Verdict first: CockroachDB’s free tier is one of the best $0 database deals in 2026 — no credit card needed, PostgreSQL-compatible out of the box. If you’re wondering how to get started with CockroachDB free tier for beginners, the whole flow takes about five minutes: create a free CockroachDB Cloud account, choose the Basic plan, pick an AWS or GCP region, and launch your first cluster.
For your $0, you get 10 GiB of storage and 50 million request units (RUs) per month — roughly $15 of combined usage per organization — on a plan backed by a 99.99% availability SLA. New organizations also receive $400 in trial credits to explore paid features.
How This Guide Was Built
This guide is based on the official CockroachDB documentation, the vendor pricing page, and official Cockroach Labs resources. We did not run the tool hands-on. We verified every number here — storage, RUs, dollar allowances, trial credits, overage rates — against the CockroachDB pricing page and the Plan a Basic Cluster (docs), and we confirmed the signup and connection steps against the Create a Basic Cluster and Connect to a Basic Cluster guides. We did not test Advanced plan features or production workloads. Last verified: August 2026.
What Does the CockroachDB Free Tier Include?
The CockroachDB free tier includes 10 GiB of storage and 50 million request units (RUs) per month, worth roughly $15 of usage per organization, plus a 99.99% availability SLA on the Basic plan. New organizations also get $400 in free trial credits, according to the CockroachDB pricing page.
| Feature | Free Basic allowance |
|---|---|
| Storage | 10 GiB/month (clusters can scale to 3 TiB) |
| Request units | 50 million RUs/month |
| Combined value | ~$15/month per organization |
| Trial credits | $400 for new organizations |
| Free clusters | 1 per org without billing info |
| Clouds | AWS and GCP — no Azure on Basic |
| Regions | Up to 6, single- or multi-region |
| SLA | 99.99% availability |
- Card fine print: Your first free Basic cluster needs no credit card. Adding a payment method activates the recurring monthly $15 allowance, charged only above that amount — and without billing info you’re capped at one free cluster (CockroachDB free trial (docs)).
- Idle is free: RUs scale to zero when nothing runs, so an idle database bills $0 — there’s no auto-pause, just usage-based billing. Paid-only features like private connectivity, row-level security, and HIPAA/PCI-DSS compliance aren’t on Basic (Plan a Basic Cluster (docs)).
How Do I Get Started with CockroachDB’s Free Tier?
Getting started with CockroachDB’s free tier takes about five minutes: create a free account on the CockroachDB Cloud console, choose the Basic plan, and spin up a free cluster in an AWS or GCP region near you, following the steps in the Create a Basic Cluster (docs).
- Create your account. Sign up at cockroachlabs.cloud with GitHub, Google, or Microsoft SSO (or email), verify your email, and click through the onboarding survey. New organizations automatically get $400 in trial credits (CockroachDB free trial (docs)).
- Select the Basic plan. Click Create cluster, then choose Basic — the free plan that starts at $0/month.
- Pick a cloud and region. Choose AWS or GCP (Azure isn’t supported on Basic) and the region closest to your users. Heads up: regions can’t be removed once added (CockroachDB Cloud regions (docs)).
- Choose “Start for free.” This capacity option appears only if you have no free cluster yet and no payment method on file.
- Name your cluster. Use 6–20 lowercase letters, numbers, or dashes — the name is permanent. Click Create cluster; it’s ready in seconds.
- Create a SQL user. Copy the password the moment it appears — it’s shown exactly once (Connect to a Basic Cluster (docs)).
- Copy your connection string. Open the Connect dialog and grab the general connection string:
postgresql://{username}:{password}@{host}:{port}/{database}?sslmode=verify-fullDrop it into your app as DATABASE_URL, or paste it into psql. New clusters allow all IPs (0.0.0.0/0) by default — tighten the allowlist before anything goes public.
Can I Use PostgreSQL Tools and ORMs with CockroachDB?
CockroachDB supports the PostgreSQL wire protocol, which means most PostgreSQL drivers and ORMs connect to it exactly as they would to PostgreSQL — officially supported options include node-postgres, Prisma, Knex, Sequelize, TypeORM, psycopg, SQLAlchemy, pgx, and GORM, according to the Install a Driver or ORM (docs).
In practice there’s nothing to rewrite: point your existing code, migrations, and psql workflow at the step-7 connection string. CockroachDB supports both native drivers and the PostgreSQL wire protocol, so client libraries behave as they would against Postgres — one less migration headache when you outgrow other databases.
What Happens When You Exceed the Free Limits?
When you exceed the free allowance, CockroachDB bills you at usage rates — $0.20 per additional million RUs and $0.50 per GiB-month of storage — charging your $400 trial credits first, then your payment method, unless you set resource limits as explained in the Plan a Basic Cluster (docs).
Treat the allowance as a monthly credit, not a wall. With no resource limits set, usage past $15 bills at those rates. Optional limits change that: hit your storage limit and the cluster is throttled until writes fail; hit your RU limit and it’s disabled until you raise the limit or the cycle resets.
One warning: older articles describe a free tier that “throttles but never charges.” That model was retired in 2023. Set both resource limits when you create a hobby cluster, and a traffic spike can never cost you money.
CockroachDB Free Tier vs Neon vs Supabase
CockroachDB’s free tier offers the most free storage of the three — 10 GiB versus 0.5 GB per Neon project and a 500 MB Supabase database — plus a 99.99% SLA, per vendor pricing pages, while Neon leads on projects and branching and Supabase on built-in features (Neon pricing, Supabase pricing).
| CockroachDB Basic | Neon Free | Supabase Free | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage | 10 GiB | 0.5 GB per project | 500 MB database |
| Free usage | 50M RUs (~$15) | 100 compute-hours per project | 50K MAU, unlimited API requests |
| Projects | 1 free cluster | 100 | 2 active |
| Inactivity | Deleted after 6 months | Compute auto-suspends | Paused after 1 week |
| Standout | 99.99% SLA, up to 6 regions | Branching at scale | Auth, files, full backend |
Bottom line: CockroachDB is the pick for the most free storage, a real SLA, and distributed SQL. Neon wins if you juggle many projects or love branching; Supabase wins on batteries included. Deep dives: Neon’s free tier and Supabase’s free tier.
FAQ
Does CockroachDB’s free tier require a credit card?
No. You can create your first free Basic cluster without a credit card, and new organizations automatically receive $400 in trial credits. A payment method is only required to keep the recurring monthly free allowance active, and even then you’re billed solely for usage above $15, according to the CockroachDB free trial (docs).
What happens if I go over 50 million request units?
Going over 50 million request units in a month doesn’t cut you off by default — CockroachDB bills the excess at $0.20 per million RUs against your $400 credits, then your card. If you set an RU resource limit instead, the cluster is disabled until you raise it or the billing cycle ends (Plan a Basic Cluster (docs)).
Will my free cluster be deleted if I stop using it?
Yes — CockroachDB has no auto-pause for free clusters, and a free Basic cluster that sees no activity for six months is deleted, with no way to restore it. If you’re pausing a side project, export a backup or run occasional queries to keep the cluster alive, per the Manage a Basic Cluster docs.
Where to Go Next
CockroachDB’s free tier is a strong starting point for indie hackers who want a distributed, PostgreSQL-compatible database without a credit card, as the current plans on CockroachDB’s directory page show. Create your cluster, set resource limits at launch, and connect the tools you already use, comparing Neon’s free tier and Supabase’s free tier if you need alternatives.
Ship something this weekend — the first 50 million RUs are on Cockroach Labs.