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What is Springtail?

Springtail scales read performance for existing PostgreSQL databases without requiring a migration or changes to your application.
Elastic read scaling for your existing PostgreSQL database | Springtail
It replicates data from your Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, Aurora PostgreSQL, or Supabase instance and routes read queries to on-demand replica nodes. This allows you to add replicas for periods of high traffic and remove them when they are no longer needed, improving read performance while reducing infrastructure costs.

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Benefits

Springtail provides significant advantages over traditional Postgres read replicas:
  • Instant scale-up: Springtail separates storage from compute, allowing additional replicas to spin up in seconds without requiring a new copy of the data.
  • Cost-efficiency: Only pay for what you use — reduce compute resources when they’re not needed, saving on peak provisioning costs.
  • Built-in optimization: Springtail’s proxy handles load balancing and connection pooling, so you don’t need to manage these services separately.
  • No downtime: Bring replicas online quickly without the downtime of snapshot creation or synchronization delays.

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Key features

Springtail enhances performance and efficiency through several key capabilities:
  • Scalable compute: Increase or decrease compute capacity as your workload changes, reducing unnecessary overhead.
  • Scalable storage: Independently scales storage from compute, allowing faster setup and efficient data access.
  • Optimized ingest pipeline: Reduces replication lag and ensures that reads receive the most up-to-date snapshot of the data.
  • Built-in proxy: Automatically manages load balancing and connection pooling, simplifying replica management.
  • Custom storage format: Optimizes storage for fast primary key access patterns, reducing latency on common database operations.

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Use cases

Springtail replicas are well-suited for traditional read replica workloads:
  • Nightly batch jobs: Efficiently process recurring large-scale operations without impacting your primary database.
  • ETL jobs: Seamlessly handle extract, transform, and load processes with scalable compute.
  • Read-heavy operations: Handle large queries, such as SaaS dashboards or table scans, without overloading your primary instance.
Any read-only transaction that might cause contention on your primary database is an ideal candidate for Springtail.

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Get started

Ready to get started? Follow these steps:
1

Start your instance

Use the Quickstart guide to set up your first Springtail database instance.
2

Manage your instance

Check out our How-to guides for tips on managing your Springtail instances.
3

Explore Springtail's architecture

Dive into the Core Concepts to understand the underlying architecture of Springtail.