PostgreSQL 18 introduces significant enhancements, including a new asynchronous I/O subsystem for improved performance, native support for UUIDv7 for better indexing, and improved output for the EXPLAIN command. Additionally, it streamlines major version upgrades and offers new capabilities for handling NOT NULL constraints and RETURNING statements.

PostgreSQL 18 RC 1 has been released as the first release candidate, with a planned general availability date of September 25, 2025. Users upgrading from earlier versions can utilize major version upgrade strategies, and several bug fixes have been applied since the previous beta version.