Databases · alternatives
Alternatives to Firebolt
24 databases tools sit alongside Firebolt in this directory. Below is what separates each from Firebolt on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 19
- Cheaper to start
- 4
- Firebolt starts at
- $1.84/hour
Why people look past Firebolt
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Firebolt entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Firebolt carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 19 of the 24 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
The cloud-native distributed SQL database
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
- Starts $1.84 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than usage-based.
The world's most advanced open source relational database
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
Create apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
- Starts $18.16 a month per editor dearer, at $20/month per editor.
MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
- Starts $1.84 a month cheaper, at Free.
MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than usage-based.
The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
- Can be used without paying; Firebolt cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than usage-based.
Every Firebolt alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firebolt (this page) | $1.84/hour | Usage-based | - | |
| Cockroach LabsThe cloud-native distributed SQL database | Free | Freemium | - | vs Firebolt |
| PostgreSQLThe world's most advanced open source relational database | Free | - | - | vs Firebolt |
| AirtableCreate apps that perfectly fit your team's needs | Free, then $20/month per editor | - | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| Amazon AuroraMySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs Firebolt |
| Apache Doris | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Presto | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| EMQX | Free, then $234/month | Per month by connection and session volume | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| StarRocks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Firebolt |
| Solace PubSub+ | Free | Quote | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| Tinybird | Free, then $25/month | Per month by compute and storage | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| Dremio | Free, then $0.2/hour | Per Dremio Compute Unit consumed | 3 | vs Firebolt |
| VerneMQ | Free | Quote | 3 | vs Firebolt |
| Timeplus | Free, then $199/month | Per month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted | 3 | vs Firebolt |
| RisingWave | Free, then $0.227/hour | Per RisingWave Unit hour | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| NATS | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Redpanda | Free | Source-available community edition with paid enterprise and cloud tiers | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| RabbitMQ | Free | Open source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Canary Labs | $3000/year | Per tag band per year | 4 | vs Firebolt |
| Instaclustr | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Immuta | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Privacera | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| TIBCO Enterprise Message Service | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Apache Solr | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Firebolt |
| Apache Pulsar | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Firebolt |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Firebolt badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (19)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Cockroach Labs , Free
- PostgreSQL , Free
- Airtable , Free, then $20/month per editor
- Amazon Aurora , Free
- Apache Doris , Free
- Presto , Free
- EMQX , Free, then $234/month
- StarRocks , Free
Cheaper than Firebolt (4)
Entry price under Firebolt's $1.84/hour. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Cockroach Labs , Free
- Amazon Aurora , Free
- Dremio , Free, then $0.2/hour
- RisingWave , Free, then $0.227/hour
What you would be giving up
Firebolt is most often brought in for data analytics teams running gigabyte-to-petabyte datasets with sub-second query requirements, real-time business intelligence platforms requiring acid transactions and snapshot isolation, applications needing vector search on analytical data for similarity queries. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Firebolt is broadly right and the question is cost, the Firebolt pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Databases category lists everything the directory holds, and best databases tools ranks them.
Firebolt runs on cloud (aws, gcp, azure preview), docker, kubernetes. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Firebolt alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Firebolt?
- 24 other databases tools are listed in this directory, led by Cockroach Labs, PostgreSQL, Airtable, Amazon Aurora. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Firebolt?
- 19 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Cockroach Labs, PostgreSQL, Airtable, Amazon Aurora, Apache Doris.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Firebolt?
- Yes. 4 of the alternatives below start under Firebolt's $1.84/hour: Cockroach Labs at Free, Amazon Aurora at Free, Dremio at Free, then $0.2/hour, RisingWave at Free, then $0.227/hour.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Firebolt?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Firebolt?
- Firebolt is most often brought in for data analytics teams running gigabyte-to-petabyte datasets with sub-second query requirements, real-time business intelligence platforms requiring acid transactions and snapshot isolation, applications needing vector search on analytical data for similarity queries. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Firebolt?
- None of the databases tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Firebolt alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Databases, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Firebolt against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Firebolt covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every databases tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Databases category, 24 tools beside Firebolt. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.