Cockroach Labsvs
PostgreSQL


PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source relational database

The cloud-native distributed SQL database
As of 30 August 2026, Cockroach Labs is free to use. CockroachDB is a cloud-native distributed SQL database designed for global applications. Softwr lists it under Databases. Cockroach Labs is launched in 2015.
Overview
CockroachDB is a cloud-native distributed SQL database designed for global applications. It provides automatic scaling, survivability, and strong consistency.
The honest half
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 Cockroach Labs.
Cross-shopped
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.


PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source relational database


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Amazon Aurora: MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud


Elasticsearch: The heart of the Elastic Stack for search and analytics
Capabilities
Distributed SQL
Automatic Sharding
Multi-region Replication
Geo-partitioning
ACID Transactions
Horizontal Scaling
Survivability
PostgreSQL Compatibility
Kubernetes
Integration with Kubernetes
Terraform
Integration with Terraform
Datadog
Integration with Datadog
PagerDuty
Integration with PagerDuty
Answered, with sources
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
SourceStandard 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.
SourceBasic 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.
SourceYes, new users can try CockroachDB free with $400 in credits. The Basic and Standard plans do not require a credit card to start.
SourceCustomers 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.
SourceBehind it
Keep looking
Open source distributed SQL database for cloud native apps
Fully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server
MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
The heart of the Elastic Stack for search and analytics
The world's most complete, reliable, and secure database
Apache 2.0 distributed SQL database with MySQL wire compatibility and a separate columnar replica for analytical queries.
Apache 2.0 distributed graph database written in Go, maintained by Hypermode, queried through GraphQL or its own DQL language.
Live context layer for AI agents using real-time SQL transformations
Time-series database built on PostgreSQL for real-time analytics
SQLite-lineage database platform for running very large numbers of small per-tenant databases, with an MIT-licensed engine.
The world's most complete, reliable, and secure database
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Cockroach Labs, 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.
What people switch to, and what they give up
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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
quoteErlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
Per month by connection and session volumeAttribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery
quoteMPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
Open source, no licence feeStreaming 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