# InterSystems IRIS vs PostgreSQL Comparison --- ## AI Generated Summary - **G2 reviewers report** that PostgreSQL excels in **scalability** and **customizability** , with users appreciating its open-source nature that allows for significant cost savings on database infrastructure. One user highlighted its ability to run on minimal hardware configurations, making it a flexible choice for various environments. - **Users say** that InterSystems IRIS stands out for its **ease of implementation** and **pre-built components**. Reviewers noted that the product is straightforward to set up and offers a user-friendly data transformations GUI, which simplifies the process of creating custom business components. - **Reviewers mention** that PostgreSQL's **reliability** and **data integrity** are key strengths, with one user stating it has never failed them in over five years of production use. Its robust ACID compliance is frequently praised, making it a trusted option for critical applications. - **According to verified reviews** , InterSystems IRIS is recognized for its **speed** and **programming flexibility** , particularly with its M scripting language. Users appreciate the freedom it provides for database operations, especially in health IT applications, where performance is crucial. - **G2 reviewers highlight** that PostgreSQL offers a wide range of features for executing complex SQL queries, including functions, triggers, and materialized views. This versatility is a significant advantage for users needing advanced data manipulation capabilities. - **Users report** that while InterSystems IRIS has a strong support rating, PostgreSQL's community-driven support is also valuable, providing extensive resources and documentation that can be beneficial for troubleshooting and learning. | | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Star Rating** | 4.6 out of 5 | 4.4 out of 5 | | **Total Reviews** | 68 | 682 | | **Largest Market Segment** | Small-Business (50.0% of reviews) | Small-Business (35.9% of reviews) | | **Entry Level Price** | No pricing available | No pricing available | --- ## Top Pros & Cons ### InterSystems IRIS Pros: - Features (9 reviews) - Ease of Use (8 reviews) Cons: - Difficult Learning (6 reviews) - Expensive (5 reviews) ### PostgreSQL Pros: - Features (16 reviews) - Ease of Use (13 reviews) Cons: - Beginner Unfriendliness (7 reviews) - Complexity (6 reviews) --- ## Ratings Comparison | Rating | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Meets Requirements** | 9.0 (47 reviews) | 9.1 (557 reviews) | | **Ease of Use** | 8.0 (47 reviews) | 8.5 (562 reviews) | | **Ease of Setup** | 8.0 (27 reviews) | 8.4 (291 reviews) | | **Ease of Admin** | 7.9 (19 reviews) | 8.2 (251 reviews) | | **Quality of Support** | 8.7 (47 reviews) | 7.9 (450 reviews) | | **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?** | 8.8 (17 reviews) | 8.5 (199 reviews) | | **Product Direction (% positive)** | 8.9 (43 reviews) | 8.5 (542 reviews) | --- ## Pricing ### InterSystems IRIS #### Entry-Level Pricing No pricing available #### Free Trial Yes ### PostgreSQL #### Entry-Level Pricing No pricing available #### Free Trial No information available --- ## Features Comparison By Category ### Data Fabric | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | N/A | N/A | | **PostgreSQL** | N/A | N/A | #### Data Management | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Integration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Data Discovery** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Multi - Platform** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Metadata** | Not enough data | Not enough data | #### Analytics | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Analytics** | Not enough data | Not enough data | #### Security | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Compliance** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Governance** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Data Protection** | Not enough data | Not enough data | #### Generative AI | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **AI Text Generation** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **AI Text Summarization** | Not enough data | Not enough data | #### Agentic AI - Data Fabric | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Autonomous Task Execution** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Multi-step Planning** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Cross-system Integration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Adaptive Learning** | Not enough data | Not enough data | | **Decision Making** | Not enough data | Not enough data | ### Database Management Systems (DBMS) | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | 9.0/10 | 16 | | **PostgreSQL** | N/A | N/A | #### Management | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data dictionary** | 8.8 (14 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Data Replication** | 9.2 (13 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Query Language** | 9.0 (14 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Data Modeling** | 8.7 (13 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Performance Analysis** | 9.2 (13 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Maintenance | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Migration** | 9.2 (13 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Backup and Recovery** | 9.3 (12 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Multi-User Environment** | 8.7 (13 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Security | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Encryption** | 8.8 (12 reviews) | Not enough data | | **User Access Control** | 9.2 (14 reviews) | Not enough data | ### Relational Databases | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | 9.2/10 | 43 | | **PostgreSQL** | 8.9/10 | 519 | #### Management | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Schema** | 9.4 (18 reviews) | 9.1 (127 reviews) | | **Query Language** | 8.9 (17 reviews) | 9.1 (123 reviews) | | **ACID - Complaint** | 9.2 (14 reviews) | 9.2 (114 reviews) | | **Data Replication** | 9.6 (17 reviews) | 8.9 (114 reviews) | #### Support | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Text Search** | 8.7 (18 reviews) | 8.7 (116 reviews) | | **Data Types** | 8.5 (20 reviews) | 9.2 (132 reviews) | | **Languages** | 8.6 (19 reviews) | 9.1 (113 reviews) | | **Operating Systems** | 9.4 (18 reviews) | 9.1 (118 reviews) | #### Security | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Database Locking** | 9.3 (15 reviews) | 8.7 (119 reviews) | | **Access Control** | 9.5 (18 reviews) | 9.0 (121 reviews) | | **Encryption** | 9.5 (18 reviews) | 8.6 (112 reviews) | | **Authentication** | 9.1 (18 reviews) | 8.9 (114 reviews) | #### Performance | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Disaster Recovery** | 8.9 (17 reviews) | 8.6 (109 reviews) | | **Data Concurrency** | 9.2 (16 reviews) | 8.8 (119 reviews) | | **Workload Management** | 9.1 (17 reviews) | 8.7 (110 reviews) | | **Advanced Indexing** | 9.6 (16 reviews) | 8.7 (119 reviews) | | **Query Optimizer** | 9.4 (16 reviews) | 8.6 (116 reviews) | #### Database Features | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Storage** | 9.2 (32 reviews) | 9.0 (466 reviews) | | **Availability** | 9.2 (32 reviews) | 9.0 (472 reviews) | | **Stability** | 9.3 (33 reviews) | 9.0 (479 reviews) | | **Scalability** | 9.1 (33 reviews) | 8.6 (462 reviews) | | **Security** | 9.1 (33 reviews) | 8.7 (446 reviews) | | **Data Manipulation** | 8.9 (31 reviews) | 8.8 (461 reviews) | | **Query Language** | 9.0 (31 reviews) | 9.0 (469 reviews) | ### Key Value Databases | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | 9.2/10 | 8 | | **PostgreSQL** | N/A | N/A | #### Data Management | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Model** | 9.3 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | | **Data Types** | 8.8 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | #### Availability | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Auto Sharding** | 8.9 (6 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | | **Auto Recovery** | 9.2 (6 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | | **Data Replication** | 9.0 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | #### Performance | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Integrated Cache** | 9.3 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | #### Security | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Role-Based Authorization** | 9.2 (6 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | | **Authentication** | 8.3 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | | **Audit Logs** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | | **Encryption** | 9.2 (6 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | #### Support | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Multi-Model** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | | **Operating Systems** | 9.3 (7 reviews) ✓ Verified | Not enough data | ### Document Databases | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | 9.1/10 | 8 | | **PostgreSQL** | N/A | N/A | #### Data Management | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Data Model** | 9.5 (7 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Data Types** | 9.0 (7 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Built - In Search** | 8.3 (7 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Event Triggers** | 8.9 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Availability | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Auto Sharding** | 9.3 (5 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Auto Recovery** | 9.0 (5 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Data Replication** | 9.4 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Performance | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Query Optimization** | 9.7 (5 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Security | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Role-Based Authorization** | 9.2 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Authentication** | 9.4 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Audit Logs** | 9.7 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Encryption** | 8.6 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | #### Support | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Multi-Model** | 9.0 (5 reviews) | Not enough data | | **Operating Systems** | 9.0 (7 reviews) | Not enough data | | **BI Connectors** | 8.6 (6 reviews) | Not enough data | ### NoSQL Databases | Product | Score | Reviews | |---|---|---| | **InterSystems IRIS** | 9.0/10 | 42 | | **PostgreSQL** | N/A | N/A | #### Database Features | Feature | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Storage** | 9.2 (32 reviews) | 9.0 (466 reviews) | | **Availability** | 9.2 (32 reviews) | 9.0 (472 reviews) | | **Stability** | 9.3 (33 reviews) | 9.0 (479 reviews) | | **Scalability** | 9.1 (33 reviews) | 8.6 (462 reviews) | | **Security** | 9.1 (33 reviews) | 8.7 (446 reviews) | | **Data Manipulation** | 8.9 (31 reviews) | 8.8 (461 reviews) | | **Query Language** | 9.0 (31 reviews) | 9.0 (469 reviews) | --- ## Categories **Shared Categories (1):** [Relational Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/relational-databases) **Unique to InterSystems IRIS (6):** [XML Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/xml-databases), [Key Value Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/key-value-databases), [Document Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/document-databases), [Object-Oriented Databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/object-oriented-databases), [Database Management Systems (DBMS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-management-systems-dbms), [Data Fabric Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/data-fabric) --- ## Reviewer Demographics ### By Company Size | Segment | InterSystems IRIS | PostgreSQL | |---|---|---| | **Small-Business** | 50.0% | 35.9% | | **Mid-Market** | 30.4% | 34.4% | | **Enterprise** | 19.6% | 29.7% | ### By Industry #### InterSystems IRIS - **Computer Software:** 28.6% - **Hospital & Health Care:** 23.2% - **Information Technology and Services:** 17.9% - **Health, Wellness and Fitness:** 8.9% - **Information Services:** 7.1% - **Program Development:** 3.6% - **Automotive:** 3.6% - **Legal Services:** 1.8% - **Fund-Raising:** 1.8% - **Facilities Services:** 1.8% - **Other:** 1.8% #### PostgreSQL - **Information Technology and Services:** 27.5% - **Computer Software:** 22.9% - **Financial Services:** 4.2% - **Internet:** 4.2% - **Telecommunications:** 2.8% - **Hospital & Health Care:** 2.8% - **Higher Education:** 2.7% - **Computer & Network Security:** 2.2% - **Retail:** 2.0% - **Marketing and Advertising:** 2.0% - **Other:** 26.7% --- ## Alternatives ### Alternatives to InterSystems IRIS - [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (2284 reviews) - [IBM Db2](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-db2/reviews) — 4.1/5 stars (682 reviews) - [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (1012 reviews) - [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (620 reviews) - [MongoDB](https://www.g2.com/products/mongodb/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (0 reviews) - [Amazon DynamoDB](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-web-services-aws-amazon-dynamodb/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (529 reviews) - [MySQL](https://www.g2.com/products/mysql/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (1680 reviews) - [MongoDB Atlas](https://www.g2.com/products/mongodb-atlas/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (899 reviews) - [Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-relational-database-service-rds/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (908 reviews) - [Amazon Aurora](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-aurora/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (457 reviews) ### Alternatives to PostgreSQL - [Microsoft SQL Server](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-sql-server/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (2284 reviews) - [MySQL](https://www.g2.com/products/mysql/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (1680 reviews) - [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (1012 reviews) - [Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-relational-database-service-rds/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (908 reviews) - [IBM Db2](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-db2/reviews) — 4.1/5 stars (682 reviews) - [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (620 reviews) - [Teradata Autonomous Knowledge Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/teradata-autonomous-knowledge-platform/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (375 reviews) - [SQLite](https://www.g2.com/products/sqlite/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (261 reviews) - [Azure SQL Database](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-sql-database/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (241 reviews) - [MariaDB](https://www.g2.com/products/mariadb/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (226 reviews) --- ## Top Discussions ### InterSystems IRIS - Title: [What is InterSystems IRIS used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-intersystems-iris-used-for) — 1 comment > **Top comment:** "it's based on a great database, but today it`s a data plataform, were you can use as a middleware to your application, or use it as a database to your..." ### PostgreSQL - Title: [What are the advantages and disadvantages of PostgreSQL?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-postgresql) — 2 comments > **Top comment:** "Advantages: A different resource for your SQL needs without the tag of a legacy system" - Title: [What is PostgreSQL used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-postgresql-used-for) — 1 comment > **Top comment:** "PostgreSQL is an open-source database used to store, manage, and retrieve data. It's known for its reliability, scalability, and support for complex queries,..." - Title: [What is special about PostgreSQL?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-special-about-postgresql) — 1 comment > **Top comment:** "Provides features like scalability, reliability, and provides security which makes PostgreSQL more special. " - Title: [What programs use PostgreSQL?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-programs-use-postgresql) — 1 comment > **Top comment:** "SQL" - Title: [Can we get some video tutorials on usage? Also how do we connect them over cloud ?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-we-get-some-video-tutorials-on-usage-also-how-do-we-connect-them-over-cloud) — 1 comment, 1 upvote > **Top comment:** "Hey Jay, We use Postgresql on all of our cloud servers. We connect via SSL connections to the specific..." --- **Source:** [G2.com](https://www.g2.com) | [Comparison Page](https://www.g2.com/compare/intersystems-iris-vs-postgresql)