AlloyDB for PostgreSQL

AlloyDB is Google Cloud's fully managed, PostgreSQL-compatible relational database service designed for demanding enterprise workloads. It combines full PostgreSQL compatibility with a Google-engineered storage layer that delivers up to 4x faster transactional performance and up to 100x faster analytical queries compared to standard PostgreSQL.

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What Is AlloyDB?

AlloyDB is a high-performance, PostgreSQL-compatible database that:

• Fully compatible with PostgreSQL — your existing PostgreSQL applications, tools, drivers, and extensions work without modification.
• Google-engineered storage — a custom, intelligent storage layer that separates compute from storage for independent scaling.
• Columnar engine — an in-memory columnar processing engine that accelerates analytical queries.
• AI/ML integration — built-in support for pgvector and integration with Vertex AI for running ML models directly in the database.
• 99.99% SLA — with multi-zone high availability.

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Architecture

AlloyDB separates compute and storage:

Compute Layer

• Primary instance — handles reads and writes.
• Read pool instances — horizontally scalable read replicas that share the same storage layer. Up to 20 read pool nodes.
• Cross-region replicas — for disaster recovery.

Storage Layer