StackOverflow 2024 Survey: PostgreSQL Is Dominating the Field
2024 StackOverflow Global Developer Survey Results have just been released, featuring high-quality responses from 60,000 developers in 185 countries and regions. Naturally, as a seasoned database aficionado, the part I’m most interested in is the “Database” section of the survey:
Popularity
First up is database popularity: Database usage among professional developers
A technology’s popularity is measured by the proportion of overall respondents who used it in the past year. This figure reflects accumulated usage over that period—think of it as the market “stock” metric, the most fundamental indicator of current status.
In terms of usage, PostgreSQL leads the pack among professional developers at 51.9%, clinching the top spot for the third consecutive year—and surpassing the 50% mark for the first time ever! The gap between PostgreSQL and the second-place MySQL (39.4%) has widened to 12.5 percentage points (it was 8.5 points last year).
Looking at the entire developer community (including non-professionals), PostgreSQL has become the world’s most popular database for the second year in a row, at 48.7% usage—pulling 8.4 points ahead of MySQL (40.3%), compared to a 4.5-point lead in the previous year.
Plotting the past eight years of survey data on a scatter chart shows PostgreSQL enjoying a near-linear, high-speed growth trend.
Besides PostgreSQL, other databases seeing notable growth include SQLite, DuckDB, Supabase, BigQuery, Snowflake, and Databricks SQL. BigQuery, Snowflake, and Databricks are the darlings of the big data analytics realm, while SQLite and DuckDB occupy a unique embedded database niche that doesn’t really clash with traditional relational databases. Supabase, on the other hand, encapsulates PostgreSQL under the hood as its backend development platform.
All other databases have, to varying degrees, felt the impact of PostgreSQL’s rise.
Admiration & Demand
Next, let’s look at a database’s admiration (in red) and demand (in blue): Which databases are most loved and most wanted by all developers over the past year, sorted by demand.
So-called “reputation” (the red dot)—Loved/Admired—tells us what percentage of current users would be happy to keep using the technology. It’s like an annual “retention rate” that captures the perception and valuation of a database, reflecting its future growth potential.
In terms of reputation, PostgreSQL remains at the top for the second consecutive year, with a 74.5% admiration rate. Two other databases worth noting are SQLite and DuckDB, both of which have seen a significant uptick in user admiration in the past year, while TiDB experienced a dramatic drop (from 64.33 down to 48.8).
The proportion of all respondents who say they want to use a given technology next year is the “Wanted” or “Desired” rate (the blue dot). This metric indicates how many plan to adopt that technology in the coming year, making it a solid predictor of near-future growth. Hence the survey ranks databases by this demand figure.
This is PostgreSQL’s third consecutive year at the top, now boasting a commanding lead over the runners-up. Perhaps driven by recent interest in vector databases, PostgreSQL’s demand has skyrocketed—from 19% in 2022 to 47% in 2024. By contrast, MySQL’s demand fell behind even SQLite, slipping from second place in 2023 to third this year.
This demand metric—representing explicit statements like, “I plan to use this database next year”—accurately forecasts next year’s new adoption. That means this spike in demand for PostgreSQL will likely be reflected in higher popularity numbers next year.
Conclusion
For the second consecutive year, PostgreSQL has unequivocally staked its claim as the world’s most popular, most loved, and most in-demand database.
Looking at the eight-year trend and next year’s demand projections, it seems unlikely any rival will be able to topple PostgreSQL’s ascendancy.
MySQL, once PostgreSQL’s main competitor, clearly shows signs of decline, and other databases are feeling the pressure too. Those that continue to grow either avoid going head-to-head with PostgreSQL by occupying a different niche, or they’ve rebranded themselves into PostgreSQL-compatible or PostgreSQL-based solutions.
PostgreSQL is on track to become the Linux kernel of the database world, with the “PostgreSQL distribution wars” set to begin in earnest.