Software Alternatives & Startups

Starcounter VS Postgres-XC

Compare Starcounter VS Postgres-XC and see what are their differences

Starcounter

The Starcounter database is built with the real-time systems of today in mind.

Rating
0 reviews
Postgres-XC

Free, secure and fast downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory - SourceForge.net

Rating
0 reviews

Which is more popular?

Relational Databases popularity
51% vs 49%
alternatives listed
18 vs 17

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Starcounter
Postgres-XC
Website starcounter.com sourceforge.net
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Starcounter 5 features
Postgres-XC 0 features
  • High Performance
    Starcounter offers high-performance in-memory database capabilities which can lead to fast read and write operations, making it suitable for real-time applications.
  • Unified Database Architecture
    It uses a single architecture that allows both SQL and NoSQL data models, providing flexibility in how data can be structured and queried.
  • Low Latency
    Being an in-memory database, it boasts low latency in data operations, which is crucial for applications that require immediate data retrieval.
  • Scalability
    Starcounter is designed to handle increasing amounts of data and users without a significant drop in performance.
  • Efficient Use of Hardware Resources
    The platform is optimized for modern hardware, making efficient use of multi-core processors and vast amounts of memory.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Adoption
    Starcounter is not as widely adopted or known as other database solutions, which can lead to a smaller community and fewer resources for support.
  • Complexity
    The unified model for operating with both SQL and NoSQL paradigms can add complexity, especially for developers who are not familiar with such integration.
  • Cost
    Licensing and operational costs might be a concern for smaller companies or startups, especially when compared to open-source alternatives.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    There might be fewer third-party tools or extensions available for Starcounter, limiting flexibility in some use cases.
  • In-Memory Limitations
    As an in-memory database, the size of your dataset is limited by the amount of available RAM, which can be a limiting factor for very large datasets.

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Starcounter
Postgres-XC

Overall verdict

  • Starcounter is a solid choice for organizations needing an in-memory database and application server that delivers extremely high transactional throughput with low latency, thanks to its unique architecture that keeps data in RAM and eliminates traditional data mapping overhead.

Why this product is good

  • In-memory database architecture delivers very high performance and low-latency transaction processing
  • Combines the database and application server in one runtime, reducing data-transfer and object-relational mapping overhead
  • Uses SQL querying so developers can work with familiar syntax
  • ACID-compliant transactions ensure data integrity for mission-critical applications
  • Designed to scale for high-throughput workloads such as retail, gaming, and real-time systems

Recommended for

  • Enterprises building high-performance, real-time transactional applications
  • Retail and e-commerce platforms handling large volumes of concurrent transactions
  • Developers seeking to reduce complexity by combining database and app server
  • Use cases requiring low-latency data access such as gaming, finance, or IoT
  • Applications where traditional disk-based databases become a performance bottleneck

Overall verdict

  • Postgres-XC is a discontinued open-source project that provided write-scalable, multi-master synchronous PostgreSQL clustering, but it has been superseded by newer forks and is no longer actively maintained, making it a poor choice for new deployments today.

Why this product is good

  • Was one of the earliest solutions to add horizontal write scalability to PostgreSQL through a distributed architecture
  • Offered multi-master synchronous replication allowing reads and writes from any node
  • Maintained strong consistency (ACID compliance) across the cluster, unlike many NoSQL alternatives
  • Inspired successor projects like Postgres-XL and later influenced Citus and other distributed Postgres solutions
  • Free and open-source, allowing full inspection and modification of the codebase

Recommended for

  • Users researching the historical evolution of distributed PostgreSQL architectures
  • Legacy systems still running Postgres-XC that need maintenance knowledge
  • Developers evaluating old codebases before migrating to actively maintained alternatives like Postgres-XL, Citus, or YugabyteDB
  • Not recommended for new production deployments due to lack of updates, security patches, and community support

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Starcounter
Postgres-XC
51% 51%
49% 49%
51% 51%
49% 49%
51% 51%
49% 49%
100% 100%
0% 0%

User comments

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Alternatives to Starcounter and Postgres-XC

When comparing Starcounter and Postgres-XC, you can also consider the following products.