- Yes, pgAdmin is free: pgAdmin 4 is released under the PostgreSQL Licence, an OSI-approved open source licence similar to BSD or MIT.
- The licence allows use, copying, modification and distribution for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as the copyright notice and licence text are kept.
- There is one edition. The project offers no paid tier and states that there is no paid support; help comes from the mailing list and the GitHub issue tracker.
- Only the latest release is supported, so staying free and supported means upgrading roughly every six weeks.
Is pgAdmin free? The short answer
Yes. The pgAdmin download page describes pgAdmin as a free software project released under the PostgreSQL licence, and every package on that page (Windows installer, macOS disk image, APT and RPM repositories, Python wheel and container image) is free to download. There is no trial period, licence key or sign-up.
pgAdmin is also bundled with the interactive PostgreSQL installer for Windows that EDB provides, so many people already have it after installing PostgreSQL. The bundled copy carries the same licence. For a full look at what the tool does, see the pgAdmin review.
The PostgreSQL Licence in plain English
The pgAdmin documentation describes the PostgreSQL Licence as a liberal open source licence similar to BSD or MIT and approved by the Open Source Initiative. The same text appears in the LICENSE file of the official GitHub repository. In practice it gives you these rights and duties:
| Question | Answer under the PostgreSQL Licence |
|---|---|
| Can I use it at work or for paid client projects? | Yes. Permission is granted for any purpose, without fee. |
| Can I modify it? | Yes. Modification is explicitly permitted. |
| Can I redistribute it, for example inside an internal image? | Yes, provided the copyright notice and the licence paragraphs appear in all copies. |
| Do I need a written agreement? | No. The licence says no written agreement is needed. |
| Is there a warranty or support obligation? | No. The software is provided "as is" and the team has no obligation to provide maintenance, support or updates. |
pgAdmin limits: what "free" does and does not include
pgAdmin has no feature-limited free tier, because there is no paid tier to upsell to. The limits that matter are practical ones:
- No paid support. The pgAdmin support page says the project is built by volunteers and that there is no paid support. Questions go to the pgadmin-support mailing list and bugs to the GitHub issue tracker.
- Only the latest release is supported. pgAdmin follows a rolling release policy with no long-term stable versions, and aims to release roughly every six weeks. Fixes, including security fixes, arrive in the next release rather than being backported.
- PostgreSQL only. The FAQ describes pgAdmin as a management tool for PostgreSQL and derivatives such as EDB Advanced Server. It does not manage MySQL or SQL Server.
- No warranty. The licence disclaims all warranties, which is normal for open source software.
Where costs can still appear
pgAdmin itself costs nothing, but a few things around it can:
- AI features. Recent releases add AI Reports and an AI assistant. These need AI configuration: an administrator enables them in
config.py, and you choose an LLM provider such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama or Docker Model Runner. Any charges come from the provider you choose, not from pgAdmin; a local model avoids a provider bill. - Hosting server mode. If a team runs pgAdmin in server mode or as the official container, the server or cloud instance it runs on is your cost.
- The database. pgAdmin manages PostgreSQL; hosted PostgreSQL services charge for the database, not for pgAdmin.
If you want commercial support or a multi-database client, compare the options in pgAdmin alternatives and DBeaver vs pgAdmin.
Frequently asked questions
Is pgAdmin free for commercial use?
Yes. The PostgreSQL Licence grants permission to use, copy, modify and distribute pgAdmin for any purpose without a fee, which includes commercial use. Keep the copyright notice and licence text in any copies you distribute.
Is pgAdmin open source?
Yes. pgAdmin 4 is open source under the PostgreSQL Licence, which the pgAdmin documentation describes as approved by the Open Source Initiative. The source code is on GitHub in the pgadmin-org/pgadmin4 repository.
Does pgAdmin have a paid or pro version?
No. pgAdmin has a single edition and the project lists no paid plans. The support page also states that there is no paid support.
Is pgAdmin 4 free on Mac and Linux?
Yes. The same licence covers every package: the macOS app bundle for Intel and Apple Silicon, the APT and RPM repositories, the Python package and the container image. See the pgAdmin review for platform details.
Do I have to pay to keep pgAdmin updated?
No. Every release is free. Because only the latest release is supported, it is worth upgrading when a new version comes out, especially when the release notes list security fixes.
Sources
- pgAdmin: Download
- pgAdmin 4 documentation: Licence
- pgAdmin GitHub repository: LICENSE
- pgAdmin: Getting help (support and release lifecycle)
- pgAdmin: FAQ
- pgAdmin 4 documentation: Menu Bar
- pgAdmin 4 documentation: Preferences (AI node)
- PostgreSQL: Windows installers
Checked 8 October 2026.
How we research tool guides: our editorial method. CodeWithSQL earns nothing from the vendors mentioned.