# SQL Improvements in PostgreSQL 11-18: A Personal Selection

DevFeed: [SQL Improvements in PostgreSQL 11-18: A Personal Selection](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/sql-improvements-in-postgresql-11-18-a-personal-selection-34618.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://tapoueh.org/blog/2026/07/sql-improvements-in-postgresql-1118-a-personal-selection/>)

Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author

Published: 2026-07-28T14:39:25Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/dimitri-fontaine.md>)

Topics: [PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql.md>), [SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sql.md>), [version](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/version.md>), [Docker Compose](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/docker-compose.md>), [datasets](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/datasets.md>)

Tags: [docker-compose](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/docker-compose.md>), [improvements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/improvements.md>), [personal](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/personal.md>), [postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgresql.md>), [sql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sql.md>), [version](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/version.md>)

## AI overview

A personal, theme-based selection of SQL improvements introduced across PostgreSQL versions 11 through 18. The article relates these features to query writing and briefly discusses broader release categories and contributor priorities.

## Source excerpt

Seven major versions of PostgreSQL shipped between 2018 and 2025, one per year without exception, and each with a changelog of 150 to 200 user-visible changes. Each release covers a broad canvas -- performance, replication, administration, and security -- but every one of them also advanced the SQL layer, filling gaps in the standard, adding missing functionality, or cleaning up long-standing rough edges. Working through the new edition of The Art of PostgreSQL forced me to catalogue them all; this is my selection of the features I kept reaching for while rewriting the examples. I hope it's useful beyond that context -- organized by theme, with the version each feature landed in. ▸ All queries in this article run against the Lab, a free dataset bundle that includes the F1 database, geopolitical data, music data, and more -- so you can try every example yourself. The Lab is a docker compose up away: it starts PostgreSQL with all datasets loaded and a query UI web app that runs in your browser, with EXPLAIN plan diagrams, and SVG rendering for PostGIS results on geo queries. To get a sense of where the community actually puts its effort, Noriyoshi Shinoda of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Japan has been publishing a meticulous "PostgreSQL New Features with Examples" series for every major release since version 9.4 -- each edition catalogues every user-visible change with a working code example. Counting his categories across PG 11-18 gives a clear picture of contributor priorities: Release SQL Performance Admin & Ops Replication Security Other PG 11 5 6 5 3 4 3 PG 12 4 6 7 3 3 5 PG 13 7 8 10 6 5 6 PG 14 4 7 6 5 3 5 PG 15 2 5 6 5 3 8 PG 16 4 6 8 5 7 8 PG 17 5 7 8 8 4 6 PG 18 4 3 4 3 2 5 Sum 35 48 54 38 31 46 New features by category per release (Shinoda count) SQL is the smallest category. Admin & Ops leads across the whole period, followed by Performance -- which reflects who funds the project: Amazon (Aurora), Google (AlloyDB), and Microsoft (Azure) all have strong commercial