PostgREST
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 6 backend services by recommenders
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.
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.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Automatic REST API from database
“You skip the backend entirely and query from the frontend. PostgREST and Postgres is your backend.”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “Pg_ClickHouse: A Postgres extension for querying ClickHouse” “Make a view for your application and boom, you have a GET only REST API.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Go ahead, self-host Postgres” “Insanely powerful DB introspection and automatic REST endpoint.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Pg_lake: Postgres with Iceberg and data lake access” - Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “pg_durable: Microsoft open sources in-database durable execution”
Replaces a custom backend
“You skip the backend entirely and query from the frontend. PostgREST and Postgres is your backend.”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “Pg_ClickHouse: A Postgres extension for querying ClickHouse” “PostgreSQL and PostgREST could reduce the full thinking to the database schema”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Paca – Lightweight Jira alternative for human-AI collaboration” “It basically turns PostgreSQL into a microservice.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “PostgreSQL for Everything” Good fit for most APIs
“PostgREST is a great shape for >90% of the APIs I would normally build”
Comment from 16 Aug 2026 in “Software Engineering fundamentals matter more” “It basically turns PostgreSQL into a microservice.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “PostgreSQL for Everything”
Other backend services people recommend
The four most recommended other backend services, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PocketBase | 67 | 12 | 85% | 9 | — | Approved |
| InstantDB | 23 | 10 | 70% | 6 | — | Approved |
| PostgRESTThis page | 12 | 3 | 80% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sheet Ninja | 11 | 12 | 48% | 3 | — | — |
| Hasura | 7 | 1 | 88% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I ran into many situations where I wanted a thicker backend between my webapp and db.”
“It basically turns PostgreSQL into a microservice.”
“PostgREST is a great shape for >90% of the APIs I would normally build”
“PostgreSQL and PostgREST could reduce the full thinking to the database schema”
“the automatic REST API makes building new clients a breeze”
“you can automatically convert any PostGIS table (with geometry or geography column) to GeoJSON”
“Or you could use Elixir with Postgrest”
“this is the cool tech behind the original supabase”
“Make a view for your application and boom, you have a GET only REST API.”
“You skip the backend entirely and query from the frontend. PostgREST and Postgres is your backend.”
“constantly failing because of how unusual PostgREST is”
“Insanely powerful DB introspection and automatic REST endpoint.”
“Another option is to use something like PostgREST”
“some popular ones that may be useful to hn'ers”
“then it gets too complicated and either the design model failed to one-shot a valid schema”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.