How much will we save by leaving Oracle?

Oracle licensing typically costs $47,500 per processor core plus 22% annual support fees. Most organizations save $500K–$2M+ by migrating to PostgreSQL.

Can PostgreSQL handle Oracle-scale workloads?

Yes. PostgreSQL handles petabyte-scale databases and thousands of concurrent connections. Extensions like Citus add horizontal sharding for even larger workloads.

What about Oracle RAC and Data Guard?

PostgreSQL achieves high availability with Patroni or pg_auto_failover, and read replicas with streaming replication — covering RAC and Data Guard use cases.

Migrate from Oracle to PostgreSQL

Eliminate Oracle's expensive per-core licensing and restrictive audits. PostgreSQL delivers enterprise-grade performance at zero license cost.

Migration: Oracle to PostgreSQL

From Oracle Database to PostgreSQL

Why Migrate

Eliminate Oracle Licensing: Oracle licenses cost $47,500 per core. A 32-core server runs $1.5M+ in license fees alone. PostgreSQL delivers comparable features for free.
Avoid Vendor Lock-In: Oracle's proprietary features, tools, and audit practices create deep vendor lock-in. PostgreSQL is open-source and runs identically on any infrastructure.
Modern Extension Ecosystem: PostgreSQL extensions like Citus (sharding), TimescaleDB (time-series), and PostGIS (geospatial) provide capabilities that require Oracle Enterprise Edition.

Migration Roadmap

Oracle Assessment (2–3 weeks): Inventory Oracle schemas, PL/SQL packages, materialized views, partitioned tables, and application dependencies. Estimate conversion complexity.
- Oracle object inventory
- PL/SQL to PL/pgSQL conversion estimate
- License cost savings analysis
Schema & Code Conversion (4–8 weeks): Convert Oracle schemas to PostgreSQL, rewrite PL/SQL in PL/pgSQL, and replace Oracle-specific features (sequences, synonyms, packages) with PostgreSQL equivalents.
- PostgreSQL schema with all objects
- Converted PL/pgSQL procedures and functions
- Application query compatibility layer
Data Migration & Validation (1–3 weeks): Migrate data using ora2pg or AWS SCT/DMS, validate row counts and checksums, and perform the production switchover.
- Complete data migration with validation
- Performance comparison benchmarks
- Production cutover with rollback plan

Risks & Mitigation

Complex PL/SQL packages with Oracle-specific features: We use ora2pg for automated conversion of common patterns and manually rewrite complex packages with thorough test coverage.
Oracle-specific SQL syntax in application code: We audit all application queries, create a compatibility guide, and use Orafce (Oracle compatibility extension for PostgreSQL) as a bridge during migration.

Estimated Scope

Hours: 200–400 | Cost: $400–$800 | Timeline: 7–14 weeks

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will we save by leaving Oracle?: Oracle licensing typically costs $47,500 per processor core plus 22% annual support fees. Most organizations save $500K–$2M+ by migrating to PostgreSQL.
Can PostgreSQL handle Oracle-scale workloads?: Yes. PostgreSQL handles petabyte-scale databases and thousands of concurrent connections. Extensions like Citus add horizontal sharding for even larger workloads.
What about Oracle RAC and Data Guard?: PostgreSQL achieves high availability with Patroni or pg_auto_failover, and read replicas with streaming replication — covering RAC and Data Guard use cases.