--- title: Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions? | daily.dev description: Most Postgres users remain on outdated versions despite significant improvements in newer releases. The two core reasons: Postgres already works well enough... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions? | daily.dev og:description: Most Postgres users remain on outdated versions despite significant improvements in newer releases. The two core reasons: Postgres already works well enough... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/nGpXw3oU8.png og:image:alt: Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions? **[Neon](https://daily.dev/sources/neontech)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Most Postgres users remain on outdated versions despite significant improvements in newer releases. The two core reasons: Postgres already works well enough for most use cases, and major version upgrades are painful and risky. Performance gains across versions 13-17 are substantial (tail latency halved between v8 and v16), plus security fixes, new features like MERGE, and SQL/JSON support. Real-world upgrade stories from Knock (v11→v15) and Retool (v9→v13) illustrate the multi-step complexity: replication setup, incremental data migration, testing, cutover strategy, and post-migration cleanup. Key reasons to upgrade anyway include end-of-life support timelines, compounding difficulty of skipping many versions, performance gains, and library compatibility. A tool called pgversions.com helps developers quickly see what improvements they're missing based on their current version. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [PostgreSQL 18.1, 17.7, 16.11, 15.15, 14.20, and 13.23 Released\!](https://daily.dev/posts/postgresql-18-1-17-7-16-11-15-15-14-20-and-13-23-released--wwybaugkn) · PostgreSQL · 22 upvotes · 0 comments - [Upgrading PostgreSQL 9.6 to 17 with pg](https://daily.dev/posts/upgrading-postgresql-9-6-to-17-with-pg-sbhxuocvy) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Just Use Postgres](https://daily.dev/posts/just-use-postgres-ueffslq3a) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#database](https://daily.dev/tags/database), [#postgresql](https://daily.dev/tags/postgresql) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8"},"datePublished":"2026-07-09T06:57:33.714Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T07:00:25.408Z","description":"Most Postgres users remain on outdated versions despite significant improvements in newer releases. The two core reasons: Postgres already works well enough...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1baf7818d6adb0efee455b5ff8e819fd?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1baf7818d6adb0efee455b5ff8e819fd?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Neon","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Neon","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--65EDghou--/f_auto/v1724339118/logos/neontech","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/neontech"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-does-everyone-run-ancient-postgres-versions--ngpxw3ou8","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"database,postgresql","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Neon","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/neontech"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why Does Everyone Run Ancient Postgres Versions?"}]} ```