PostgreSQL Outperforms MySQL in Most Benchmarks, With Caveats

A developer ran PostgreSQL 16.15 and MySQL 8.0.46 on the same two-vCPU, 8 GB machine with identical data and comparable memory settings, testing typical web workloads. PostgreSQL delivered higher throughput in every sysbench transactional test and ran aggregate queries and joins over 2 million rows five to six times faster. MySQL was roughly twice as fast on single primary-key lookups from PHP and had cheaper connection setup, and PostgreSQL's table size grew after heavy updates while MySQL's stayed flat. The author stresses that the results come from one small machine, specific software versions and largely default settings, with run-to-run variation of 20 to 30 percent. MySQL 8.0 has reached end of life, so the findings reflect a snapshot rather than a general verdict.