5 Ways To Host PostgreSQL Databases

Installing PostgreSQL on your local development computer

For early development, testing, and proof of concepts, installing PostgreSQL on your local development machine can provide reliable, easy to manage access to your databases.

Cost

Setting up PostgreSQL on your development machine is free of cost. You are running the database from a computer that would already be active as you develop. You only need to consider the amount of resources that PostgreSQL will consume when up and running.

Performance

Installing PostgreSQL on your development machine is a low performance option.

Your database will not be easily or reliably available to other users. Your own usage of the database will be limited by your hardware and the amount of resources you can spare for PostgreSQL. These concerns are not typically an issue when testing or developing locally, but are entirely inadequate for anything more complex.

Scalability

Hosting on your development machine gives you almost no scalability. You can change the amount of resources allocated to PostgreSQL, but not much more. You can upgrade your development machine, but that is neither practical or particularly useful in the long term.

Management complexity

In terms of complexity, hosting PostgreSQL on your local machine is often fairly straightforward. The installation process for most operating systems is well thought out and the resulting database can be started or stopped easily. Configuring your local PostgreSQL instance for external access is usually not worth the effort however given the resource limitations and consumer network instability.

Though setting up PostgreSQL locally is not complex, you will still be required to manage your database and perform any upgrades as necessary. These might be required for security patching occasionally and it will be your responsibility to keep track of these instances if you are concerned about your data.

Additional notes

Installing locally means that your databases will be accessible from your development computer even when the network is down. This can be especially helpful when traveling. Accessing your data locally removes network complexity, allowing you to focus on development instead of database access.

Installing PostgreSQL on your local development computer is useful but has some pretty clear limitations. You can't easily configure multi-user access and your database uptime is tied directly to your computer's availability and network stability. For these reasons, installing on your development machine is nearly always a supplemental option meant to increase your productivity and flexibility, never the only database installation.