The effort is backed by AWS, Google, and Microsoft, with AWS noting Amazon DocumentDB is a separate service and the Linux Foundation project described as MongoDB-compatible but built as an extension on PostgreSQL.

Microsoft initially opened DocumentDB to the public in January 2025 and will maintain governance involvement through a Technical Steering Committee.

The Linux Foundation governance is designed to promote vendor neutrality and broader community collaboration, encouraging open-source contributions and ongoing development.

For enterprises, DocumentDB offers a path to reduce proprietary database lock-in and to build new AI applications within the PostgreSQL ecosystem, while developers assess migration complexity.

The project uses Microsoft Research’s DiskANN vector indexing and semantic operators to support AI workloads, aiming to accelerate AI apps while avoiding licensing costs.

A Linux Foundation–backed open-source DocumentDB aims to provide a vendor-neutral alternative to MongoDB and lower vendor lock-in for enterprises.

The project includes a gateway to support MongoDB drivers, with ongoing work toward full MongoDB driver compatibility.

Amazon says it will contribute to both Amazon DocumentDB and the open-source DocumentDB project, integrating features from the open-source engine into its managed service over time.

DocumentDB is built on PostgreSQL and adds a BSON-capable PostgreSQL extension for document-style queries, delivering ACID compliance along with mature tooling, monitoring, and backups.