The EDB Alternative for Teams That Just Want Postgres Support
EDB sells a platform: EPAS, tooling, and cloud with support priced per core. Command Prompt sells support: direct access to Postgres engineers, at a fixed rate that doesn't grow with your core count. We've been doing it since 1997, and we support EPAS too, so you can change support vendors without changing databases.
EDB is a serious Postgres company with major upstream contributors on staff. Most teams who call us aren't leaving because the technology failed. They're leaving because:
- Per-core subscription renewals grow with the estate. Every scale-up event is a pricing event.
- Support and product are bundled. The subscription's value assumes you adopt EPAS and EDB tooling; if you run community Postgres or a cloud-managed service, you're paying for a platform you don't use.
- Extended Life Support is quote-only. If you need to stay on an EOL major version, the terms live behind a sales conversation.
- The org chart is between you and the engineer. Account managers and ticket tiers are the price of a large support organization.
| What | Command Prompt | EDB |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Postgres support & services | Postgres platform (EPAS, PGD, cloud) + support |
| Pricing | Fixed hourly + SLA retainer, no per-core or per-instance pricing | Per-core/per-deployment subscription |
| Who answers | The engineer who knows your system | Support organization, tiered |
| Community Postgres | Fully supported | Supported (subscription) |
| EPAS | Supported: no migration required | Native |
| Cloud-managed PG (RDS, Aurora, Azure, GCP) | Supported | Varies by offering |
| EOL versions | PgLTS: 8 years per release, 3 beyond community EOL — published timeline | Extended Life Support via sales |
| Response | Under 1 hour for SLA clients, 24x7x365 | Tiered by subscription level |
| Ownership | Independent, founder-operated since 1997 | Private-equity backed |
Who should switch
- You run community PostgreSQL or cloud-managed Postgres and need expertise, not a platform subscription.
- You run EPAS but want support decoupled from the license relationship, we support EPAS as-is.
- You run EPAS but want to migrate to an open ecosystem.
- Your core counts are growing and your support bill is growing with them for no added service.
- You're on (or heading toward) an EOL major version and want a written, published support timeline instead of a quote.
Who should stay with EDB
Honestly: if your applications depend deeply on EPAS Oracle-compatibility features, or you're committed to EDB Postgres Distributed for multi-master, EDB's product engineering is the point, and a support-only vendor doesn't replace it. Global enterprises that need a vendor matching a specific procurement mold may also prefer EDB's org scale.
Switching is a support transition, not a migration
Your database doesn't move. Onboarding with Command Prompt means an environment review, runbook and access intake, and an engineer team assigned to your systems. We can have you up and running in just a couple of days.
If you later want off EPAS entirely, our Database Migration service handles EPAS-to-community-Postgres transitions.
Talk to an engineer
No discovery call gauntlet. Contact us and describe your environment; a Postgres engineer will respond. See support plans for how engagements work.