3 ms·

ParadeDB – PostgreSQL for Search

49 points by gfortaine 3y ago

fortytw2 3y ago
Seems like this is more of a "PostgreSQL distribution with search extensions" than "ParadeDB is an open source ElasticSearch alternative built on Postgres..." Interesting, sure, but confusing marketing/positioning at a glance
- iddan 3y ago
  Except for technical correctness maybe I don’t see your point. What’s wrong about saying it is built on Postgres and provides the elastic search functionality?
- philippemnoel 3y ago
  ParadeDB author here. You're right, currently we only do the "Search" in Elastic, but we're planning to do real-time analytics, logs processing, etc. eventually
Sytten 3y ago
AGPL with no way to buy a license to self host? Seems like a weird thing to do. I really wish there was a way for me (small startup) to be able to use a managed postgres with multiple paid extensions. But they all want to push their own cloud. So you need a plain postgres instance, a timescale instance, a paradedb instance, etc. So what I end up recommending to people is to use whatever managed service their cloud provider offer that is similar to those postgres extension. Likely cheaper than spawning a full PG instance on third 3rd party cloud.
- philippemnoel 3y ago
  Hi there! ParadeDB author here. We don't believe AGPL should prevent you from self-hosting for your own internal usage. We see ourselves as becoming a Postgres-based Elasticsearch alternative, primarily used internally for observability, etc. If you are interested in using ParadeDB to power your own product, or would prefer a different license, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach me directly at phil@paradedb.com. We spent a lot of time evaluating which license to use, and decided to follow the footsteps of Citus Data and go with a standard OSS license while ensuring that we can't be hosted on public clouds without a partnership. Hope this helps!
  - Sytten 3y ago
    I am not right now looking for this but say I want to add a search function to my program it would be nice to be able to add the extension to my existing DB for a fee (say 30-50USD/month) without having to spawn a whole instance. I hope cloud providers offer the service but what I have seen is they only support fully OSS which is annoying. I guess it is fine if you plan on being acquired like citus.
    - philippemnoel 3y ago
      This is interesting. We've been seeing a pretty split desire where some companies would prefer ParadeDB installed as an extension in their existing database, while others would prefer ParadeDB as a separate search node (for independent scaling, recovery, performance, etc.) We expect production-scale ParadeDB to be used as a separate search node getting logical replication from your primary Postgres. This would give you easy-to-maintain and scale services while benefiting from isolation of services (so your search can't take down your primary database, etc.) We would be open to what you describe and happy to work it out. But we are currently thinking of prioritizing separate hosting of ParadeDB. It's early, though, and still unconfirmed what customers will prefer :)

49 points by gfortaine 3y ago

Seems like this is more of a "PostgreSQL distribution with search extensions" than "ParadeDB is an open source ElasticSearch alternative built on Postgres..." Interesting, sure, but confusing marketing/positioning at a glance

iddan 3y ago
Except for technical correctness maybe I don’t see your point. What’s wrong about saying it is built on Postgres and provides the elastic search functionality?
philippemnoel 3y ago
ParadeDB author here. You're right, currently we only do the "Search" in Elastic, but we're planning to do real-time analytics, logs processing, etc. eventually

Sytten 3y ago

AGPL with no way to buy a license to self host? Seems like a weird thing to do. I really wish there was a way for me (small startup) to be able to use a managed postgres with multiple paid extensions. But they all want to push their own cloud. So you need a plain postgres instance, a timescale instance, a paradedb instance, etc. So what I end up recommending to people is to use whatever managed service their cloud provider offer that is similar to those postgres extension. Likely cheaper than spawning a full PG instance on third 3rd party cloud.

philippemnoel 3y ago
Hi there! ParadeDB author here. We don't believe AGPL should prevent you from self-hosting for your own internal usage. We see ourselves as becoming a Postgres-based Elasticsearch alternative, primarily used internally for observability, etc. If you are interested in using ParadeDB to power your own product, or would prefer a different license, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach me directly at phil@paradedb.com. We spent a lot of time evaluating which license to use, and decided to follow the footsteps of Citus Data and go with a standard OSS license while ensuring that we can't be hosted on public clouds without a partnership. Hope this helps!
- Sytten 3y ago
  I am not right now looking for this but say I want to add a search function to my program it would be nice to be able to add the extension to my existing DB for a fee (say 30-50USD/month) without having to spawn a whole instance. I hope cloud providers offer the service but what I have seen is they only support fully OSS which is annoying. I guess it is fine if you plan on being acquired like citus.
  - philippemnoel 3y ago
    This is interesting. We've been seeing a pretty split desire where some companies would prefer ParadeDB installed as an extension in their existing database, while others would prefer ParadeDB as a separate search node (for independent scaling, recovery, performance, etc.) We expect production-scale ParadeDB to be used as a separate search node getting logical replication from your primary Postgres. This would give you easy-to-maintain and scale services while benefiting from isolation of services (so your search can't take down your primary database, etc.) We would be open to what you describe and happy to work it out. But we are currently thinking of prioritizing separate hosting of ParadeDB. It's early, though, and still unconfirmed what customers will prefer :)