HeliosProxy vs PgDog

HeliosProxy8.7Visit PgDog8.4Visit

Higher score HeliosProxy #5 in Database Proxy Software 8.7/10 Open source ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit HeliosProxy

vs

PgDog #8 in Database Proxy Software 8.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit PgDog

• HeliosProxy fits best

  Advanced PostgreSQL proxy engineering

• PgDog fits best

  Free PostgreSQL pooling and sharding

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Side by side

Feature	HeliosProxy 8.7/10 Visit ↗	PgDog 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.7	8.4
Ranking	#5 in Database Proxy Software	#8 in Database Proxy Software
Best for	Advanced PostgreSQL proxy engineering	Free PostgreSQL pooling and sharding
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Open source	Free plan
Free plan	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Support	Docs, Community	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features HeliosProxy 4/4 · PgDog 4/4
Connection pooling	✓	✓
Query routing	✓	✓
Load balancing	✓	✓
Automatic failover	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Self-hosted	Both
Supported databases	PostgreSQL-compatible databases	PostgreSQL
Maximum connections	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Session, transaction, and statement connection pooling modes Routing, load balancing, health monitoring, and automatic failover WASM plugins, traffic replay, and major-version upgrade orchestration	Free, open-source PostgreSQL connection pooling and multiplexing Combines routing, read/write splitting, lag monitoring, and sharding Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, on-premises, or customer cloud accounts
Cons	Self-hosted deployment requires customer-managed infrastructure Database support centers on PostgreSQL-compatible backends Advanced capabilities may require PostgreSQL proxy engineering expertise	Supports PostgreSQL rather than multiple database engines Failover detection is disabled by default AGPLv3 licensing may not suit every deployment or distribution model
Our verdict	HeliosProxy is an open-source PostgreSQL data-plane for routing database connections and traffic between clients and PostgreSQL-compatible backends. It is designed for teams operating self-hosted PostgreSQL environments that need more… Read the review →	PgDog is an open-source PostgreSQL proxy for teams that need to manage connection capacity, distribute reads across replicas, or route traffic across sharded databases. Its scope covers transaction-mode connection pooling, connection… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• HeliosProxy — where it wins

  • Session, transaction, and statement connection pooling modes
  • Routing, load balancing, health monitoring, and automatic failover
  • WASM plugins, traffic replay, and major-version upgrade orchestration

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires customer-managed infrastructure
  • Database support centers on PostgreSQL-compatible backends
  • Advanced capabilities may require PostgreSQL proxy engineering expertise

• PgDog — where it wins

  • Free, open-source PostgreSQL connection pooling and multiplexing
  • Combines routing, read/write splitting, lag monitoring, and sharding
  • Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, on-premises, or customer cloud accounts

  Where it doesn't

  • Supports PostgreSQL rather than multiple database engines
  • Failover detection is disabled by default
  • AGPLv3 licensing may not suit every deployment or distribution model

• HeliosProxy8.7/10 · Open source

  A deep self-hosted PostgreSQL proxy for teams building advanced traffic and failover control.

  Visit HeliosProxyFull verdict →
• PgDog8.4/10 · Free plan

  A free PostgreSQL proxy with pooling, routing, replica balancing, and sharding.

  Visit PgDogFull verdict →