Open source DocumentDB 1.0 ships with MongoDB wire compatibility on PostgreSQL
For teams running MongoDB workloads, the release offers a permissively licensed alternative, though early performance results are mixed.
DocumentDB 1.0, an MIT-licensed open source document database built on PostgreSQL, has reached general availability with wire compatibility for MongoDB, so most existing drivers, tools and queries should run unchanged. The release is a PostgreSQL extension paired with a gateway that converts MongoDB protocol calls into PostgreSQL operations, and it supports PostgreSQL 15 through 18 via container images, with Linux packages for 17 and 18 and a Kubernetes operator included. Its headline work is security, stability, and fixes for indexing, aggregation and geospatial queries. The project began as a Microsoft initiative in early 2025, later moved under the Linux Foundation with backing from AWS, Google, Snowflake and others, and its permissive licence contrasts with MongoDB's SSPL. Early performance signals are mixed: a Layerbase benchmark found 20 to 33 percent higher read throughput than FerretDB, and an unverified GitHub report describes higher query latency than MongoDB 9.0.4.
Why it matters
The release gives developers who have relied on MongoDB's protocol an open, MIT-licensed option that runs on PostgreSQL, which matters most to those wary of MongoDB's SSPL terms. Because most existing drivers, tools and queries carry over, switching is less of a rewrite than a change of backend. The benchmark picture is still unsettled: one independent test shows higher read throughput than FerretDB, while an unverified report describes higher latency than MongoDB, so the practical trade-off will depend on the workload.
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