13 Best Postgresql Monitoring Tools For 2023 Paid Free

The group of monitoring tools for PostgreSQL is slightly more narrow than many other leading database providers.

Here is our list of the best PostgreSQL monitoring tools:

• Datadog PostgreSQL Performance Monitoring EDITOR’S CHOICE A cloud-based monitoring package that tracks the performance of all resources up from the server’s physical properties up to user-facing software. An integration available with this package adds on specialized screens and data exchanging capabilities to interact with and monitor PostgreSQL databases. Start 14-day free trial.
• SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (FREE TRIAL) An extensive database monitor for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Apache, MongoDB, Tomcat, and Cassandra databases.
• AppOptics APM (FREE TRIAL) Cloud-based application performance monitor that includes a utility for PostgreSQL optimization.
• ManageEngine Applications Manager (FREE TRIAL) This package monitors PostgreSQL, many other DBMSs plus any custom or packaged application. Available for Windows Server, Linux, AWS, and Azure.
• Site24x7 (FREE TRIAL) This cloud platform offers plans that combine the monitoring of networks, servers, services, applications, and websites and has a special plug-in for PostgreSQL integration.
• Sematext PostgreSQL Monitoring (FREE TRIAL) This monitoring system is part of an Infrastructure Monitoring package that offers full stack visibility alongside database performance tracking. Available as a SaaS package or for hosting over Docker.
• Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL) Network, server, and application monitor that includes a specialist sensor for PostgreSQL databases.
• AppDynamics Database monitor that can watch PostgreSQL, among others, and allows a full view of database transactions right down to code efficiency.
• ClusterControl A database monitoring tool that can supervise PostgreSQL databases. Available in free and paid versions.
• pgAdmin Free, open source PostgreSQL management tool available online or downloadable for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
• Pganalyze A low-cost query optimizer for PostgreSQL.
• pgCluu Free, open source PostgreSQL performance management and auditing tool.
• Nagios Core and Nagios XI Free and paid versions of an extendible infrastructure monitor that will monitor PostgreSQL database statuses.

The best PostgreSQL monitoring tools

1. Datadog PostgreSQL Performance Monitoring (FREE TRIAL)

Our methodology for selecting PostgreSQL monitoring tools

We reviewed the market for PostgreSQL monitoring software and analyzed the options based on the following criteria:

• An overview of statistics for all database instances and drill-down detail for statistics on each instance
• Live measurements of database response times
• A demonstration of indexing problems within each PostgreSQL instance
• Recommendations on SQL query optimization
• An examination of server resource utilization by each database instance
• A free trial that offers a no-cost assessment period
• Value for money in a package that delivers a good set of tools that will repay its purchase price

Datadog is a SaaS platform that includes system monitoring tools. The Datadog Infrastructure module has a specialist integration that allows it to monitor PostgreSQL databases. The monitor will track the operating throughput of the RDBMS and help spot inefficient queries that are gobbling up resources.

Key Features:

• Cloud-based
• AI-driven assessments
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Autodiscovery
• Query profiling

The PostgreSQL monitoring dashboard is packed with data visualizations, which you might find a little overwhelming. However, you can set alert thresholds on all of those metrics, so you don’t have to watch the passing metrics on live activities to keep ahead of potential problems.

The Datadog Infrastructure deploys an AI-based system, called Watchdog, which can spot potential problems more accurately than straightforward thresholds because it will combine event metrics to derive potential bottlenecks. The combination of monitoring notification techniques means that you can leave the system to monitor your PostgreSQL databases for you.

The dashboard of Datadog can be customized, letting you place all of the information that is important to you in one place. With this, you can create stack views that cover the services that support your PostgreSQL database as well as the RDBMS and query performance.

Analysis tools in the SaaS platform enable you to identify inefficient queries and code and optimize them. The analytical capabilities and live monitoring functions of Datadog can be extended by adding on other modules. These include Datadog APM, which performs distributed tracing for Web applications, Network Performance, to check on traffic patterns and network capacity, and Synthetic Monitoring, which monitors the uptime and performance of websites. All Datadog modules are available for 14-day free trials.

Pros:

• Cloud-based SaaS product allows monitoring with no server deployments or onboarding costs
• Can monitor both internally and externally giving network admins a holistic view of their PostgreSQL accessibility
• Supports auto-discovery that builds network topology maps on the fly
• Changes made to the network are reflected in near real-time
• Allows businesses to scale their monitoring efforts reliably through flexible pricing options

Cons:

• Would like to see a longer trial period for testing

2. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (FREE TRIAL)

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Datadog Infrastructure Monitoring is our top pick for a PostgreSQL monitoring tool because it provides general system monitoring from server resources up to user-facing software while also having specialized PostgreSQL monitoring capabilities. The standard package includes systems such as application dependency mapping and server monitoring. However, with the activation of a free integration package, you add on screens and probes that provide detailed monitoring for PostgreSQL database instances. The combination of all of these monitoring systems lets you see inside a running instance and spot performance issues. You will also be able to see whether your databases are damaging the performance of other systems or if underlying services are the root cause of issues.

Download: Start 14-day FREE Trial

Official Site: https://www.datadoghq.com/free-datadog-trial/

OS: Cloud-based

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is an application monitoring tool that monitors PostgreSQL databases. The software can measure database size, table size, active database and server connections, indexes, locks, triggers, successful transaction rates, and more. PostgreSQL shows them on the dashboard. The dashboard comprises a range of visual displays ranging from performance dials to more complex charts and graphs.

• Monitors a range of applications
• Database and hardware resource tracking
• Query examination
• Alerts

Out-of-the-box, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor includes over 200 monitoring templates for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB Apache, Tomcat, Cassandra and many other providers. There are also over 800 monitoring templates that have been created by the users and shared on Thwack (SolarWinds’ online user community).

Intelligent alerts update you on changes to PostgreSQL performance. If CPU usage is higher than normal you will be sent an alert. Alerts are configured based on thresholds where a performance baseline is established and alerts are sent when there is a deviation from that baseline. The system has been built to minimize false positives.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is ideal for small to midsize enterprises looking for a PostgreSQL monitoring solutions that’s easy to install and manage. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor starts at a price of $2,995 (£2,404). You can also download the free trial.

• Offers on-premise and cloud deployment options, giving companies more choices for install

• Can highlight interdependencies between applications to map out how performance issues can impact businesses operations

• Offers log monitoring to track metrics like memory usage, disk IO, and cache status, providing a holistic view into your database health

• Can automatically detect databases, server hardware, and devices in real-time

• Can take time to fully explore all features and options available

3. AppOptics APM (FREE TRIAL)

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is great for small to midsize enterprises looking for a PostgreSQL monitoring solution that’s easy to install and manage.

Start 30-day Free Trial: solarwinds.com/server-application-monitor

OS: Windows Server 2016 or later

AppOptics APM is a cloud-based application performance monitor that includes tools to improve performance as well as monitoring alerts that head off performance impairment.

• Cloud-based
• Database optimizer
• Query profiler

Included in the AppOptics APM service are specialized database optimization utilities that can interface to the PostgreSQL database management system. The database optimizer focuses on analyzing the SQL queries that extract data. The queries that seem to take a long time to complete get examined with an automatic trace. The trace file details all of the database transactions that the SQL query caused to be executed.

The analysis of each inefficient query results in recommendations for rewriting SQL to create more efficient queries. Database performance can also be improved by adding or removing indexes on the database tables.

The database optimization features in AppOptics APM are not limited to working with PostgreSQL. It can interact with many other DBMSs, including Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Apache DBMSs.

Applications that rely on database fetches and insertions could have imperfections higher up in their code. The optimization utilities in AppOptics APM can also analyze all code and recommend improvements in programs to speed up processing. Once code and database interactions have been improved, other delivery impairments, such as server performance and network device health can also be improved by the infrastructure monitoring tools in AppOptics.

AppOptics is charged for by subscription with fees charged in advance per year. You can get a 14-day free trial of AppOptics to ensure its usefulness before you commit to a subscription.

• Great visualizations and pre-configurated dashboards – easy to use with little configuration

• Offers a monitoring agent specifically for PostgreSQL

• Can monitor database performance as well as infrastructure health

• Provides users with easy database access for quick troubleshooting

• Designed for large networks and enterprise environments, smaller businesses may not use all features available

AppOptics APM Stare 14-day FREE Trial

4. ManageEngine Applications Manager (FREE TRIAL)

ManageEngine Applications Manager is a good option for PostgreSQL monitoring because it tracks activity in connected applications and supporting services as well as the database instances. The package includes a discovery service that traces all contributing modules for each of your user-facing applications. It then chains through to identify supporting applications such as databases. Passing through these systems, the discovery process identifies the server that hosts each component. With this information, Applications Manager constructs a live application dependency map.

• PostgreSQL database transaction monitoring
• Server resource tracking
• Application dependency map
• Response time monitoring

The Applications Manager package provides real user monitoring and synthetic monitoring so that you can quickly identify problems in the delivery of your Web applications. The application dependency map shows the root cause of any issue, so you can go straight to the system that needs to be fixed without wasting time investigating. A system of thresholds also warns you of impending problems. These trip alerts that can be forwarded to your phone, email, or Service Desk ticketing system.

Applications Manager also offers distributed tracing and code profiling to track through the activities of serverless systems and other Web applications. These utilities also feed through to PostgreSQL monitoring if those systems rely on database instances. The dependency maps chain right down to each server resource underpinning the whole system.

ManageEngine Applications Manager is available in a free edition but that only offers five monitoring instances. There are two paid editions, which are Professional for a single network, and Enterprise for multi-site implementations. The software package runs on Windows Server or Linux or you can get the system as a service on AWS and Azure. You can get a 30-day free trial and if you decide not to buy at the end of the trial period, your implementation reverts to the free version.

• Comes with an out-of-box PostgreSQL monitoring template

• Records live health metrics along with historical data for long term monitoring

• Query analysis

• Server resource availability tracking

• Alerts for performance issues

• Very feature-rich platform – can take time to fully learn

ManageEngine Applications Manager Start 30-day FREE Trial

5. Site24x7 (FREE TRIAL)

Site24x7 is a cloud platform of system monitoring tools that includes network, server, application, infrastructure, and website monitoring systems. The service also offers log management. You can get specific PostgreSQL monitoring by accessing a plug-in. The screens for Site24x7 are customizable and you can create your own, showing a mix of monitors, including the PostgreSQL monitoring sensor output.

• Postgres database monitoring
• Service and server monitoring
• Root cause analysis

By combining information from all of the sensors in the Site24x7 package you get a better idea of which element in the full system stack is causing responses to slow or services to hang or fall over. As Postgres is a back-end service, performance issues with databases would show up first in a user-facing system because problems with the database will cause response problems elsewhere.

The database monitoring service in Site24x7 is able to watch the responses of the database itself and drill down further to correlate PostgreSQL activity with the availability of supporting services.

The Site24x7 package includes a series of performance expectation thresholds and if one of those is breached anywhere, it will receive an alert, which you can choose to receive by email, SMS, or voice message. By scrolling through the alerts in the Site24x7 console, you will identify which of the batch was raised first, thus immediately seeing where the problem began.

The Postgres monitoring plug-in is part of the Server Monitoring service of the Site24x7 Infrastructure plan, which starts at $9 per month (£7.57). The service is also included in the All-in-One (starting at $35/£29.44 per month) and MSP (starting at $45/£37.85 per month) editions. You can get any plan on a 30-day free trial.

• Performance thresholds across all monitoring services

• Monitor Postgres databases on any platform

• Get live monitoring of performance above, within, and beneath databases

• See demand patterns to plan capacity for databases

• No on-premises version

Site24x7 Start a 30-day FREE Trial

6. Sematext PostgreSQL Monitoring (FREE TRIAL)

Sematext PostgreSQL Monitoring is part of the Sematext Infrastructure Monitoring package. This system offers network, server, application, and services monitoring and it is particularly strong in monitoring databases. The PostgreSQL monitoring system is an add-on to the base Infrastructure Monitoring unit and it is one of a long list of integrations that can expand the system.

• Tracks multiple instances
• Database performance
• Resource monitoring

The PostgreSQL monitoring add-on provides readouts for all the key database metrics, such as transaction throughput and error rates. If locks occur or if resources run short, the Sematext service will raise an alert. This gives you the option to get on with other tasks and let Sematext gt on with monitoring the normal performance of your Postgres databases.

You still get network, server, and application monitoring from Sematext when you activate the PostgreSQL integration. This means that you can see whether server memory shortages or network congestion is the real cause of any performance problems that you encounter with your databases. Dependency mapping can also show you when your database is the real cause of issues with your user interfaces.

Sematext Infrastructure Monitoring and the PostgreSQL integration are free to use if you run them to watch over five hosts with only a 30-minute data retention period. More hosts and a long retention period get you into the paid editions. Sematext is a SaaS package but there is an option to run it on your own server as a virtual appliance over Docker. Sematext is available for a 14-day free trial.

• Monitors within the database and the services that support it

• Identifies application dependencies

• Live performance graphs and historical analysis

• The service can get expensive if you choose a long data retention period

Sematext PostgreSQL Monitoring Start 14-day FREE Trial

7. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL)

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a network monitoring tool that includes a sensor designed for PostgreSQL. The PostgreSQL Sensor monitors databases on a PostgreSQL server and queries it for metrics. The sensor can monitor the execution time of the request, execution time of the query, the number of rows that were addressed by the query, and access data table information. The information is broken down into dials and can be viewed as Live Data, Historic Data or over the past 2, 30, or 365 days.

• Live monitoring
• Response time tracking
• Historical analysis

To help you monitor sensors when you’re not at your desk, PRTG Network Monitor uses notifications. Notifications are sent to you by email, SMS, or push notifications (to Android and IOS devices) when thresholds are breached. For example if the execution time of a query was unusually long, then the program will send you a notification to tell you there’s a problem.

One of the biggest selling points of PRTG Network Monitor is that it’s a free tool (providing you use less than 100 sensors!). If you’re looking to start out in PostgreSQL then this tool is a great entry point that provides a premium monitoring experience.

Paid versions of PRTG Network Monitor start at $1600 (£1,284) for 500 sensors and go up to $14,500 (£11,643) for unlimited sensors with one server installation – there is also a version that supports five server installations for $60,000 (£48,180). You can download the 30-day free trial.

• Fully customizable dashboard is great for both lone administrators as well as NOC teams

• Drag and drop editor makes it easy to build custom views and reports

• Supports a wide range of alert mediums such as SMS, email, and third-party integrations into platforms like Slack

• Offers pre-built SQL monitoring with the ability to build your own custom agent

• Is a very comprehensive platform with many features and moving parts that require time to learn

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor Download 30-day FREE Trial

8. AppDynamics

AppDynamics is a premium application performance monitor that is compatible with PostgreSQL. AppDynamics provides you with an in-depth perspective of PostgreSQL performance. Data the software monitors includes transaction activity, tuple access types, cache hit rates, and more. If you see something you’re unsure about, at the click of a button you can visualize the historical performance of an individual query.

• Analyzes each database transaction
• Infrastructure monitor
• AI-based analysis

To tackle the issue of visibility AppDynamics displays PostgreSQL instance objects. Viewing objects from this perspective helps you to understand your current configurations much better. Table Details and Index Information are just some of the details you can take a closer look at.

The alerts system on AppDynamics works off of baselines. AppDynamics collects performance data and establishes baselines to detect anomalous behaviour. Alerts and baselines are sophisticated enough that the software can minimize false alerts so that you only receive legitimate notifications.

Overall, if you require a PostgreSQL monitoring tool that provides deep visibility there are few tools as comprehensive as AppDynamics. AppDynamics can monitor versions 8 and higher of PostgreSQL databases. To view the pricing information of the product you will have to contact the company directly. You can download the free trial.

• Tailored for large-scale enterprise use

• Designed for full-stack monitoring, great if you plan to monitor other environments outside of Google Cloud

• Uses AI for enhanced intelligent monitoring

• Priced higher than similar tools on the market

• Can have a steep learning curve, could use more tutorials

9. ClusterControl

ClusterControl is an advanced database monitoring platform that supports PostgreSQL. ClusterControl combines performance monitoring with database automation to assist users in monitoring their databases. The database automation capabilities of the software automatically deploy and configure PostgreSQL instances so you can manage them. The PostgreSQL streaming replication allows you to configure new or existing replication slaves.

• Automates database creation
• Right-sizes resource requirements
• Database replication for constant availability

When managing PostgreSQL, visibility is one of the most difficult challenges to address. ClusterControl confronts this issue head-on by including a topology viewer. The topology viewer allows you to display how your database is functioning in one pane of glass.

The automatic failover and recovery feature helps to keep your database secure.The product will automatically promote a new master node when a failure occurs. In the aftermath of a database event, you also have the ability to recover your databases back to an earlier point in time. These features help to make sure that your service stays available no matter what happens.

ClusterControl is available as a community version or as two paid versions. The Community version is available for free with real-time monitoring and community support. The Advanced version includes failure detection and recovery features. The Enterprise version adds role-based access control and reports to the mix as well. In order to view the pricing information of the product you will have to contact the company directly. You can download the free version.

• Ideal for larger PostgreSQL environments

• Supports automatic replication and recovery across clusters

• Simple deployment takes under 15 minutes to get a new cluster running

• Would like to see paid features included on the free licensing for testing

• Could use better documentation

• Would like to see faster refresh speeds or the option to enable faster refreshes

10. pgAdmin

pgAdmin is a widely-used open source PostgreSQL management tool. The tool offers a GUI to manage PostgreSQL databases, an SQL query tool, and a code debugger. There is also a monitoring dashboard and live SQL query tool which you can use to edit queries. The combination of management and monitoring functionalities included with pgAdmin makes the product very versatile.

• Free to use
• Code debugger
• Query creator

There are additional features that you can access by using the adminpack contrib (a library) module for PostgreSQL. As part of the expansion you can view server log files in the Server status dialogue view. Information you can monitor through the Server Status dialogue includes the client address, start time, current query, and query start time.

The cross-platform potential and accessibility of pgAdmin makes it a compelling choice no matter how your local environment is structured. The platform is available on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The tool itself is available as a web or desktop application. You can download the program for free.

• Completely free and open source

• Available cross-platform for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS

• Designed specifically for PostgreSQL support

• Available for free

• Uses a legacy interface, while it scales well it isn’t as easy to navigate as competing tools

• Lacks paid premium support options – relies on community-driven resource

11. pganalyze

pganalyze is PostgreSQL performance monitoring software that has been tailor-made to improve visibility into queries. You can use this tool to help discover why a query is running slowly. To do this, you can view statistics such as the I/O cvs CPU time and buffer cache hit ratio to help find the root cause. To help you improve performance, pganalyze tells you whether a query needs an index to boost performance.

• Written for PostgreSQL analysis
• Database structure analysis
• Resource monitoring

You also have complete transparency over your database’s performance history. You can search through queries and view the Query, Role, AVG TIME (MS), CALLS/MIN, I/O%, CACHED %, % of All Runtime to find problematic queries. How far in the past you can do this depends on the version you’re using (see below).

There are three versions of pganalyze available to purchase: Production, Scale, and Enterprise Edition. The Production version costs $99 (£79.50) per month for up to three database servers and 14 days of historic data. The scale version costs $250 (£200) per month for six database servers and 30 days of historic data.

• Lightweight tool – uses little resources

• Designed for additional visibility into PostgreSQL queries – a good option if you only manage PostgreSQL

• Supports storage of performance data

• The trial is only 14-days long

• On-premise version is only available in the Enterprise package

The Enterprise Edition offers an option of on-premises installation with unlimited database servers (but you need to contact the sales team to know the price.) You can download the 14-day free trial version.

12. pgCluu

pgCluu is a PostgreSQL performance monitor and auditing tool that collects data from your databases cluster. The product is broken down into two parts: a PostgreSQL cluster statistics collector that operates through a command line and a Perl grapher that displays performance management data.

• PostreSQL cluster monitor
• Easy-to-read statistics
• Free to use

Metrics you can monitor with pgCluu include shared buffers utilization per database, the size of all databases, shared buffers usage count distribution, and CPU utilization. This information can be viewed on simple, color-coded charts so there is no ambiguity. You can also generate utilization reports as well.

As an open-sourced alternative, pgCluu is worth considering if you want a PostgreSQL monitoring experience on a budget. You can access the source code from this link.

• Very simple – minimalist view into your queries and database performance

• Completely open source

• Better suited for smaller environments

• Data visualizations are fairly limited – would like to see better graphing

• Lacks official support

• Has a steeper learning curve than similar products

13. Nagios Core and Nagios XI

Nagios Core and Nagios XI are infrastructure monitoring platforms that can measure PostgreSQL performance metrics. The software can monitor PostgreSQL database availability, database size, table size, cache ratios, and more. There is also a range of Nagios plugins for monitoring PostgreSQL. For example, the check_pgactivity plugin allows you to view the connectivity, streaming replication lag, database hit-ratio, index bloat, and more.

• Free and paid systems
• Expandable with plug-ins
• Resource and performance monitoring

Nagios Core is a free but more limited version of Nagios XI. Nagios XI has the advantage over the two because it has a web-based GUI and other convenient features like monitoring wizards to make configuration easier. If budget is a priority then Nagios Core is the obvious choice but if you want a more convenient monitoring experience then you should opt for Nagios XI.

Nagios XI starts at a price of $1,995 (£1,601) for the Standard Edition which includes configuration wizards and advanced reporting. The Enterprise Edition costs $3,495 (£2,806) with capacity planning reports and audit logging. You can download the free trial.

• Open-source transparent tool

• Simple, yet informative interface

• Flexible alerting options support SMS and email

• Available on both Windows and Linux operating systems

• Open-source version lacks support found in paid products

• Installation can be technical and complex

Choosing a PostgreSQL tool for you

Out of all the tools on this list, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor, Paessler PRTG Network Monitor, and Datadog APM are our top picks. Each tool has something unique to offer. AppDynamics is also highly rated based on its deep-visibility, where as SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor offers a detailed but more accessible user experience.

On the other hand, PRTG Network Monitor strikes the balance between a low price tag and a high value monitoring experience. If you want to go the open-source route then PGadmin is great if you want to mix performance monitoring with administration as well.