Yes, CockroachDB has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage free per month and 99.99% availability. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $2.00/mo, and no credit card is required to sign up.
About
CockroachDB is a cloud-agnostic, PostgreSQL-compatible distributed SQL database. It runs on CockroachDB Cloud or in self-hosted deployments and supports on-premise, hybrid, and cloud environments.
The pricing page lists a Basic plan that starts at $0 per month with 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage free per month, plus on-demand compute that scales to zero. It also includes AWS and GCP multi-region support for select regions, IP allowlist access control, and 99.99% availability.
- PostgreSQL-compatible distributed SQL
- 50 million request units monthly
- 10 GiB storage free per month
- On-demand compute scaling to zero
- AWS and GCP multi-region support
- 99.99% availability SLA
- Vector data with transactional data
Free Tier Value
This free tier has real ongoing value because it includes a perpetual monthly allowance of 50 million request units and 10 GiB of storage, plus core cloud features like multi-region support, IP allowlisting, and 99.99% availability. The cheapest paid plan starts at $0.18/hr for 2 vCPUs, so the free allowance is worth a small but meaningful slice of that plan’s capability; a fair buyer-facing estimate is about $2/month. A credit card is not required for Basic and Standard, and the page also advertises $400 in credits, which is separate from the recurring free allowance.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage free per month.
- On-demand compute and storage that scales to zero.
- AWS and GCP multi-region support for select regions.
- IP allowlist access control.
- 99.99% availability.
- Integration of vector data with transactional data.
- Includes MCP, CLI, and Agent Skills.
See CockroachDB pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Standard
- compute
- up to 200 vCPUs
- storage
- up to 3 TiB
- availability
- 99.99%
- Provisioned compute with instant scaling up to 200 vCPUs
- On-demand storage
- AWS and GCP multi-region support for select regions
- Private connectivity
- Metrics and log export to Datadog
- 99.99% availability
- Integration of vector data with transactional data
- Includes MCP, CLI and Agent Skills
Advanced
- compute
- unlimited scaling
- storage
- up to 10 TiB per node
- availability
- up to 99.999%
- Provisioned compute and storage with unlimited scaling
- AWS, GCP and Azure multi-region support for all regions
- Private connectivity
- Metrics and log export to Datadog
- Up to 99.999% availability
- CMEK and other controls for PCI / HIPAA needs
- Integration of vector data with transactional data
- Includes MCP, CLI and Agent Skills
Pricing extracted from CockroachDB's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is CockroachDB free forever?
Yes. CockroachDB has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
Does CockroachDB require a credit card?
No. You can start on CockroachDB's free tier without entering card details.
What happens when you exceed CockroachDB's free tier?
You move to a paid plan. CockroachDB's cheapest paid plan is Standard at $0.18 / month.
What is CockroachDB's free tier worth?
CockroachDB's free tier is worth about $2.00 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 51/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
