[silon3]

I use MSSQL on a current project and really don't like it's query optimizer. It relies too much on statistics which means that slightly complex queries get random behavior really quickly, especially in the beginning as the database if growing.

IMO, completely unsuitable for web apps where DBA is not sitting around 24/7.

Is PostgreSQL better at this?

[atwebb]

How would you suggest optimizing queries except on stats? Do you find instances where the stats are incorrect? If you're trying to do small things in a big table, have you used indexing to help target the small sets/fields you're looking at?

[anarazel]

Not really. Postgres' planner is also statistics based. Yes that approach has problems, but the contrary, where you still use a plan that was appropriate for three rows with a couple million isn't good either. It's just a hard problem.