# Firebird database

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Firebird database and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, full-featured SQL database with working ALTER TABLE, durability and good concurrency, sitting between SQLite and PostgreSQL.

## Why people recommend it

- Proper ALTER TABLE support (2 comments): "It's a fully featured database though, with everything you expect from one, including actually working ALTER TABLEs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932305)) "it supports proper ALTER TABLE which doesn't force you to recreate tables and copy data around" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47136230))
- Between SQLite and PostgreSQL (2 comments): "has been flying under the radar in-between SQLite and full-blown PostgreSQL for decades" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48116945)) "What it gives you over both is single-file databases which are easy to share" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47138348))
- Better concurrency and speed (2 comments): "it is faster, has better concurrency and has very low memory footprint" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47727835)) "better concurrency and more complete system, also a tad faster" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47677737))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [PostgreSQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postgresql.md): 816 recommend
- [MySQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mysql.md): 124 recommend
- [Microsoft SQL Server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-sql-server.md): 73 recommend
- [Microsoft Access](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-access.md): 62 recommend
- [Turso](https://hackerapproved.com/p/turso.md): 53 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Firebird database", https://hackerapproved.com/p/firebird/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).