Installation

How to install PostgresCompare on Windows, macOS, and Linux

PostgresCompare is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

System Requirements

Platform Minimum version
Windows Windows 10 or later
macOS macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel)
Linux Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 11+

You’ll also need:

  • 250 MB of free disk space, and 4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
  • Network access to your PostgreSQL servers (PostgreSQL 9.2 through 18)
  • Database credentials with read permissions on the schemas you want to compare

Installation

Get PostgresCompare from the Downloads page. Enter your email and we’ll send you the download links for every platform.

Windows

  1. Run the PostgresCompare-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe installer
  2. Follow the prompts — this also puts the pgc CLI on your PATH
  3. Launch PostgresCompare from the Start menu

macOS

Both formats are signed and notarized, with native builds for Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x64):

  1. Open the .dmg and drag PostgresCompare to your Applications folder, or run the .pkg if you would rather use an installer
  2. Launch PostgresCompare from Applications

Linux

Two formats, both 64-bit. The AppImage runs anywhere without installing:

chmod +x PostgresCompare-*-linux-x64.AppImage
./PostgresCompare-*-linux-x64.AppImage

On Debian and Ubuntu you can install the package instead, which adds a desktop entry:

sudo apt install ./PostgresCompare-*-linux-x64.deb

Use apt install ./… rather than dpkg -i. dpkg does not resolve dependencies, so if anything is missing it leaves the package half-configured.

Enabling universe on Ubuntu

The package depends on libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 and libgtk-3-0. On Ubuntu, libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 comes from the universe component, which the minimal, server and cloud images ship with disabled — apt can see the dependency but has no repository that provides it. The symptom is a complaint that libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 is not installable, followed by unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Enable universe, then install:

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ./PostgresCompare-*-linux-x64.deb

First Launch

When you first launch PostgresCompare, the welcome screen offers two ways to start:

  • Try the demo — Opens a real comparison built from sample data, so you can explore the results and a deployment script without connecting to a database. This is the quickest way to see what PostgresCompare does.
  • Connect my databases — Add a connection to your PostgreSQL server and compare your own schemas.

If PostgresCompare detects PostgreSQL connections already set up on your machine, it also offers Import from environment to add them in one click.

Your first 14 days include everything in Pro. After that, PostgresCompare becomes the free tier: you can still use Quick compare to compare two databases, generate a deployment script and deploy it. Saved projects, comparison history, data comparison, pipelines, the pgc CLI and the advanced comparison options need a subscription — enter a license key in the license dialog to unlock them.

Next Steps

Once installed, you’re ready to: