I find PL/pgSQL preferable if only because it fits most naturally in the database environment. Queries fit very naturally into the code with little special tre

I find PL/pgSQL preferable if only because it fits most naturally in the database environment. Queries fit very naturally into the code with little special treatment; being able to rely on the full power of PostgreSQL's type system in my logic without any additional accommodations; exception/error handling feeling more natural and integrated;and as others have noted, certain performance advantages (usually). PL/pgSQL has a fairly low complexity in my experience compared to many other languages... More often it's the SQL/database conceptual part that I see people struggling with most. PL/pgSQL in some ways makes that a little more front and center... But if you're writing functions and procedures you're really not going to escape having to come to terms with the database. May not be the issue you were experiencing, but expect that to be more common.