CockroachDB vs MotherDuck Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| CockroachDB | MotherDuck | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Custom | $250/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 3 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | usage-based | hybrid |
Basic
Standard
Popular- Provisioned compute with
Advanced
Lite
- Up to 3 internal active users and 2 service accounts
- 10 GB free storage
- 10 hrs Pulse compute per month included
- Pulse instances only
- Role-based access control (preset roles)
- Community support
Business
Popular- Up to 10 internal active users and unlimited service accounts
- 5 instance types and read-scaling replicas
- Flights: agent-native data pipelines
- 90-day snapshot retention
- Query history
- Role-based access control (preset roles)
- Support from MotherDuck experts
- 99.9% availability SLA
Enterprise
- Unlimited internal active users and service accounts
- Fixed-cost capacity pricing
- AWS PrivateLink connectivity
- Role-based access control (custom roles)
- HIPAA BAA
CockroachDB vs MotherDuck 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?
- Different approach here. CockroachDB uses usage-based pricing, while MotherDuck goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. CockroachDB: At $0.18/hr for 2 vCPUs, they're positioning competitively against managed Postgres alternatives like AlloyDB or Aurora, but the distributed SQL angle means they're really gunning for teams that have outgrown single-region databases — not the cheapest option, but cheaper than building multi-region resilience yourself. MotherDuck: Positioned as a cost-efficient alternative to Snowflake and BigQuery for teams that don't need a full data warehouse — the $250 base is approachable, but the compute rates (especially Jumbo and above) put it in mid-market territory. They're clearly targeting data-savvy startups and mid-size teams who want DuckDB's speed without managing infrastructure themselves.
Still deciding? See the best CockroachDB alternatives or the best MotherDuck alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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