Difference Between Explain And Explain Analyze

The explain statement allows you to gain some insight into the performance of a query. You may hear explain and explain analyze referred to interchangeably in conversation. Though they can both be used to explore how a query will perform, it's important to know a key difference. explain analyze executes the query, explain does not.

For select queries, the distinction may not feel that important. For inserts, updates, and deletes, you'll want to be clear about which one you are using.

> explain insert into books (title, author) values ('Fledgling', 'Octavia Butler');
                     QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------
 Insert on books  (cost=0.00..0.01 rows=1 width=76)
   ->  Result  (cost=0.00..0.01 rows=1 width=76)

> select count(*) from books;
 count
-------
     0

With explain, you get cost estimates of the insert statement.

> explain analyze insert into books (title, author) values ('Fledgling', 'Octavia Butler');
                                          QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Insert on books  (cost=0.00..0.01 rows=1 width=76) (actual time=0.285..0.285 rows=0 loops=1)
   ->  Result  (cost=0.00..0.01 rows=1 width=76) (actual time=0.012..0.012 rows=1 loops=1)
 Planning time: 0.021 ms
 Execution time: 0.309 ms

> select count(*) from books;
 count
-------
     1

With explain analyze, you get estimates and actual numbers. You also get a row inserted in the books table.