Executive Summary: Comparing JSON index capabilities, concurrency models (MVCC), connection pooling, and replication mechanisms between MySQL and Postgres.
Selecting between MySQL 8 and PostgreSQL 16 is one of the most critical technology decisions when bootstrapping SaaS infrastructure.
JSON Processing: PostgreSQL JSONB indexes binary JSON efficiently using GIN indexes. MySQL 8 has improved JSON functions but handles multi-valued indexing differently.
Concurrency Control: PostgreSQL handles heavy concurrent write workloads with minimal lock contention using advanced MVCC.
Connection Handling: MySQL uses a lightweight thread-per-connection model. Postgres uses process-per-connection, requiring PgBouncer connection pooling for thousands of clients.
Use MySQL for high-speed read/write web applications with straightforward schemas. Use PostgreSQL for complex analytical queries, geospatial data (PostGIS), or heavy JSONB document querying.
1. Architectural Comparison
2. Summary Recommendation
Use MySQL for high-speed read/write web applications with straightforward schemas. Use PostgreSQL for complex analytical queries, geospatial data (PostGIS), or heavy JSONB document querying.