Does PostgreSQL satisfy NHS DSP Toolkit data security requirements?

Yes — PostgreSQL satisfies NHS DSP Toolkit Standard 7 (data storage and transmission) when deployed on AWS eu-west-2 or Azure UK South with: encryption at rest (AES-256 via storage encryption), encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+ for connections), access control (RBAC, least privilege), audit logging (pgaudit extension), and UK data residency. NHS Digital uses PostgreSQL for several national digital services.

What is the licensing cost difference between PostgreSQL and SQL Server?

PostgreSQL is completely free — BSD licence with no per-core, per-user, or annual fees. SQL Server: Standard Edition typically £800–£1,400 per core licence (physical server). Enterprise Edition: £5,000–£10,000+ per core. AWS RDS for SQL Server: additional licence costs on top of compute. For a 4-core application server: PostgreSQL saves £3,000–£40,000+ in database licensing versus SQL Server. For a 10-year SaaS business: this is a material total cost of ownership difference.

Postgresql Vs Mysql Vs Sql Server Uk

PostgreSQL vs MySQL vs SQL Server — Which Database for UK Software? (2025)

Updated: July 20259 min read

🇬🇧 UK💷 GBP📊 Comparison🔒 UK GDPR⚖️ UK Law

Direct Answer

PostgreSQL is the right default for new UK software projects: superior feature set (JSON, full-text search, row-level security for UK GDPR isolation, TimescaleDB for time-series), better standards compliance, and genuinely open source with no licensing costs. MySQL is acceptable for read-heavy web applications with simple schemas. SQL Server is right when you are deeply embedded in the Microsoft/.NET ecosystem or migrating existing SQL Server systems. Database choice for new UK software projects is typically PostgreSQL vs the legacy systems being replaced. Here is an honest comparison including UK GDPR compliance features, licensing costs, and NHS/FCA-specific considerations.

Factor	PostgreSQL	MySQL (8.0+)	Microsoft SQL Server
UK GDPR Row-Level Security	✅ Native RLS — strongest GDPR isolation story	No RLS — application-level only	Row-level security available (Enterprise)
UK GDPR encryption	✅ pgcrypto + TDE available	TDE in MySQL Enterprise (paid)	TDE in Standard/Enterprise (included)
Licensing cost	✅ Free — BSD licence	✅ Free (GPL) — check Oracle FOSS exception	Significant — per-core licences
JSON document support	✅ JSONB — performant native JSON	JSON type (less performant than JSONB)	JSON support (reasonable)
Full-text search	pg_trgm + tsv — capable FTS	Limited FTS capabilities	Good FTS (SQL Server FTS service)
Time-series (IoT/analytics)	✅ TimescaleDB extension	Not native	Not native
NHS Azure/SQL Server integration	Good	Good	✅ Native — NHS Azure SQL is SQL Server
.NET/Microsoft ecosystem	Good — via EF Core PostgreSQL	Good	✅ Native — best .NET integration
ClickMasters default	✅ All new projects	Legacy migration targets only	NHS Azure SQL or .NET enterprise only