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Databases · head to head

TiDB vs turbopuffer

TiDB logo

TiDB

Databases

Apache 2.0 distributed SQL database with MySQL wire compatibility and a separate columnar replica for analytical queries.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
turbopuffer logo

turbopuffer

Databases

Closed-source vector and full-text search service built directly on object storage, with cold queries measured in seconds rather than milliseconds.

From
$16/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only TiDB has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: TiDB a production cluster needs several placement driver, storage and SQL nodes before it is fault tolerant, so the minimum viable footprint is far larger than a MySQL server and TiDB is never the economical choice for a small database.; turbopuffer a cold namespace pays object storage latency on the first query, with a documented p90 around 1,214 ms on a million documents, so any interactive search box needs the data kept warm or the user waits about a second.
  • They diverge on capability: TiDB covers MySQL wire compatibility, turbopuffer covers Object storage architecture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which TiDB and turbopuffer actually diverge.

Attributes where TiDB and turbopuffer differ
AttributeTiDBturbopuffer
Starting priceFree$16/month
Pricing modelfreemiumsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsCloud, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Self-managedWeb
Founded2015Unknown

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 TiDB

  • MySQL wire compatibility
  • Horizontal write scaling
  • Distributed ACID transactions
  • TiFlash columnar replica
  • Automatic rebalancing
  • Raft replication
  • Apache 2.0 licence
  • Online schema change

Only in turbopuffer

  • Object storage architecture
  • Namespaces
  • Vector search
  • Full-text search
  • Attribute filtering
  • Documented limits
  • Configurable consistency
  • Durable writes

What people use each for

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

TiDB

  • A MySQL workload that has hit the write ceiling of a single primary and would otherwise need an application-level sharding layernot turbopuffer
  • Reporting that must run against current transactional data, where the columnar replica removes the delay and the cost of an ETL pipelinenot turbopuffer
  • Multi-region deployments needing a single logical database with automatic failover rather than manual primary promotionnot turbopuffer
  • Migrating off a sharded MySQL estate where the sharding logic in the application has become the main source of bugs and operational toilnot turbopuffer

turbopuffer

  • A product with one search index per customer and thousands of customers, most of whose data is idle on any given daynot TiDB
  • Very large corpora where holding every vector in memory is the dominant cost and occasional cold-query latency is acceptablenot TiDB
  • Hybrid retrieval combining BM25 and vector search where running and synchronising two separate systems is the problem being solvednot TiDB
  • Retrieval for agent and assistant products where indexes are created and destroyed frequently and per-index overhead must be near zeronot TiDB

Where each one falls short

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

TiDB

  • A production cluster needs several placement driver, storage and SQL nodes before it is fault tolerant, so the minimum viable footprint is far larger than a MySQL server and TiDB is never the economical choice for a small database.
  • Every transaction takes a timestamp from the placement driver and crosses the network to storage nodes, so simple point queries are slower than on single-node MySQL and latency-sensitive paths need to be measured, not assumed.
  • MySQL compatibility is at the wire and dialect level but not complete; stored procedures, triggers and events are not supported, so an application that pushed logic into the database cannot simply be repointed.
  • The columnar replica is an extra full copy of the data on its own nodes, so hybrid analytics roughly doubles storage and adds hardware that must be sized and paid for separately.
  • Operating it well requires cluster-specific expertise in TiUP or the Kubernetes operator, region hot spots, and rebalancing behaviour, so the licence is free but the running cost includes an engineer who understands distributed storage.

turbopuffer

  • A cold namespace pays object storage latency on the first query, with a documented p90 around 1,214 ms on a million documents, so any interactive search box needs the data kept warm or the user waits about a second.
  • Queries are eventually consistent by default, and after roughly 128 MiB of outstanding writes new data is invisible until indexed, which the vendor puts at tens of seconds for small namespaces and tens of minutes for large ones, so a bulk re-index is not immediately queryable.
  • It is closed source with no community edition, so single-tenant or bring-your-own-cloud deployment is a commercial negotiation rather than a deployment choice, and there is no path to running it yourself if the relationship ends.
  • Per-namespace ceilings, roughly 10,000 writes per second, 32 MB/s and 500 million documents per shard, mean a single enormous index has to be sharded across namespaces by your application rather than by the service.
  • It is a search engine, not a database: there are no joins, no cross-document transactions and no SQL, so it sits beside a primary datastore and keeping the two in step is work that belongs to you.

Pricing, plan by plan

TiDB

Free
  • ServerlessFree
    • 5GB storage
    • 50M request units
    • Free forever tier
  • Dedicated$250/month
    • Dedicated resources
    • SLA guarantees
    • Enterprise support

turbopuffer

$16/month
  • Launch$16/month
    • All database features
    • Multi-tenancy deployment
    • SOC2 & GDPR-ready DPA
  • Scale$256/month
    • Everything in Launch
    • HIPAA-ready BAA
    • Single Sign-On (SSO)
  • Enterprise$4096/month
    • Everything in Scale
    • Single-tenancy & BYOC deployment options
    • Private networking

Which should you pick?

Choose TiDB if

  • You need mysql wire compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Self-managed.
  • You also want horizontal write scaling.
TiDB review

Choose turbopuffer if

  • You need object storage architecture.
  • You also want namespaces.
turbopuffer review

Questions people ask

Is TiDB or turbopuffer better?
Neither clearly leads. TiDB starts at Free and turbopuffer at $16/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, TiDB or turbopuffer?
TiDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for TiDB and $16/month for turbopuffer.
Does TiDB or turbopuffer run on more platforms?
TiDB runs on Cloud, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Self-managed. turbopuffer runs on Web.
Can I use TiDB for free?
Yes. TiDB has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. turbopuffer starts at $16/month.
What is TiDB best used for?
TiDB is most often used for a mysql workload that has hit the write ceiling of a single primary and would otherwise need an application-level sharding layer, reporting that must run against current transactional data, where the columnar replica removes the delay and the cost of an etl pipeline, multi-region deployments needing a single logical database with automatic failover rather than manual primary promotion, migrating off a sharded mysql estate where the sharding logic in the application has become the main source of bugs and operational toil. Of those, a mysql workload that has hit the write ceiling of a single primary and would otherwise need an application-level sharding layer and reporting that must run against current transactional data, where the columnar replica removes the delay and the cost of an etl pipeline are not what turbopuffer is typically brought in for.
What can TiDB do that turbopuffer cannot?
TiDB covers MySQL wire compatibility, Horizontal write scaling, Distributed ACID transactions, TiFlash columnar replica. turbopuffer covers Object storage architecture, Namespaces, Vector search, Full-text search.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

TiDB: Is TiDB a drop-in replacement for MySQL?

At the protocol and dialect level it is close, and most applications connect unchanged. Stored procedures, triggers and events are not supported, and latency characteristics differ, so it needs testing rather than assumption.

turbopuffer: Can I self-host turbopuffer?

There is no open source or community edition. Single-tenant and bring-your-own-cloud deployments exist as commercial arrangements, but there is no way to run it independently of the vendor.

TiDB: What licence is it under?

Apache 2.0, for both TiDB and the underlying TiKV storage engine. TiKV is a graduated CNCF project, which is a meaningful governance signal in a market where several competitors moved to source-available licences.

turbopuffer: How fast is it really?

Warm queries perform comparably to in-memory search engines. Cold queries, where data is not cached, have a documented p90 around 1,214 ms on a million documents. Write p90 is around 248 ms for a 512 KB upsert because writes go straight to object storage.

TiDB: Do I need TiFlash?

Only for analytical queries. It is an optional columnar replica; without it TiDB is a distributed transactional database. With it you get analytics on live data at the cost of an additional full copy.

turbopuffer: Is it consistent?

Eventually consistent by default, with the vendor reporting that over 99.8% of queries return consistent data. Strong consistency can be requested per query at a latency cost. Large write bursts have a longer visibility delay while indexing catches up.

TiDB: Is the managed cloud the same software?

TiDB Cloud runs the same engine, with the control plane, scaling and operational tooling provided as a service. The entry tier is metered differently from a dedicated cluster, so the cost model rather than the engine is what changes.

turbopuffer: What is it best at?

Large numbers of namespaces where most are idle. The architecture makes cold data cheap to keep, which is exactly the shape of a multi-tenant product with a long tail of inactive customers.

TiDB: When is TiDB the wrong choice?

When the database is small enough for one server, when latency on single-row lookups is the primary constraint, or when the application depends on MySQL stored procedures and triggers.

turbopuffer: What are the hard limits?

Up to 128 billion documents and 256 TB per namespace, 500 million documents per shard, 64 MiB per document, 10,752 dense vector dimensions, roughly 10,000 writes per second per namespace and a maximum result set of 10,000.

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