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Databases · head to head

Cockroach Labs vs Timeplus

Cockroach Labs logo

Cockroach Labs

Databases

The cloud-native distributed SQL database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Timeplus logo

Timeplus

Databases

Streaming SQL engine built on ClickHouse internals, shipping as one small binary

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cockroach Labs basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only); Timeplus proton, the free version, is single-node by design, so any requirement for high availability or horizontal scale forces the commercial licence; the open source edition is a trial in practical terms.
  • They diverge on capability: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Timeplus covers Streaming SQL.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cockroach Labs and Timeplus actually diverge.

Attributes where Cockroach Labs and Timeplus differ
AttributeCockroach LabsTimeplus
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted
PlatformsAWS, GCP, AzureLinux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, Web
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cockroach Labs

  • Distributed SQL
  • Automatic Sharding
  • Multi-region Replication
  • Geo-partitioning
  • ACID Transactions
  • Horizontal Scaling
  • Survivability
  • PostgreSQL Compatibility

Only in Timeplus

  • Streaming SQL
  • Unified streaming and historical
  • ClickHouse-based engine
  • Single binary deployment
  • External streams
  • Materialised views

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cockroach Labs

  • Distributed SQL database for scalable applicationsnot Timeplus
  • Multi-region deployment and failovernot Timeplus

Timeplus

  • Real-time alerting on Kafka topics where standing up a Flink cluster is more work than the use case justifiesnot Cockroach Labs
  • Fraud or anomaly detection that must join a live event stream against recent history in one querynot Cockroach Labs
  • Streaming ETL from Kafka or MySQL change data capture into ClickHouse without writing Javanot Cockroach Labs
  • A small data team that needs continuous aggregation but has no platform engineers to operate JVM infrastructurenot Cockroach Labs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cockroach Labs

  • Basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only)
  • Azure support restricted to Advanced tier only
  • Basic tier limited to 50 million RUs and 10 GiB storage per month
  • Advanced tier starts at $0.60/hour for 4 vCPUs minimum
  • 3 TiB maximum storage on Basic and Standard tiers, 10 TiB per node on Advanced

Timeplus

  • Proton, the free version, is single-node by design, so any requirement for high availability or horizontal scale forces the commercial licence; the open source edition is a trial in practical terms.
  • It is a young project against Apache Flink’s decade of production history, so the hiring pool, the connector library and the body of known failure modes are all much smaller.
  • Inheriting ClickHouse internals also inherits ClickHouse constraints: memory-hungry queries, awkward updates and a SQL dialect that is not portable to other engines.
  • Exactly-once semantics and state recovery guarantees are less battle-tested than Flink checkpointing, which matters if the pipeline moves money.
  • Cloud pricing is by provisioned instance size rather than usage, so a bursty workload pays for peak capacity around the clock or has to be resized by hand.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cockroach Labs

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cockroach Labs review.

Timeplus

Free
  • Timeplus ProtonFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • Single node only
    • Full streaming SQL engine
  • Timeplus Cloud$199/month
    • One to thirty-two CPUs
    • 4 GB to 128 GB memory
    • From 250 GB SSD storage
  • Self-hosted or BYOC$undefined/year
    • Multi-node clustering
    • Kubernetes or bare metal
    • Customisable compute and storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Cockroach Labs if

  • You need distributed sql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on AWS, GCP, Azure.
  • You also want automatic sharding.
Cockroach Labs review

Choose Timeplus if

  • You need streaming sql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want unified streaming and historical.
Timeplus review

Questions people ask

Is Cockroach Labs or Timeplus better?
Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Timeplus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Timeplus?
Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Timeplus at Free.
Does Cockroach Labs or Timeplus run on more platforms?
Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Timeplus runs on Linux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cockroach Labs best used for?
Cockroach Labs is most often used for distributed sql database for scalable applications, multi-region deployment and failover. Of those, distributed sql database for scalable applications and multi-region deployment and failover are not what Timeplus is typically brought in for.
What can Cockroach Labs do that Timeplus cannot?
Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Timeplus covers Streaming SQL, Unified streaming and historical, ClickHouse-based engine, Single binary deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cockroach Labs: What does the free Basic tier include?

The Basic tier is free and includes 50 million RUs and 10 GiB storage per month, with a maximum compute of 30K RU/sec. No credit card is required to start.

Source
Timeplus: Is Timeplus open source?

The core engine, Timeplus Proton, is Apache 2.0. Timeplus Enterprise and Cloud are commercial.

Cockroach Labs: How much do the paid tiers cost?

Standard tier starts at $0.18 per hour for 2 vCPUs, and Advanced tier starts at $0.60 per hour for 4 vCPUs. Both tiers support additional resources with higher costs for increased compute and storage.

Source
Timeplus: What is the difference from Flink?

Timeplus is one binary with SQL as the only interface; Flink is a JVM cluster with a Java and SQL API and far more operational surface.

Cockroach Labs: What are the storage limits for each tier?

Basic plan supports up to 3 TiB storage, Standard tier up to 3 TiB, and Advanced tier up to 10 TiB per node with unlimited total storage.

Source
Timeplus: Can Proton run in production?

It can, but it is single-node only, so there is no high availability without the commercial edition.

Cockroach Labs: Can I get trial credits before paying?

Yes, new users can try CockroachDB free with $400 in credits. The Basic and Standard plans do not require a credit card to start.

Source
Timeplus: How much is the cloud?

From 199 US dollars a month, sized by CPU and memory, with a fourteen day trial.

Cockroach Labs: Do legacy contracts have different pricing?

Customers with annual or multi-year contracts entered before December 1, 2024 can view legacy pricing terms on a separate page, which apply until their contract renewal date.

Source
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