CockroachDB Cloud Pricing

CockroachDB Cloud pricing varies by plan and includes charges for compute, storage, data transfer, backups, and change data capture. This page explains how costs are calculated for each plan.

Pricing Overview

Monthly charges depend on your cluster plan:

Basic: Usage-based pricing (Request Units + Storage)
Standard: Provisioned compute + usage-based storage and services
Advanced: Fully provisioned infrastructure + usage-based services

For current rates, visit CockroachDB Pricing.

Pricing by Plan

Basic
Standard
Advanced

CockroachDB Basic uses fully usage-based pricing.

Cost Components

Request Units (RUs):

Measures compute, network, and I/O consumption
1 RU = 3ms SQL CPU, or 1 KiB network egress, or varying storage I/O
Billed per RU consumed
Rates vary by cloud provider and region

Storage:

Billed per GiB-hour
Includes 3x replication at no extra cost
Rates vary by cloud provider and region

Free Tier

For monthly-billed customers:

First $15/month is free
Equivalent to ~50M Request Units + 10 GiB storage
Does not apply to annual contracts

Example Cost Calculation

Scenario: Small application, 100M RU/month, 25 GiB storage

Request Units: 100M RU × $0.001/1M RU = $100
Storage: 25 GiB × 730 hours × $0.00014/GiB-hour = $2.56
Free credit: -$15
Total: $87.56/month

Actual prices vary by cloud provider and region. See pricing page for current rates.

CockroachDB Standard has provisioned compute with usage-based storage.

Cost Components

Compute (Provisioned):

Billed per vCPU-hour
Set your provisioned capacity (minimum 4 vCPUs)
Rates vary by cloud provider and region
Multi-region clusters use highest region rate

Storage (Usage-based):

Billed per GiB-hour
Automatically scales with data
First 3 replicas included
Rates vary by cloud provider and region

Data Transfer (Usage-based):

Same-region: Charged for egress to endpoints
Cross-region: Charged at CSP list price
Public internet: Charged for all egress

Backups (Usage-based):

Managed backups: Tiered per-GiB rates
Self-managed backups: Per-GiB transfer fee
Rates vary by frequency and region

Change Data Capture (Usage-based):

Billed per GiB-month of watched data
Tiered pricing

Example Cost Calculation

Scenario: Production cluster, 32 vCPUs, 500 GiB storage, Iowa region

Compute: 32 vCPU × 730 hours × $0.100/vCPU-hour = $2,336
Storage: 500 GiB × 730 hours × $0.00014/GiB-hour = $51.10
Data Transfer: (varies by usage)
Backups: (varies by backup size)
Total: ~$2,387/month + usage-based costs

CockroachDB Advanced has fully provisioned infrastructure.

Cost Components

Compute (Provisioned):

Billed per node per hour
Based on vCPU count per node
Rates vary by cloud, region, and security add-on

Storage (Provisioned):

Billed per GiB per node per hour
Set storage per node at creation
AWS includes provisioned IOPS
Rates vary by cloud, region, and security add-on

IOPS (Provisioned - AWS only):

Automatically provisioned based on storage
Included in storage cost

Data Transfer (Usage-based):

Same-region, cross-region, and public internet
Charged at CSP list prices
Private endpoint traffic charged separately

Backups (Usage-based):

Managed backups: Tiered per-GiB rates
Self-managed backups: Per-GiB transfer fee
Rates vary by frequency, region, and security add-on

Change Data Capture (Usage-based):

Billed per GiB-month of watched data
Tiered pricing
Rates vary by security add-on

Security Add-on (Optional):

Additional hourly cost per node
Enables CMEK, PCI DSS, HIPAA compliance
Required for advanced compliance

Example Cost Calculation

Scenario: 3-node cluster, 8 vCPU/32GB RAM per node, 75 GiB storage per node, Oregon GCP

Compute: 3 nodes × 730 hours × $1.062/node-hour = $2,326
Storage: 3 nodes × 75 GiB × 730 hours × $0.0010338/GiB-hour = $170
Total: ~$2,496/month + usage-based costs

Detailed Pricing Components

Compute Pricing

How compute is priced

Basic:

Measured in Request Units
1 RU = 3ms of SQL CPU
Auto-scales with workload

Standard:

Provisioned capacity in vCPUs
Billed hourly regardless of usage
Rates: $0.08 -$ 0.15/vCPU-hour depending on region

Advanced:

Per-node hourly rate
Based on machine type (vCPU + RAM)
Rates: $0.50 -$ 2.00/node-hour depending on size and region

Storage Pricing

How storage is priced

Basic:

Usage-based per GiB-hour
Rates: ~$0.00014/GiB-hour
3x replication included

Standard:

Usage-based per GiB-hour
Auto-scales with data
Rates: ~$0.00014/GiB-hour
3x replication included

Advanced:

Provisioned per node
Billed per GiB-hour per node
Rates: ~$0.001/GiB-hour per node
Must be set at creation

Data Transfer Pricing

How data transfer is priced

Same-Region:

Free between cluster nodes
Charged for egress to external endpoints
Rates: CSP same-region egress rates

Cross-Region:

Charged for all cross-region traffic
Includes inter-node replication
Rates: CSP cross-region transfer rates

Public Internet:

All data egressing to internet
Includes client connections, exports, changefeeds
Rates: CSP internet egress rates

Backup Pricing

How backups are priced

Managed Backups:

Tiered per-GiB-month rates
Tier 1 (under 5 GiB): Higher rate
Tier 2 (5-100 GiB): Mid rate
Tier 3 (100-500 GiB): Lower rate
Tier 4 (500-1000 GiB): Even lower
Tier 5 (over 1000 GiB): Lowest rate
Daily vs hourly backup rates differ

Self-Managed Backups:

Per-GiB transfer fee
You pay for your cloud storage separately
Gives you full control

CDC (Changefeeds) Pricing

How changefeeds are priced

Charged per GiB-month of watched data
“Watched data” = total size of tables with active changefeeds
Tiered pricing (same tiers as backups)
Basic: Included in Request Units
Standard/Advanced: Separate usage-based charge

Regional Pricing Differences

Prices vary significantly by region: Example vCPU-hour rates (Standard):

Region	Cloud	Rate/vCPU-hour
Iowa (us-central1)	GCP	$0.100
Oregon (us-west1)	GCP	$0.106
Belgium (europe-west1)	GCP	$0.113
Singapore (asia-southeast1)	GCP	$0.121
US East (us-east-1)	AWS	$0.098
EU West (eu-west-1)	AWS	$0.109

For current regional pricing, see the pricing calculator.

Cost Optimization Strategies

Choose the Right Plan

Use Basic For

Development/testing
Proof of concepts
Small applications
Variable workloads
Learning CockroachDB

Use Standard For

Production workloads
Predictable traffic
Cost optimization
Growing applications

Use Advanced For

Mission-critical apps
Compliance requirements
Enterprise features
Dedicated resources
DB Console access

Optimize Compute Costs

Basic:

Optimize queries to reduce RU consumption
Use indexes effectively
Implement caching where appropriate
See Resource Usage guide

Standard:

Right-size provisioned capacity
Monitor actual vs provisioned usage
Scale down during off-peak (where allowed)
Use auto-scaling features

Advanced:

Choose appropriate node sizes
Don’t over-provision
Use multi-region only when needed
Consider node count vs node size tradeoffs

Optimize Storage Costs

Implement data retention policies
Use TTL to expire old data automatically
Archive historical data
Compress large columns
Drop unused indexes
Regular vacuum/compaction

Optimize Data Transfer Costs

Minimize cross-region queries
Use regional tables for multi-region clusters
Implement follower reads
Optimize changefeed payloads
Cache frequently accessed data
Use private connectivity to reduce egress

Optimize Backup Costs

Set appropriate retention periods
Use self-managed backups for long-term retention
Consider backup frequency vs RPO requirements
Expire old backups
Use incremental backups

Billing and Payment

Payment Methods

Credit Card
AWS Marketplace
GCP Marketplace
Enterprise Agreement

Charged monthly
Automatic payment
Update anytime in Console

Billing Cycle

Billing Period: Calendar month
Invoice Date: 1st of following month
Payment Due: Per payment method
Usage: Hourly metering, monthly billing

Credits and Trials

Free Trial:

$400 in credits
Valid for 30 days
All features included
Standard or Advanced cluster

Free Monthly Credit (Basic):

$15/month for monthly-billed customers
~50M Request Units + 10 GiB storage
Not available for annual contracts

Pricing Examples

Example 1: Small Development Cluster (Basic)

Workload:

20M Request Units/month
5 GiB storage
Single region (GCP Iowa)

Monthly Cost:

Request Units: 20M × $0.001/1M = $20.00
Storage: 5 GiB × 730 hours × $0.00014/GiB-hour = $0.51
Free credit: -$15.00
Total: $5.51/month

Example 2: Production App (Standard)

Configuration:

16 vCPUs provisioned
200 GiB storage (actual usage)
Single region (AWS us-east-1)
Daily backups, ~50 GiB

Monthly Cost:

Compute: 16 vCPU × 730 hours × $0.098/vCPU-hour = $1,144
Storage: 200 GiB × 730 hours × $0.00014/GiB-hour = $20.44
Backups: 50 GiB × ~$0.10/GiB = ~$5
Data Transfer: (varies)
Total: ~$1,170/month + transfer costs

Example 3: Multi-Region Production (Advanced)

Configuration:

9 nodes (3 per region)
8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM per node
100 GiB storage per node
3 regions (GCP: Iowa, Belgium, Singapore)

Monthly Cost:

Compute: 9 nodes × 730 hours × $1.062/node-hour = $7,075
Storage: 9 nodes × 100 GiB × 730 hours × $0.001/GiB-hour = $657
Backups: ~$50
Data Transfer: ~$200 (cross-region replication)
Total: ~$7,982/month

Cost Estimation Tools

Pricing Calculator

Use the CockroachDB Pricing Calculator to estimate costs:

Select plan type
Choose cloud provider and regions
Configure capacity
View estimated monthly cost

Cloud Console Estimates

The Cloud Console shows real-time cost estimates:

During cluster creation
When scaling capacity
On cluster overview page
In billing section

Monitoring Costs

Track your spending:

Billing Page

Overview: Current month charges
Invoices: Historical billing
Usage: Detailed breakdown
Estimates: Projected costs

Cost Alerts

Set up spending alerts:

Navigate to Billing

Go to Billing > Alerts

Set Threshold

Define monthly spend threshold

Add Recipients

Configure email notifications

Usage APIs

Track usage programmatically:

# Get cluster usage
curl -X GET \
  https://cockroachlabs.cloud/api/v1/clusters/{cluster-id}/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {api-key}"

Next Steps

Plan Comparison

Compare plans in detail

Billing Management

Manage billing and payments

Cost Calculator

Estimate your costs

Resource Usage

Understand resource consumption

Getting Started

Cluster Management

Security

Billing & Plans

​Pricing Overview

​Pricing by Plan

​Cost Components

​Free Tier

​Example Cost Calculation

​Cost Components

​Example Cost Calculation

​Cost Components

​Example Cost Calculation

​Detailed Pricing Components

​Compute Pricing

​Storage Pricing

​Data Transfer Pricing

​Backup Pricing

​CDC (Changefeeds) Pricing

​Regional Pricing Differences

​Cost Optimization Strategies

​Choose the Right Plan

Use Basic For

Use Standard For

Use Advanced For

​Optimize Compute Costs

​Optimize Storage Costs

​Optimize Data Transfer Costs

​Optimize Backup Costs

​Billing and Payment

​Payment Methods

​Billing Cycle

​Credits and Trials

​Pricing Examples

​Example 1: Small Development Cluster (Basic)

​Example 2: Production App (Standard)

​Example 3: Multi-Region Production (Advanced)

​Cost Estimation Tools

​Pricing Calculator

​Cloud Console Estimates

​Monitoring Costs

​Billing Page

​Cost Alerts

​Usage APIs

​Next Steps

Plan Comparison

Billing Management

Cost Calculator

Resource Usage

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Pricing Overview

Pricing by Plan

Cost Components

Free Tier

Example Cost Calculation

Cost Components

Example Cost Calculation

Cost Components

Example Cost Calculation

Detailed Pricing Components

Compute Pricing

Storage Pricing

Data Transfer Pricing

Backup Pricing

CDC (Changefeeds) Pricing

Regional Pricing Differences

Cost Optimization Strategies

Choose the Right Plan

Optimize Compute Costs

Optimize Storage Costs

Optimize Data Transfer Costs

Optimize Backup Costs

Billing and Payment

Payment Methods

Billing Cycle

Credits and Trials

Pricing Examples

Example 1: Small Development Cluster (Basic)

Example 2: Production App (Standard)

Example 3: Multi-Region Production (Advanced)

Cost Estimation Tools

Pricing Calculator

Cloud Console Estimates

Monitoring Costs

Billing Page

Cost Alerts

Usage APIs

Next Steps