Postgres Resources - Bernds Homepage

Official Postgres Documentation
The comprehensive official docs - your first stop for any Postgres question
Postgres Books
Helpful books to get an in depth introduction
Postgres Tutorial
Step-by-step tutorials from basics to advanced topics
Don't Do This
A list of things to avoid when working with Postgres
Postgres Exercises
Interactive exercises to practice SQL and PostgreSQL features
Download the Stack Overflow Sample Database for Postgres
If you want to play around with a real database setup, here, you find 6GB and 117GB dumps of the Stack Overflow database

psql Command Line
Official command-line interface for PostgreSQL
pgFormatter
A tool to automatically format Postgres-specific SQL code
pgAdmin
The most popular web-based Postgres administration tool
DBeaver
Universal database tool with excellent Postgres support
pgbadger
A tool to help analyze Postgres logs (including a cute mascot)
PGTune
Calculate configuration for Postgres based on your hardware
pgbench
Benchmark Postgres performance
pg_repack
"[A] PostgreSQL extension which lets you remove bloat from tables and indexes, and optionally restore the physical order of clustered indexes."

A Quick(ish) Introduction (July, 2025)
Performance tuning is hard. This introduction by Jacob Jackson makes it easier
Basic PostgreSQL Configuration on Linux (Oct, 2023)
This article by Aliaksei Kirkouski delivers insights into real world Postgres deployment on Linux
How to Benchmark PostgreSQL (May, 2022)
Learn how to measure and quantify performance with pgbench
Making Postgres 42,000x slower (July, 2025)
How slow can you make Postgres? An article by Jacob Jackson exploring performance tuning by shifting the perspective
How to Optimise PostgreSQL LIKE and ILIKE Queries for Blazing-Fast Searches (July 2025)
This article talks about ways you can effectively index for searches using like and ilike
PostgreSQL LIKE query performance variations (Nov. 2012)
This Stack Overflow post by Erwin Brandstetter discusses optimal scenarios for different indexes when it comes to wildcards
Per-tablespace storage parameters (Oct. 2013)
Article by Hans-Jürgen Schönig about making use of tablespaces to 'trick' the optimizer in better handling tables expected to be uncached

pg_basebackup: Creating self-sufficient backups (Dec. 2016)
Article by Hans-Jürgen Schönig on how to use pg_basebackup effectively.
Why PostgreSQL 17's Incremental Backup Feature is a Game-Changer (August 2024)
Article discussing the advantages of incremental backups introduced in Postgres 17. It also introduces the backup tool 'Barman'

SQL Injection: Protecting Your PostgreSQL Database (Oct. 2023)
Article by Valentine Blaze introducing the reader to measures against injection-related security vulnerabilities

Postgres Weekly
Newsletter with curated articles delivered by Peter Cooper since 2013. Get the most important Postgres news, you won't regret signing up
CYBERTEC Blog
A treasure trove of exciting articles on various Postgres topics
Talking Postgres
Podcast by Claire Giordano discussing the human side of Postgres

Column Tetris (Sep. 2011)
This Stack Overflow post by Erwin Brandstetter discusses economic column design
Postgres Indexing: When Does BRIN Win? (July 2023)
Article by Paul Ramsey discussing situations where a BRIN index is preferrable.
PostgreSQL Deep Dive: How Your Data Model Affects Storage (Feb. 2019)
An article by Jon Conway discussing how switching to a denormalized array-based approach can sometimes be superior to parent-detail tables
Postgres vs. SQL Server: B-Tree Index Differences & the Benefit of Deduplication (April 2025)
An article by Lukas Fittl discussing the implementation of B-Trees in Postgres and its implications

🐘 PostgreSQL Resources & Links