# PostgREST

12 Hacker News commenters recommended PostgREST and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Turns a PostgreSQL database into a REST API automatically, so people skip writing a backend for many apps. Some find it unusual and complicated as designs grow.

## Why people recommend it

- Automatic REST API from database (4 comments): "You skip the backend entirely and query from the frontend. PostgREST and Postgres is your backend." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46249743)) "Make a view for your application and boom, you have a GET only REST API." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46337048)) "Insanely powerful DB introspection and automatic REST endpoint." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45818063))
- Replaces a custom backend (3 comments): "You skip the backend entirely and query from the frontend. PostgREST and Postgres is your backend." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46249743)) "PostgreSQL and PostgREST could reduce the full thinking to the database schema" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48519738)) "It basically turns PostgreSQL into a microservice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364132))
- Good fit for most APIs (2 comments): "PostgREST is a great shape for >90% of the APIs I would normally build" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49319798)) "It basically turns PostgreSQL into a microservice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364132))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [PocketBase](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pocketbase.md): 67 recommend
- [InstantDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/instant.md): 23 recommend
- [Sheet Ninja](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sheet-ninja.md): 11 recommend
- [Hasura](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hasura.md): 7 recommend
- [PostGraphile](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postgraphile.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

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