pg_bm25 PostgreSQL extension
Ranked 10 of 14 Postgres extensions by recommenders
Free BM25 ranking for Postgres full-text search, wanted for hybrid and RAG setups. Common caveat: it handles BM25 ranking but not FTS filtering.
Free BM25 ranking for Postgres full-text search, wanted for hybrid and RAG setups. Common caveat: it handles BM25 ranking but not FTS filtering.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for hybrid search and RAG
“VERY excited about this, literally just looking to build hybrid search using Postgres FTS.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: How This Graybeard Built the Fastest and Freest Postgres BM25 Search” “this will be a huge benefit to all folks building RAG/rerank systems on top of Postgres”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: How This Graybeard Built the Fastest and Freest Postgres BM25 Search” Solid BM25 option inside Postgres
“BM25 in Postgres is a solid move, most teams skip full-text search entirely”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: How This Graybeard Built the Fastest and Freest Postgres BM25 Search” “you could just use the new BM25 extension”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “You Don't Need a Vector Database” Keeps search inside existing Postgres
“"Just use Postgres" greybeards right again.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: How This Graybeard Built the Fastest and Freest Postgres BM25 Search” “you could just use the new BM25 extension”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “You Don't Need a Vector Database”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Handles BM25 ranking, not FTS filtering
“it looks like this extension currently handles just the BM25 ranking but not the FTS filtering”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: How This Graybeard Built the Fastest and Freest Postgres BM25 Search”
Other Postgres extensions people recommend
The four most recommended other Postgres extensions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 14 Postgres extensions, rankedWhat people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it offers a pretty meaningful upgrade to some work I have been doing”
“BM25 in Postgres is a solid move, most teams skip full-text search entirely”
“"Just use Postgres" greybeards right again.”
“Please oh please let GCP add this to the supported managed Postgres extensions”
“a bit of a rube Goldberg machine”
“VERY excited about this, literally just looking to build hybrid search using Postgres FTS.”
“this will be a huge benefit to all folks building RAG/rerank systems on top of Postgres”
“it looks like this extension currently handles just the BM25 ranking but not the FTS filtering”
“you could just use the new BM25 extension”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.