Why We Still Recommend Postgres by Default

Every year brings a new database promising to make Postgres look outdated. And every year, for the vast majority of applications, Postgres remains the right default — not because it’s exciting, but because it rarely forces you into a corner.

The JSONB escape hatch

The single biggest reason: JSONB. When part of your data genuinely doesn’t fit a rigid schema, you can store it as JSONB and query it almost as flexibly as a document database — without giving up transactions, joins, or the rest of SQL for everything else.

When it isn’t the right call

• Your data is document-shaped from day one and will rarely need relational queries — MongoDB is a fair alternative
• You need effortless horizontal write-scaling from day one at massive volume
• You want a fully managed, batteries-included backend and don’t want to run your own auth/storage layer — Supabase (built on Postgres) is worth a look before you rule it out

Full breakdown, with a feature-by-feature table, in PostgreSQL vs MongoDB.