Limitations
An honest list of where Silos differs from a traditional always-on PostgreSQL server.
Silos runs a real PostgreSQL engine, so the SQL surface is Postgres. The differences come from the serverless, WASM-based model around the engine — not from the SQL itself. Here's a straight list of what to keep in mind.
Cold starts on idle databases
An idle database scales to zero. The first query after an idle period has to wake the database — load the latest snapshot and replay newer WAL — before it serves. That cold start adds latency to the first request.
- For latency-critical paths, keep a database warm or design for the first-query cost.
- Steady traffic keeps a database warm, so cold starts mostly affect spiky workloads.
See Scale to zero.
A subset of extensions
Most pure-SQL and many C extensions run in the WASM runtime, but some heavyweight ones (for example TimescaleDB and Citus) are not available. Confirm an extension is supported before depending on it — see Extensions.
Writes route to the primary
Reads can be served by edge replicas, but writes go to the primary. A sustained, high-throughput single-primary write firehose is not the model's sweet spot — see Silos vs. traditional Postgres.
Capabilities still rolling out
Silos is in active development. Several headline capabilities are implemented but still maturing, and the docs label them where they appear:
- Global WAL streaming and edge replica materialization are rolling out — see the Replication overview.
- Multi-region production availability is still maturing.
- Anything described as a target (cold-start time, replication lag) is a design goal we're building toward, not a measured guarantee.
Don't depend on a rolling-out capability for production without checking its current status. Each product page states where it stands, and the roadmap tracks what's next.
No compliance certification yet
Silos is not yet certified for SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, or similar. If your workload has strict compliance requirements, see the compliance roadmap before adopting Silos.