The PostgreSQL Global Development Group today announced the release of PostgreSQL 18.0, the latest major version of the world’s most advanced open source relational database. This release introduces a new asynchronous I/O (AIO) subsystem, virtual generated columns, OAuth authentication, and improved upgrade tooling, along with a wide range of performance optimizations and SQL feature extensions.
Performance and Storage Improvements
PostgreSQL 18 debuts an asynchronous I/O framework that significantly improves the performance of sequential scans, bitmap heap scans, and vacuum operations. This lays the foundation for faster, more concurrent workloads on modern hardware. The release also adds new optimizer features, including self-join elimination, skip scans for multi-column B-tree indexes, and smarter handling of partitioned queries. VACUUM has been enhanced to freeze pages more efficiently, truncate files more flexibly, and provide detailed progress reporting.
New SQL Features
Several SQL capabilities expand developer flexibility. Virtual generated columns—now the default—calculate values at read time, reducing storage overhead. The release also introduces temporal constraints for primary, unique, and foreign keys, enabling database-level enforcement of time-based relationships. The uuidv7() function generates sortable, timestamp-ordered UUIDs. RETURNING clauses now support explicit OLD and NEW references across INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and MERGE commands.
Security and Authentication
PostgreSQL 18 adds OAuth authentication as a first-class method, complementing existing password and certificate-based approaches. MD5 password support has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Other security improvements include stricter collation rules for key constraints, extended logging options, and stronger cryptographic primitives in the pgcrypto extension.
Administration and Upgrades
Database administrators gain more flexibility when migrating to PostgreSQL 18. pg_upgrade now preserves optimizer statistics, reducing the need for post-upgrade ANALYZE runs. A new --swap mode enables faster in-place upgrades, while --no-statistics and parallel checking options provide fine-grained control. pg_dump gains new switches for selective export of statistics and sequence data. Checksums are now enabled by default for new clusters, although they can be disabled with --no-data-checksums.
Compatibility Changes
This release includes several changes requiring administrator attention. Time zone abbreviation handling has been revised to prioritize session settings, COPY FROM no longer treats \. as EOF in CSV files, and unlogged partitioned tables are now disallowed. Administrators should carefully review the release notes before upgrading.
Looking Ahead
PostgreSQL 18 reinforces the project’s commitment to combining cutting-edge performance features with robust SQL standards support and strong security practices. With asynchronous I/O, advanced indexing optimizations, and enhanced developer ergonomics, PostgreSQL continues to position itself as the leading open-source database for enterprise and cloud-native applications.
For detailed release notes and migration guidance, visit: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/release-18.html.
