Migration tools
Migrate databases to PostgreSQL
Migrating to PostgreSQL from MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or other databases is a common path for teams seeking better standards compliance, richer feature sets, and freedom from vendor lock-in. However, migration is rarely a straightforward schema copy — every database has dialect-specific features that need careful translation.
MySQL-to-PostgreSQL migrations are especially common and involve specific challenges: AUTO_INCREMENT becomes GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY, ENUM types work differently, TINYINT(1) booleans need conversion to real boolean, GROUP BY behavior is stricter in PostgreSQL (every selected column must be in GROUP BY or an aggregate), and character set handling changes from per-column to per-database.
Beyond schema translation, successful migrations require data validation (row counts, checksums, boundary values), application query testing (PostgreSQL is stricter about SQL standards), and performance baseline comparison. These tools help you translate schemas, identify incompatibilities before they cause production issues, and plan migration steps that minimize downtime.
Common problems
- AUTO_INCREMENT to IDENTITY/sequence conversion
- MySQL ENUM behavior differences and migration strategies
- GROUP BY strictness causing application query failures
- Character set and collation differences between source and PostgreSQL
- Zero-downtime cutover planning for large databases