# CockroachDB review

A distributed SQL database built for horizontal scalability and multi-region survivability, available self-hosted or as a managed cloud service.

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified September 15, 2026.

> **CockroachDB** is a distributed SQL database built by Cockroach Labs to survive node, datacenter, and region failures by automatically replicating every piece of data three times across a cluster.

It speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol, so most PostgreSQL drivers and ORMs connect to it without modification, while the underlying storage layer distributes and rebalances data across nodes transparently. CockroachDB is available three ways: as a fully managed **CockroachDB Cloud** service, as **Bring Your Own Cloud** where Cockroach Labs manages the database inside a customer's own cloud account, and as a **Self-Hosted** deployment the customer operates entirely. Self-hosted clusters run under the proprietary CockroachDB Software License rather than an open-source license — an Enterprise Free tier waives the license fee for businesses under $10M in annual revenue, but larger companies need a paid Enterprise license, and unlicensed clusters are throttled after a grace period. The database targets teams running transactional, multi-region workloads that need to survive infrastructure failures without manual sharding.

## Facts

- Website: https://cockroachlabs.com
- Pricing: Free tier · paid from $0.18/mo (verified undefined NaN, NaN)
- License: Freemium
- Platforms: web, linux, macos
- Best for: teams running multi-region transactional workloads on PostgreSQL-compatible SQL that need automatic failover without manual sharding
- Standout feature: Automatic 3x data replication with multi-region survivability and PostgreSQL wire compatibility, so most existing Postgres tooling connects without changes
- Biggest weakness: Self-hosted CockroachDB is no longer open source as of version 24.3 — it runs under a proprietary source-available license, and clusters without a valid license (or past their trial/grace period) are throttled to five concurrent SQL transactions, a change that alienated some users who adopted it for its earlier open-source licensing.
- Third-party ratings: Product Hunt 4.7/5 (3 reviews)
- Categories: [Backend and databases](https://findalternative.to/categories/backend-databases)

## Pricing snapshot

| Plan | Price | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Basic (Cloud) | $0/mo | Free up to 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage per month; suited to small, bursty workloads. |
| Standard (Cloud) | $0.18/mo | $0.18/hour per 2 vCPUs for steady workloads at scale, up to 200 vCPUs. |
| Advanced (Cloud) | $0.60/mo | $0.60/hour per 4 vCPUs; adds customer-managed encryption keys and other enterprise security controls. |
| Self-Hosted Enterprise Free | $0/yr | Free annual license for businesses under $10M in annual revenue; requires telemetry reporting and cannot be used to host CockroachDB as a service for third parties. |
| Self-Hosted Enterprise | Custom | Paid annual license required for businesses at or above $10M in annual revenue. |

## Pros and cons

- Pro: Automatic 3x replication survives node, datacenter, and region failures without manual intervention.
- Pro: PostgreSQL wire-compatible, so most Postgres drivers and ORMs work without modification.
- Pro: Cloud Basic tier is genuinely free up to 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage per month.
- Pro: Deploys across AWS, GCP, and Azure, plus self-hosted or bring-your-own-cloud options.
- Con: No longer open source as of version 24.3 — self-hosted runs under a proprietary source-available license.
- Con: Unlicensed or expired self-hosted clusters are throttled to five concurrent SQL transactions after a grace period.
- Con: Enterprise Free self-hosted license requires sending telemetry and cannot be used to host CockroachDB as a service for third parties.
- Con: Cloud compute pricing is billed hourly per vCPU, which takes more effort to estimate than a flat per-seat or per-GB rate.

## AI summary

- CockroachDB Cloud Basic is free up to 50 million request units and 10 GiB storage per month.
- CockroachDB Cloud Standard starts at $0.18/hour per 2 vCPUs; Advanced starts at $0.60/hour per 4 vCPUs.
- Self-hosted CockroachDB runs under a proprietary source-available license (CockroachDB Software License), free for businesses under $10M annual revenue.
- CockroachDB replicates every piece of data three times automatically and is PostgreSQL wire-compatible.
- CockroachDB is no longer open source as of version 24.3.
- Best for: teams running multi-region transactional workloads on PostgreSQL-compatible SQL that need automatic failover without manual sharding
- Pricing: Cloud Basic free up to 50M request units/10 GiB per month; Standard from $0.18/hr per 2 vCPUs; self-hosted Enterprise Free for businesses under $10M revenue, paid Enterprise license above that.
- Top alternatives: MongoDB Atlas, Neon, PlanetScale
- Limitation: No longer open source; self-hosted runs under a proprietary license.
- Limitation: Unlicensed self-hosted clusters are throttled after a grace period.
- Limitation: Cloud pricing is hourly per vCPU, harder to estimate than flat-rate competitors.

## Alternatives

3 vetted alternatives to CockroachDB: https://findalternative.to/cockroachdb — top picks: MongoDB Atlas, Neon, PlanetScale

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