were common problems.
Datalog query model
Recommended for immutable history, time travel and Datalog queries that people find simple to work with. Main caveat: it is complex and exotic.
All 22 databases, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PostgreSQL | 816 | 233 | 78% | 13 | 10 yrs42 owners | Approved |
| 2 | MySQL | 124 | 107 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| 3 | Microsoft SQL Server | 73 | 59 | 55% | 12 | 20 yrs6 owners | — |
| 4 | Microsoft Access | 62 | 39 | 61% | 12 | — | — |
| 5 | Turso | 53 | 55 | 49% | 10 | — | — |
| Tied 6 | MariaDB | 40 | 22 | 65% | 12 | — | — |
| Tied 6 | Oracle Database | 40 | 124 | 24% | 11 | 22 yrs3 owners | — |
| 8 | pgrust | 34 | 45 | 43% | 5 | — | — |
| 9 | FoxPro | 33 | 23 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| 10 | SpacetimeDB | 26 | 17 | 60% | 6 | — | — |
| 11 | Postgres rewritten in Rust | 23 | 32 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
| 12 | dBase | 21 | 7 | 75% | 7 | — | Approved |
| 13 | Datomic | 20 | 7 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 14 | DB2 | 13 | 8 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| 15 | Dolt | 11 | 9 | 55% | 7 | — | — |
| 16 | Firebird database | 9 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
| 17 | ParticleDB | 6 | 53 | 10% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | CedarDB | 5 | 3 | 63% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | XTDB | 5 | 3 | 63% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | Frankensqlite | 5 | 11 | 31% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | Sirius DB | 5 | 1 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | VillageSQL | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same database in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to databases that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.