Overview
Hush is an open-source real-time noise suppression model designed to clean up noisy call audio for voice AI agents. It removes background noise, competing voices, and interference, processing each 10 ms audio frame in under 1 ms on standard CPUs. It's lightweight (8 MB) and integrates into existing voice AI stacks.
PgDog is an open-source PostgreSQL proxy that combines connection pooling, load balancing, and sharding into a single executable. It allows scaling Postgres horizontally without app changes, supporting 100,000+ clients and 2M+ queries/s in production. It's deployable via Docker, Helm, or binary.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Hush | PgDog |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Function | Real-time noise suppression for voice AI calls | PostgreSQL connection pooler, load balancer, and sharding proxy |
| Target Users | Voice AI developers, call centers, BFSI teams | Database engineers, DevOps, companies scaling Postgres |
| Deployment | Cloud or data center, lightweight (8 MB model) | Single executable, deployable via Docker, Helm, or binary |
| Open Source | Yes (open-source noise suppression model) | Yes (open-source proxy) |
| Real-time Performance | Processes 10 ms audio in under 1 ms on CPU | 50,000+ transactions/s per thread, async and multi-threaded |
| Key Capability | Removes background noise, competing voices, and interference | Connection pooling, read/write splitting, sharding, cross-shard transactions |
| Integration | Slots into existing Voice AI stack | Drop-in PostgreSQL proxy, no app changes required |
| Scalability | Handles noisy environments (cafe, street, construction) | Handles 100,000+ clients, 2M+ queries/s in production |
| Use Case | Improving ASR accuracy on live calls | Scaling Postgres horizontally, load balancing, connection management |
Pricing
Hush: Offers a 2-week free pilot for one workflow, with implementation and measurement. Pricing details are not publicly listed; likely custom enterprise pricing.
PgDog: Open source and free to use. The company raised a $5.5M seed round, but the core product remains open source with no listed paid tiers.
Pros and Cons
Hush
Pros:
- Real-time noise suppression on CPU with low latency
- Lightweight model (8 MB) easy to deploy
- Open source and community-driven
- Improves ASR accuracy in noisy environments
- Handles multiple noise types (traffic, office, street)
Cons:
- Limited to audio enhancement; no database or backend features
- Pricing not transparent; likely enterprise-focused
- Requires integration into existing voice AI pipeline
PgDog
Pros:
- Combines connection pooling, load balancing, and sharding in one tool
- Drop-in replacement for PostgreSQL proxy, no app changes
- Open source with strong community and commercial backing
- Supports cross-shard transactions and ACID compliance
- Proven at scale (2M+ queries/s, 20TB+ sharded)
Cons:
- Complex setup for sharding and configuration
- Requires PostgreSQL expertise to fully leverage
- Not suitable for non-database use cases
Verdict
Choose Hush if you need to clean up noisy audio for voice AI agents and improve ASR accuracy in real-time calls. Choose PgDog if you need to scale PostgreSQL with connection pooling, load balancing, and sharding. Both are open source but serve entirely different domains.