Airbyte vs Starburst Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
Free
- Single user
- API and MCP access
- Context Store refreshes daily (hourly for the first 14 days)
Individual
- Single user
- API and MCP access
- Context Store with hourly refresh
Team
Popular- Everything in Individual
- Parallel workflow execution
- Multiple users and workspaces
- Standard and AI support
Custom
- Everything in Team
- Custom workspace limits
- Custom Context Store refresh frequency
Free
- Create and run up to 3 clusters
- Access to standard cluster execution mode for ad hoc queries
Pro
- Flexible cluster execution modes
- Streaming Ingest
- Advanced cluster management
Enterprise
Popular- Advanced autoscaling features
- Fine-grained access controls (ABAC, SCIM)
- AWS PrivateLink for data sources
- Early access to features (Private Preview)
- AIDA (token usage billed separately)
Mission-Critical
- Elite support and ticketing
- Advanced governance integrations
- Lakehouse security and compliance tools
- Highest uptime guarantees
- AIDA (token usage billed separately)
Airbyte vs Starburst FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Both use a usage-based model, so the comparison is straightforward — it comes down to features and limits at each price point.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Airbyte: Sitting below enterprise ETL players like Fivetran on price, Airbyte leans on its open-source roots to win developers who want control without enterprise sticker shock. The free tier and low Individual price are clearly aimed at poaching users who'd otherwise self-host or hack together scripts, while Custom exists to compete for the same enterprise budgets as pricier rivals. Starburst: Starburst plays in the premium end of the query-engine and data-lake analytics space, going after enterprises already committed to a multi-cloud or lakehouse strategy rather than budget-conscious startups. They're competing with the likes of Trino-as-a-service alternatives and Databricks/Snowflake on capability, not on being the cheap option.
Still deciding? See the best Airbyte alternatives or the best Starburst alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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