Report ID: PG-ODBC-2024-01 Subject: Evaluation and Technical Overview of the Official PostgreSQL ODBC Driver Date: October 26, 2023 Author: Database Connectivity Research Unit 1. Executive Summary The PostgreSQL ODBC Driver (psqlODBC) is the official Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver for PostgreSQL databases. It enables ODBC-compliant applications (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Power BI, MS Access, Crystal Reports, and custom software) to connect to, query, and modify PostgreSQL databases across Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms.
This report confirms that psqlODBC is mature, actively maintained, fully supports PostgreSQL features (including advanced data types like JSONB , ARRAY , and UUID ), and offers both Unicode and ANSI versions. Performance is robust for OLTP and BI workloads, with notable support for server-side prepared statements and batch operations.
Use psqlODBC for any business intelligence, desktop database, or legacy application integration requiring standards-based access to PostgreSQL. 2. Introduction & Scope ODBC is a Microsoft-created, language-agnostic API for database access, standardized by the SQL Access Group. The PostgreSQL community maintains psqlODBC as the reference implementation.