Top New Features in PostgreSQL 16 database

Postgres 16 new features

• Random connection load balancing support using libpq, which will make it easier to scale out read queries in Postgres version 16.
• In PostgreSQL 16, we can grant (only) vacuum and analyze operation privileges to another user, no need to be done only the owner or super users.
postgres=> grant analyze on table1 to user1;
postgres=> grant vacuum on table1 to user1;
postgres=> grant pg_vacuum_all_tables to satya;
postgres=> grant pg_analyze_all_tables to satya;

• Users with CREATEROLE privilege, without ADMIN OPTION, no longer have the ability to hand out membership in any role to anyone. 
• GRANT query to be performed with ADMIN OPTION.
• The speed of hash index builds improved.
• Logical replication from standby servers. Logical replication subscribers to apply large transactions in parallel.
• Regular expression matching on database and role entries in pg_hba.conf.
• Postgres 16 onwards, NUMERIC can process hexadecimal, octal, and binary integers of any size.
• PostgreSQL query planner can now parallize FULL and RIGHT joins, by creating gather node and worker nodes.
• Supports incremental sorts for SELECT DISTINCT.

New System Views in Postgres 16:

• Monitoring of I/O statistics using the new pg_stat_io view.

New Parameters in PostgreSQL 16:

• New server variable enable_presorted_aggregate to aggregates having ORDER BY or DISTINCT to use pre-sorted data enable/disable.
• Added server variable SYSTEM_USER.
• New server parameter logical_replication_mode to control how logical decoding publishers transfer changes and how subscribers apply them.

Related PostgreSQL Articles: New features of Postgres 15