Aivenvs
Cockroach Labs
Cockroach Labs: The cloud-native distributed SQL database
Aiven
Fully managed open source data infrastructure cloud
As of 30 August 2026, Aiven is free to use. Aiven is a fully managed cloud data platform that provides managed open source database services. Softwr lists it under Databases. Aiven is made by Aiven Ltd., launched in 2016, available on Web.
Overview
What Aiven does
Aiven is a fully managed cloud data platform that provides managed open source database services. It offers PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Kafka, Elasticsearch, and more across all major cloud providers. Aiven simplifies database operations with automated backups, upgrades, and security.
What people use it for
- Running managed open source databases without operating them
- Multi-cloud deployment across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, DigitalOcean, OVH and UpCloud
- Highly available data services with automatic failover
- Prototyping on a small free instance before scaling up
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Aiven.
- The free plan gives 1 VM with 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM and 1 GB storage, and cannot pick a specific cloud or region
- Free and Developer tiers have no integrations and no connection pooling
- Connection pooling, database forks and dynamic disk sizing need the Business or Premium plan
- A 99.99 percent uptime SLA starts at the Startup plan from $75 a month
- High availability with automatic failover starts at Business from $180 a month
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Aiven
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- AivenvsPostgreSQL
PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source relational database
- AivenvsAirtable
Airtable: Create apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
- AivenvsAmazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora: MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Pricing
What Aiven costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free Trial
Free
- $300 credits
- 30 day trial
- All services
Startup
$19 /mo
- Single node
- Basic support
- Daily backups
Capabilities
Features
Multi-cloud Support
Automated Backups
Seamless Upgrades
VPC Peering
End-to-end Encryption
Compliance
Observability
PostgreSQL
Integration with PostgreSQL
MySQL
Integration with MySQL
Redis
Integration with Redis
Kafka
Integration with Kafka
Elasticsearch
Integration with Elasticsearch
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
What does Aiven's free tier include and does it have any time limit?
The free tier includes PostgreSQL with 1 VM, 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, and 1 GB storage with access to limited cloud and region selections. There are no time limitations on the free tier, though Aiven reserves the right to shut down accounts that violate policies or remain unused for extended periods.
SourceHow is Aiven billed and what are the monthly costs for each tier?
Aiven bills services by the hour and invoices monthly, charging only for what you actually run. PostgreSQL pricing starts at 5 dollars per month for Developer, 12 dollars per month for Hobbyist, 75 dollars per month for Startup, 180 dollars per month for Business, and 270 dollars per month for Premium. All paid tiers offer hourly billing options as well.
SourceWhat backup retention periods are included at different Aiven tiers?
Backup retention increases with tier level: Startup tier provides 2 days of backup retention, Business tier offers 14 days, and Premium tier includes 30 days. Point-in-time restore is available on all paid tiers.
SourceIs high availability included in Aiven pricing or charged separately?
High availability, backups, and routine maintenance are all included in the tier costs with no separate charges. The Business tier includes 2 VMs with automatic failover, and Premium includes 3 VMs with a second standby node.
SourceDoes Aiven offer a trial period to test premium features?
Aiven offers a 30-day free trial to access premium features beyond what the free plan provides.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Aiven
- Company
- Aiven Ltd.
- Based in
- Helsinki, Finland
Keep looking
Where to go from Aiven
- Aiven alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Aiven pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Aiven badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Databases softwareThe full category
- Best Databases softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Databases software for
Compare Aiven with
- PostgreSQL
- Instaclustr
- Amazon Aurora
- Cockroach Labs
- Airtable
- Google Cloud SQL
- Apache Kafka
- RabbitMQ
- Azure SQL
- MariaDB
- LanceDB
- Marqo
- Nile
- Ninox
- Presto
- Privacera
- Amazon RDS
- Apache Flink
Other Databases software
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Pricing on request12 researched notesMySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Free plan12 researched notesCreate apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
Free, then $20/month per editor11 researched notesFully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server
Free plan9 researched notesEmbedded retrieval library over the Apache 2.0 Lance columnar format, with proprietary Cloud and Enterprise tiers for serving at scale.
Pricing on request14 researched notesPostgreSQL database platform built for multi-tenant SaaS applications
Free, then $15/mo11 researched notesThe Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
Open source12 researched notesCentralised data access governance from the creators of Apache Ranger, now rebranding as Trust3 AI
Pricing on request13 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Aiven, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Aiven
Aiven alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Aiven pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Aiven
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Aiven badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Databases software alternatives
Industrial process historian with published per-tag pricing and no client licence fees
Per tag band per yearNetApp-owned managed service for Cassandra, Kafka, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL and Cadence with a bring-your-own-cloud model
quote
Erlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
Per month by connection and session volume
Attribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery
quote
MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
Open source, no licence fee
Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs
Per RisingWave Unit hourCentralised data access governance from the creators of Apache Ranger, now rebranding as Trust3 AI
quoteThe Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
Open source, no licence fee