Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled DocumentDB, a fully permissive, PostgreSQL-backed, open-source document database. In just a few months, DocumentDB has sparked widespread excitement across the developer world, quickly gathering nearly 2,000 stars on GitHub. What began as a pair of PostgreSQL extensions rapidly evolved—thanks to a flood of passionate feedback and feature requests—into a robust, developer-friendly document store. The project leverages the reliability and flexibility of PostgreSQL and broadens its reach with enhanced JSON/BSON support and document-style queries, making it particularly attractive to both PostgreSQL and MongoDB developers seeking seamless compatibility and modern deployment options.

Feature-Packed & Developer-First Approach

DocumentDB stands out for its developer-first ethos and streamlined experience. Deployed in less than a minute and governed by the MIT license, developers have full freedom to use or modify the solution. Whether you prefer native PostgreSQL or want to leverage your MongoDB tools, DocumentDB supports both with strong MongoDB API compatibility. Its Kubernetes-ready architecture ensures high availability, resiliency, and top performance—key for mission-critical production workloads. The commitment to open standards and relying on unmodified PostgreSQL cements DocumentDB as a neutral, accessible option for a wide range of database needs.

Open Source Momentum: Welcoming DocumentDB to the Linux Foundation

Today marks a major milestone: DocumentDB is officially joining the Linux Foundation. This transition underscores Microsoft’s longstanding commitment to open source, further promoting a vendor-neutral and openly governed approach. By embracing the Linux Foundation, DocumentDB gains an independent identity where any database provider or developer can shape its future. The move signals the next phase in creating open standards for NoSQL databases—akin to how ANSI SQL did for relational.

Growing Community and Structured Governance

Interest in DocumentDB isn’t just technical—it’s powered by an energetic, diverse community. Organizations with deep PostgreSQL roots and global cloud leaders like AWS and Google have stepped up to support the project, emphasizing portability and choice for their customers. To further encourage contribution and transparency, DocumentDB now features a Technical Steering Committee (TSC) tasked with overseeing the project’s vision and roadmap. A team of respected maintainers ensures code quality and opens the door for even greater collaboration.

What Industry Leaders Are Saying

AWS is excited to contribute to the open source DocumentDB project, now stewarded by the Linux Foundation. DocumentDB, a permissively licensed database for implementing the MongoDB API, and an extension to PostgreSQL, the world’s leading open source database, advances a future where developers can rest assured that their applications are portable and compatible.

Adam Abrevaya, Director, Amazon DocumentDB.

Document databases play an important role in customers’ database estates and ensuring customers have sufficient choice in this area is important. It is great to see the DocumentDB project joining the Linux Foundation which assures customers and the community have an openly-governed, open-source option available to them.

Sailesh Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Engineering, Google Cloud.

By contributing DocumentDB to the Linux Foundation, Microsoft is ensuring the community’s ownership of the project. This move underscores our shared commitment to advancing open-source innovation and empowering developers with powerful, flexible tools built on PostgreSQL. Collaborating with Microsoft on the DocumentDB extension for Yugabyte has been an exciting project, and we look forward to joining the technical steering committee and continuing to contribute to the roadmap of distributed document databases together.

Karthik Ranganathan, Co-Founder and CEO, Yugabyte.

What’s Next: A New Home for DocumentDB

With its transition, DocumentDB’s development now lives at github.com/documentdb/documentdb. All updates, discussions, and contributions will be centralized in this new GitHub organization, streamlining access and encouraging broader participation. Developers and users are encouraged to update their bookmarks, star the repo, and join the community on Discord to interact directly with the technical steering committee and stay informed.

Why This Matters for Developers and Enterprises

DocumentDB’s move to the Linux Foundation is more than symbolic—it signals a concrete shift toward a truly open, interoperable, and standardized document database ecosystem. By prioritizing developer freedom, transparency, and compatibility with both PostgreSQL and MongoDB APIs, DocumentDB is shaping a future where open standards drive innovation, portability, and trust across clouds and platforms.