JSON

Use jsonb — faster and indexable

jsonbvariable (binary)Recommended

Flexible schema data, API responses, user preferences, feature flags.

Range

any valid JSON

Performance

Supports GIN indexes. Faster reads than json. Slightly slower writes.

Comparison

jsonb vs json: jsonb stores binary, supports indexing and containment operators (@>, ?). json stores raw text, preserves key order and duplicates. Use jsonb in 99% of cases.

SQL Example

CREATE TABLE user_settings (
  user_id bigint PRIMARY KEY,
  preferences jsonb NOT NULL DEFAULT '{}'
);

CREATE INDEX ON user_settings USING gin (preferences);