Aiven vs CockroachDB Pricing (2026)

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. Aiven: Aiven undercuts AWS RDS and GCP Cloud SQL at the entry point (free tier, $5 plans) to hook indie developers, but the Startup-to-Premium range ($75-$270+) puts them in line with — sometimes above — dedicated DBaaS competitors like Crunchy Data or Timescale Cloud. They're clearly playing multi-cloud flexibility as the wedge to win teams who don't want to be locked into a single hyperscaler's database service. CockroachDB: They're playing a hybrid game — free tier to hook developers like Supabase or PlanetScale, but the custom pricing on upper tiers signals they're chasing enterprise budgets, not competing on transparent low-cost simplicity. This isn't the cheap option once you're past hobby scale; it's positioned as the distributed-SQL choice for teams that need global consistency and are willing to pay for it.

Still deciding? See the best Aiven alternatives or the best CockroachDB alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.