The curious case of Google's AlloyDB

Google launched AlloyDB in 2022. They claimed it is fully compatible with PostgreSQL. Can be up to 100 times faster for analytical queries than vanilla Postgres. Four years later, I haven't personally seen it gain significant traction. But it comes in discussions. When people ask me what AlloyDB actually is, I was able to pin point the features, but wasn't really sure what it delivers. Over the past 12 months, I’ve evaluated AlloyDB. This article shares my key findings. I tried to keep it as objective as the topic allows, and where it isn't, the text says so. I won't pretend to be objective about the verdict. It depends less on one feature and more on where compatibility ends. And as it goes, "it depends" a lot on your workload and needs. Let's start with the first claim. What does "fully compatible" mean? In this case it covers the wire protocol. Your psql connects, ORMs work, migration means changing connection string and you are done. What it does not cover is nearly everything you…