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Databases · head to head

FaunaDB vs Instaclustr

FaunaDB logo

FaunaDB

Databases

Document-relational database whose hosted service closed in 2025 and whose core is now unmaintained Apache 2.0 code.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Instaclustr logo

Instaclustr

Databases

NetApp-owned managed service for Cassandra, Kafka, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL and Cadence with a bring-your-own-cloud model

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only FaunaDB has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: FaunaDB the hosted service was wound down in 2025, so there is no managed Fauna to buy; every remaining user either operates a JVM cluster themselves or migrates, and both are projects rather than tasks.; Instaclustr pricing is only obtainable through a configurator or sales conversation, so comparing against AWS MSK or Confluent list prices requires several rounds of quotes rather than a spreadsheet.
  • They diverge on capability: FaunaDB covers Document-relational model, Instaclustr covers Unmodified open source.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FaunaDB and Instaclustr actually diverge.

Attributes where FaunaDB and Instaclustr differ
AttributeFaunaDBInstaclustr
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebCloud, Linux
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: 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 FaunaDB

  • Document-relational model
  • FQL v10
  • Distributed ACID transactions
  • HTTPS access
  • User-defined functions
  • Attribute-based access control
  • Document history
  • Event streaming

Only in Instaclustr

  • Unmodified open source
  • Bring your own cloud
  • Multi technology platform
  • 24/7 operations
  • Managed backups
  • Terraform provider
  • SOC 2 and compliance
  • Consulting and support

What people use each for

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

FaunaDB

  • Keeping an existing Fauna-backed application alive on self-hosted infrastructure while a migration is planned and fundednot Instaclustr
  • Extracting historical data from a Fauna dataset that can no longer be reached through the hosted APInot Instaclustr
  • Studying a production implementation of deterministic distributed transactions, since the full server source is now readable under Apache 2.0not Instaclustr
  • Forking the engine deliberately, where an organisation has JVM and distributed-systems staff and wants a document-relational store it fully controlsnot Instaclustr

Instaclustr

  • An enterprise running Cassandra and Kafka that cannot hire and retain specialists for bothnot FaunaDB
  • A company with cloud committed spend that wants managed data infrastructure to draw down that commitment through the bring-your-own-cloud modelnot FaunaDB
  • A team that left Elastic over the licence change and wants OpenSearch operated by someone else without another proprietary forknot FaunaDB
  • An organisation migrating off Amazon MSK or Keyspaces that wants the same open source software with vendor operations but portability intactnot FaunaDB

Where each one falls short

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

FaunaDB

  • The hosted service was wound down in 2025, so there is no managed Fauna to buy; every remaining user either operates a JVM cluster themselves or migrates, and both are projects rather than tasks.
  • The open-sourced repository has had no substantive activity since May 2025 and the drivers were frozen alongside it, so you inherit responsibility for security patches in a Scala distributed database that almost nobody else is running.
  • FQL has no wire or dialect compatibility with anything else, so migrating off is a rewrite of every query, index and access rule in the application rather than a data export.
  • No BI tool, ORM or CDC connector speaks FQL, so reporting and analytics always required exporting the data first, and that export tooling is now also unmaintained.
  • The community was small before the shutdown and has dispersed since, so operational answers, tuning advice and people who have run a Fauna cluster in anger are all scarce when something breaks.

Instaclustr

  • Pricing is only obtainable through a configurator or sales conversation, so comparing against AWS MSK or Confluent list prices requires several rounds of quotes rather than a spreadsheet.
  • It manages infrastructure, not data modelling, so a poor Cassandra partition key or a mis-sized Kafka topic still causes outages that the managed service will not prevent.
  • NetApp ownership since 2022 has put the roadmap inside a large storage vendor, and the product is now one line in a portfolio rather than the whole company.
  • The catalogue is broad but each technology is served at a general level, so teams needing deep, vendor-specific tuning often find a specialist provider goes further on their one technology.
  • Bring your own cloud reduces lock-in but shifts networking, IAM and VPC peering complexity onto the customer, which needs cloud engineering capacity the managed service was meant to save.

Pricing, plan by plan

FaunaDB

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100K read ops
    • 50K write ops
    • 1GB storage
  • Pro$25/month
    • Pay per use
    • Priority support
    • Advanced features

Instaclustr

On request
  • Instaclustr Managed Platform$undefined/month
    • Priced per node size, technology, cloud provider and region
    • Interactive calculator requires configuration before a figure appears
    • Discounts on 12 month commitment

Which should you pick?

Choose FaunaDB if

  • You need document-relational model.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want fql v10.
FaunaDB review

Choose Instaclustr if

  • You need unmodified open source.
  • You work on Cloud, Linux.
  • You also want bring your own cloud.
Instaclustr review

Questions people ask

Is FaunaDB or Instaclustr better?
Neither clearly leads. FaunaDB starts at Free and Instaclustr at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FaunaDB or Instaclustr?
FaunaDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for FaunaDB and On request for Instaclustr.
Does FaunaDB or Instaclustr run on more platforms?
FaunaDB runs on Web. Instaclustr runs on Cloud, Linux.
Can I use FaunaDB for free?
Yes. FaunaDB has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Instaclustr starts at On request.
What is FaunaDB best used for?
FaunaDB is most often used for keeping an existing fauna-backed application alive on self-hosted infrastructure while a migration is planned and funded, extracting historical data from a fauna dataset that can no longer be reached through the hosted api, studying a production implementation of deterministic distributed transactions, since the full server source is now readable under apache 2.0, forking the engine deliberately, where an organisation has jvm and distributed-systems staff and wants a document-relational store it fully controls. Of those, keeping an existing fauna-backed application alive on self-hosted infrastructure while a migration is planned and funded and extracting historical data from a fauna dataset that can no longer be reached through the hosted api are not what Instaclustr is typically brought in for.
What can FaunaDB do that Instaclustr cannot?
FaunaDB covers Document-relational model, FQL v10, Distributed ACID transactions, HTTPS access. Instaclustr covers Unmodified open source, Bring your own cloud, Multi technology platform, 24/7 operations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

FaunaDB: Can I still sign up for Fauna as a service?

No. Fauna Inc. wound down the hosted service in 2025 and the company website is no longer serving. The only way to run Fauna now is to build and operate the open-sourced server yourself.

Instaclustr: Does Instaclustr modify the open source software?

No. Its stated commitment is one hundred per cent open source with no proprietary extensions, which is the main reason licence-averse buyers choose it.

FaunaDB: What licence is the open-sourced code under?

Apache 2.0, with the copyright held by a FaunaDB Foundation. That is a permissive OSI licence with no competing-use clause, so you may run it, modify it and even offer it as a service.

Instaclustr: Who owns Instaclustr?

NetApp, which acquired the company in 2022. It is now branded NetApp Instaclustr.

FaunaDB: Is the open source version the same software that ran the cloud?

It is the core database engine. The control plane, billing, dashboard and multi-tenant operational tooling that made it a service are not part of the release, so you are running the engine, not the product.

Instaclustr: Is pricing published?

No. There is an interactive calculator, but figures depend on technology, node size, cloud and region, and commitments are negotiated.

FaunaDB: What should I migrate to?

There is no drop-in target. Teams that valued the document model with relationships usually land on Postgres with JSONB, and teams that valued the serverless HTTP access pattern usually land on DynamoDB or a managed Postgres with an HTTP driver. Either way the query layer is rewritten.

Instaclustr: Can clusters run in my own cloud account?

Yes, through the bring-your-own-cloud model, so the infrastructure spend also counts toward your cloud commitment.

FaunaDB: How hard is it to self-host?

It builds as a fat JAR and runs as a multi-node JVM cluster. There is an OPERATING.md, but no supported packaging, no operator, no upstream releases and no support contract, so budget for a distributed-systems engineer, not a container.

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