> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://brightercommand.gitbook.io/paramore-brighter-documentation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://brightercommand.gitbook.io/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/postgresqlmessagebroker/postgresqlbrokertradeoffs.md).

# PostgreSQL Broker Trade-Offs

This page is what you read when deciding whether to use PostgreSQL as a broker at all: what it buys you, where it runs out, how it stores a payload, and how it compares with the dedicated brokers.

> **Explanation** · Applies to **Brighter V10** · Prerequisites: [PostgreSQL Message Broker](/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/postgresqlmessagebroker.md)

This page is what you read when deciding whether to use PostgreSQL as a broker at all: what it buys you, where it runs out, how it stores a payload, and how it compares with the dedicated brokers. [PostgreSQL Message Broker](/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/postgresqlmessagebroker.md) is the page to read once you have decided.

## PostgreSQL Message Broker Benefits

### Use Existing Infrastructure

* **No additional services**: Uses your existing PostgreSQL database
* **Simplified operations**: One less service to manage, monitor, and maintain
* **Reduced costs**: No separate message broker licensing or infrastructure

### Transactional Guarantees

* **Atomic operations**: Messages and business data in the same database
* **Strong consistency**: ACID guarantees for message operations
* **Simplified transactions**: No distributed transactions needed

### Familiar Tooling

* **Standard SQL**: Use familiar PostgreSQL tools for monitoring and debugging
* **Built-in monitoring**: Query tables directly to see queue depth and message status
* **Easy troubleshooting**: Direct database access for investigating issues

***

## When to Use the PostgreSQL Message Broker

**Ideal For**:

* **Low to moderate message volumes** (< 1000 messages/second)
* **Applications already using PostgreSQL** for data persistence
* **Transactional messaging** scenarios requiring atomicity with database operations
* **Development and testing** with simplified infrastructure
* **Microservices** where each service has its own PostgreSQL database

**Not Suitable For**:

* **High-volume scenarios** (> 1000 messages/second)
* **Large messages** (PostgreSQL has practical limits for row sizes)
* **Complex routing requirements** (better served by RabbitMQ or Kafka)
* **Cross-organization messaging** (where dedicated broker provides better isolation)

***

## PostgreSQL Message Broker Limitations

### Performance Constraints

* **Database overhead**: Message operations add load to your database
* **Polling model**: Consumers poll the database periodically (not push-based)
* **Scalability limits**: Database connection pooling and table locking can become bottlenecks

### Message Size

* **Practical limit**: \~1MB per message (PostgreSQL row size limits)
* **Recommendation**: Use [Claim Check pattern](/paramore-brighter-documentation/using-an-external-bus/claimcheck.md) for large payloads

### No Native Routing

* **Simple pub/sub only**: No complex routing like RabbitMQ exchanges
* **Queue-based**: Each consumer reads from a specific queue (channel)
* **Manual fanout**: Publish to multiple channels for fanout patterns

***

## PostgreSQL JSON vs JSONB

PostgreSQL supports two JSON data types:

| Feature            | JSON           | JSONB                 |
| ------------------ | -------------- | --------------------- |
| **Storage**        | Text-based     | Binary                |
| **Performance**    | Slower queries | Faster queries        |
| **Size**           | Smaller        | Larger (pre-parsed)   |
| **Indexing**       | Limited        | Full indexing support |
| **Recommendation** | Low volume     | **Production use**    |

### JSONB Configuration

```csharp
// ...
// Use JSONB (recommended)
var configuration = new RelationalDatabaseConfiguration(
    connectionString: connectionString,
    queueStoreTable: "brighter_messages",
    binaryMessagePayload: true  // JSONB
);

// Use JSON (smaller storage)
var configuration = new RelationalDatabaseConfiguration(
    connectionString: connectionString,
    queueStoreTable: "brighter_messages",
    binaryMessagePayload: false  // JSON
);
```

***

## PostgreSQL Message Broker Compared with Other Transports

| Feature              | PostgreSQL                | RabbitMQ          | Kafka           | AWS SQS       |
| -------------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------- | --------------- | ------------- |
| **Setup Complexity** | Low                       | Medium            | High            | Low           |
| **Throughput**       | Low-Medium                | High              | Very High       | Medium        |
| **Message Size**     | \~1MB                     | 128MB             | \~1MB           | 256KB         |
| **Persistence**      | Database                  | Disk/Memory       | Disk            | Managed       |
| **Routing**          | Simple                    | Advanced          | Topic-based     | Simple        |
| **Transactional**    | Yes (local)               | No                | No              | No            |
| **Ordering**         | Queue-level               | Queue-level       | Partition-level | FIFO queues   |
| **Operational Cost** | Low (existing DB)         | Medium            | High            | Pay-per-use   |
| **Best For**         | Low volume, transactional | General messaging | Event streaming | AWS ecosystem |

***

## Further Reading

* [PostgreSQL Message Broker](/paramore-brighter-documentation/transports/postgresqlmessagebroker.md) - Producer, consumer and configuration options
* [Claim Check Pattern](/paramore-brighter-documentation/using-an-external-bus/claimcheck.md) - Keeping large payloads out of the queue table
* [PostgreSQL Outbox](/paramore-brighter-documentation/outbox-and-inbox/brighteroutboxsupport/postgresoutbox.md) - The transactional outbox on the same database


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