Indexed lookups on a 298,520-row table return in about a millisecond.
A drayage logistics operator, operations console with a container lookup that is searched on nearly every keystroke.
| Value | Method | Measured at | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31.4 ms | EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS) with a sequential scan forced off, pattern ILIKE '%7152%', LIMIT 20 | 2026-09-30 | 298,520 rows held in one lookup table |
| 1.19 / 1.52 / 1.59 ms | Same query shape against the trigram index across three consecutive runs | 2026-09-30 | 298,520 rows held in one lookup table |
What this does not prove
A sequential scan legitimately wins for very short prefixes: a two-character search under a limit of 20 rows measured 0.4 ms scanning the table against 33.8 ms through the index. The index helps the long patterns a person actually types, and it is not a blanket speedup.