---
title: "PostgreSQL data source | Grafana documentation"
description: "Introduction to the PostgreSQL data source in Grafana."
---

# PostgreSQL data source

Grafana includes a built-in PostgreSQL data source plugin, enabling you to query and visualize data from any PostgreSQL-compatible database. You don’t need to install a plugin to add the PostgreSQL data source to your Grafana instance.

Grafana offers several configuration options for this data source as well as a visual and code-based query editor.

## Supported databases

This data source supports the following PostgreSQL-compatible databases:

- PostgreSQL 9.0 and newer
- Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
- Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL

Grafana recommends using the latest available version for your database for optimal compatibility.

## Key capabilities

The PostgreSQL data source supports:

- **Time series queries:** Visualize metrics over time using built-in time grouping macros.
- **Table queries:** Display query results in table format for any valid SQL query.
- **Template variables:** Create dynamic dashboards with variable-driven queries.
- **Annotations:** Overlay events from PostgreSQL on your dashboard panels.
- **Alerting:** Create alerts based on PostgreSQL query results (time series format only).
- **Macros:** Simplify queries with built-in macros for time filtering and grouping.

## Get started with the PostgreSQL data source

The following documents will help you get started with the PostgreSQL data source in Grafana:

- [Configure the PostgreSQL data source](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/configure/)
- [PostgreSQL query editor](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/query-editor/)
- [PostgreSQL template variables](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/template-variables/)
- [PostgreSQL annotations](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/annotations/)
- [PostgreSQL alerting](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/alerting/)
- [Troubleshooting](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/troubleshooting/)

After you configure the data source, you can:

- Create a variety of [visualizations](/docs/grafana/next/panels-visualizations/visualizations/)
- Add [annotations](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/annotations/) to overlay events on your panels
- Use [template variables](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/template-variables/) for dynamic dashboards
- Set up [alerting](/docs/grafana-cloud/connect-externally-hosted/data-sources/postgres/alerting/) with time series queries (time series format only)
- Add [transformations](/docs/grafana/next/panels-visualizations/query-transform-data/transform-data/)

View a PostgreSQL overview on Grafana Play:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on [PostgreSQL Overview](https://play.grafana.org/d/ddvpgdhiwjvuod/postgresql-overview).

[Try it](https://play.grafana.org/d/ddvpgdhiwjvuod/postgresql-overview)