Show database bloat

Notes

These queries is for informational purposes only. They provide a loose estimate of table growth activity only, and should not be construed as a 100% accurate portrayal of space consumed by database objects. To obtain more accurate information about database bloat, please refer to the pgstattuple or pg_freespacemap contrib modules.

Also note that before version 9.5, data types that are not analyzable, like xml, will make a table look bloated as the space needed for those columns is not accounted for.

Bloat queries

For tables, see these queries. Make sure to pick the correct one for your PostgreSQL version.

For Btree indexes, pick the correct query here depending to your PostgreSQL version.

For more informations about these queries, see the following articles.

Query from check_postgres

Performance Snippets

Show database bloat

Works with PostgreSQL

>=8.0

Written in

SQL

Depends on

Nothing

This snippet displays the estimated amount of bloat in your tables and indices. Snippet is taken from Greg Sabino Mullane's excellent check_postgres script.

SELECT
  current_database(), schemaname, tablename, /*reltuples::bigint, relpages::bigint, otta,*/
  ROUND((CASE WHEN otta=0 THEN 0.0 ELSE sml.relpages::float/otta END)::numeric,1) AS tbloat,
  CASE WHEN relpages < otta THEN 0 ELSE bs*(sml.relpages-otta)::BIGINT END AS wastedbytes,
  iname, /*ituples::bigint, ipages::bigint, iotta,*/
  ROUND((CASE WHEN iotta=0 OR ipages=0 THEN 0.0 ELSE ipages::float/iotta END)::numeric,1) AS ibloat,
  CASE WHEN ipages < iotta THEN 0 ELSE bs*(ipages-iotta) END AS wastedibytes
FROM (
  SELECT
    schemaname, tablename, cc.reltuples, cc.relpages, bs,
    CEIL((cc.reltuples*((datahdr+ma-
      (CASE WHEN datahdr%ma=0 THEN ma ELSE datahdr%ma END))+nullhdr2+4))/(bs-20::float)) AS otta,
    COALESCE(c2.relname,'?') AS iname, COALESCE(c2.reltuples,0) AS ituples, COALESCE(c2.relpages,0) AS ipages,
    COALESCE(CEIL((c2.reltuples*(datahdr-12))/(bs-20::float)),0) AS iotta -- very rough approximation, assumes all cols
  FROM (
    SELECT
      ma,bs,schemaname,tablename,
      (datawidth+(hdr+ma-(case when hdr%ma=0 THEN ma ELSE hdr%ma END)))::numeric AS datahdr,
      (maxfracsum*(nullhdr+ma-(case when nullhdr%ma=0 THEN ma ELSE nullhdr%ma END))) AS nullhdr2
    FROM (
      SELECT
        schemaname, tablename, hdr, ma, bs,
        SUM((1-null_frac)*avg_width) AS datawidth,
        MAX(null_frac) AS maxfracsum,
        hdr+(
          SELECT 1+count(*)/8
          FROM pg_stats s2
          WHERE null_frac<>0 AND s2.schemaname = s.schemaname AND s2.tablename = s.tablename
        ) AS nullhdr
      FROM pg_stats s, (
        SELECT
          (SELECT current_setting('block_size')::numeric) AS bs,
          CASE WHEN substring(v,12,3) IN ('8.0','8.1','8.2') THEN 27 ELSE 23 END AS hdr,
          CASE WHEN v ~ 'mingw32' THEN 8 ELSE 4 END AS ma
        FROM (SELECT version() AS v) AS foo
      ) AS constants
      GROUP BY 1,2,3,4,5
    ) AS foo
  ) AS rs
  JOIN pg_class cc ON cc.relname = rs.tablename
  JOIN pg_namespace nn ON cc.relnamespace = nn.oid AND nn.nspname = rs.schemaname AND nn.nspname <> 'information_schema'
  LEFT JOIN pg_index i ON indrelid = cc.oid
  LEFT JOIN pg_class c2 ON c2.oid = i.indexrelid
) AS sml
ORDER BY wastedbytes DESC