Simon Willison
Got excited about a brand new PostgreSQL 18 feature (for simulating production query plan statistics locally), posted about it on the SQLite forum... and got a reply from D. Richard Hipp within minutes that SQLite has had the same ability for years https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/9/production-query-plans-without-production-data/
Production query plans without production data

Radim Marek describes the new pg_restore_relation_stats() and pg_restore_attribute_stats() functions that were introduced in PostgreSQL 18 in September 2025. The PostgreSQL query planner makes use of internal statistics to help it …

Simon Willison’s Weblog
Mar 9 at 3:34pmWeb
Show threadPaul EverittMar 9
@simon Never bet against SQLite.
Show threadAndrew SnareMar 9
@simon Lesson #1 of dealing with production databases at scale is to turn off the cost-based optimizer and use just the rule-based one: for repeated queries predictable-but-maybe-slower beats faster but less predictable. Cost-based with statistics is fine for ad-hoc queries but in production it drives people mad because it’s completely unpredictable.