Is Cockroach Labs or Timescale better?

Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Timescale at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Timescale?

Cockroach Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cockroach Labs and $30/month for Timescale.

Does Cockroach Labs or Timescale run on more platforms?

Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Timescale runs on web, api.

Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?

Yes. Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Timescale starts at $30/month.

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 Timescale is typically brought in for.

What can Cockroach Labs do that Timescale cannot?

Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Timescale covers Hypertables, Native compression, Continuous aggregates, Point-in-time recovery.

Database & Data Management · head to head

Cockroach Labs vs Timescale

Cockroach Labs

Database & Data Management

The cloud-native distributed SQL database

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Timescale

Database & Data Management

PostgreSQL platform for time-series and analytical workloads

From: $30/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Cockroach Labs basic and Standard tiers limited to AWS and GCP (select regions only); Timescale it is built on Postgres, so it inherits Postgres's vertical-scaling limits compared to purpose-built distributed time-series systems.
They diverge on capability: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Timescale covers Hypertables.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Cockroach Labs and Timescale differ
Attribute	Cockroach Labs	Timescale
Starting price	Free	$30/month
Pricing model	freemium	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	AWS, GCP, Azure	web, api
Founded	2015	Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Database & Data Management).

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 Timescale

Hypertables
Native compression
Continuous aggregates
Point-in-time recovery
Read replicas
Private networking

What people use each for

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

Cockroach Labs

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

Timescale

IoT and sensor data storagenot Cockroach Labs
Operational and infrastructure metricsnot Cockroach Labs
Time-series analytics dashboardsnot Cockroach Labs
Financial and market tick datanot 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

Timescale

It is built on Postgres, so it inherits Postgres's vertical-scaling limits compared to purpose-built distributed time-series systems.
The free trial is time-limited (30 days) rather than a permanent free tier.
Enterprise features like HIPAA compliance and cross-region backups require custom-priced Enterprise plans, not available on entry tiers.
Multi-node horizontal scaling and read replicas are gated behind the higher-priced Scale plan.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cockroach Labs

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cockroach Labs review.

Timescale

$30/month

Performance$30/month
- 4 database services
- Up to 8 CPU / 32GB memory per service
- Up to 16TB disk per service
Scale$36/month
- Unlimited database services
- Up to 32 CPU / 128GB memory per service
- Up to 64TB disk per service
Enterprise$undefined/month
- Up to 64 CPU / 256GB memory per service
- Cross-region backups
- SAML SSO, HIPAA compliance

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 Timescale if

You need hypertables.
You work on web, api.
You also want native compression.

Timescale review

Questions people ask

Is Cockroach Labs or Timescale better?: Neither clearly leads. Cockroach Labs starts at Free and Timescale at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cockroach Labs or Timescale?: Cockroach Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cockroach Labs and $30/month for Timescale.
Does Cockroach Labs or Timescale run on more platforms?: Cockroach Labs runs on AWS, GCP, Azure. Timescale runs on web, api.
Can I use Cockroach Labs for free?: Yes. Cockroach Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Timescale starts at $30/month.
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 Timescale is typically brought in for.
What can Cockroach Labs do that Timescale cannot?: Cockroach Labs covers Distributed SQL, Automatic Sharding, Multi-region Replication, Geo-partitioning. Timescale covers Hypertables, Native compression, Continuous aggregates, Point-in-time recovery.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Timescale: What does Timescale (Tiger Data) cost?

Tiger Cloud starts at $30/month for the Performance plan (4 database services, up to 8 CPU/32GB RAM), $36/month for Scale (unlimited services, multi-node HA), and custom Enterprise pricing for larger deployments.

Source

Timescale: Is there a free trial and what does it include?

New users get a 30-day trial of the Performance plan with no credit card required, letting them test hypertables, compression and continuous aggregates before paying.

Source

Timescale: How is usage billed?

Billing is monthly in arrears with hourly-metered compute and storage based on average GB consumed per hour; mid-month plan changes are pro-rated and customers can cancel anytime.

Source

Cockroach Labs vs Timescale

Cockroach Labs

Timescale

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Cockroach Labs

Only in Timescale

What people use each for

Cockroach Labs

Timescale

Where each one falls short

Cockroach Labs

Timescale

Pricing, plan by plan

Cockroach Labs

Timescale

Which should you pick?

Choose Cockroach Labs if

Choose Timescale if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Cockroach Labs

More on Timescale

Keep looking

Other head to heads