# Understand CockroachDB Cloud Costs

The ways that monthly charges are incurred for a CockroachDB Cloud organization depend on the plans of its clusters: CockroachDB Basic, Standard, or Advanced. This page explains costs under each plan, specifying components that are billed based on provisioned capacity or usage.

Refer to CockroachDB Pricing for details on plans and rates.

Note:

This page reflects updated costs recently announced for CockroachDB Cloud. This new pricing, including new usage-based costs, now applies to all customers except those with annual or multi-year contracts that began prior to December 1, 2024. For those customers, the updated pricing goes into effect upon contract renewal. Prior to renewal, line items for usage of data transfer, backups, and changefeeds are displayed in the Billing interface and on invoices with a $0 charge, while showing actual usage metrics to help estimate future costs.

For details on planning or provisioning clusters, refer to:

- Plan a CockroachDB Basic cluster
- Plan a CockroachDB Standard cluster
- Plan a CockroachDB Advanced cluster

## Costs across CockroachDB Cloud plans

This table summarizes key details about how costs are calculated for each plan to help you get started in choosing the one that best meets your needs for a given workload.

| CockroachDB Basic Usage-based billing only | CockroachDB Standard Provisioned compute, usage-based storage, data transfer, backups, and Change data capture (CDC) | CockroachDB Advanced Provisioned compute, storage, and IOPS with usage-based billing for data transfer, backups, and CDC
--- | --- | --- | ---
Compute | Usage-based via Request Units. | Provisioned; cost per hour based on plan, vCPU quantity, cloud provider, and regions. | Provisioned; cost per hour per node based on plan, vCPU quantity, cloud provider, region, and whether security add-on is enabled.
Storage | Usage-based. | Usage-based; rates vary per cloud provider and region. | Provisioned; billed per hour per node; rates vary per cloud provider, region, and whether security add-on is enabled.
IOPS | Usage-based via Request Units. | Included in storage costs. | Provisioned based on storage and varies per cloud provider.
Backups | Usage-based via Request Units. | Usage-based. Managed backups storage rates vary per cloud provider, region, and backup frequency. Self-managed backups fee incurred per GiB transferred to your own object storage. | Usage-based. Managed backups storage rates vary per cloud provider, region, backup frequency, and whether security add-on is enabled. Self-managed backups fee incurred per GiB transferred to your own object storage. Rate varies depending on whether security add-on is enabled.
Data transfer | Usage-based via Request Units. | Usage-based; rates vary per cloud provider and data transfer type. | Usage-based; rates vary per cloud provider and data transfer type.
Change data capture | Usage-based via Request Units. | Usage-based, per GiB-hour watched across all changefeeds. | Usage-based, per GiB-hour watched across all changefeeds. Rates vary depending on whether security add-on is enabled.

## More details

This section supplements the details in Costs across CockroachDB Cloud plans. Select a plan to learn more.

### Compute

For CockroachDB Basic, compute cost is usage-based through its consumption of Request Units. For customers who pay monthly, the first $15 of resource consumption (equivalent to 50 million Request Units and 10 GiB of storage) spent each month is free and credited back on their monthly invoice.

Note:

Customers with annual or multi-year contracts are not eligible for the free monthly resource benefit.

Standard clusters have provisioned compute capacity where customers set a maximum processing capacity for their cluster, measured in vCPUs. This capacity represents the peak processing power the cluster can handle at any given time.

A cluster’s compute charges are based on the cluster’s provisioned capacity in vCPU-hours, with rates that depend on the cluster’s cloud provider and regions. Billing is based on the capacity reserved, not the actual usage. Charges are accumulated throughout the month to determine the total monthly compute charges.

In a multi-region cluster, the price of the most expensive region is applied to the entire cluster’s compute capacity.

For example, consider a three-region Multi-Region GCP cluster provisioned in Iowa (us-central1), St. Ghislain (europe-central1) and Jurong West (asia-southeast1) with 32 vCPUs provisioned compute capacity. The compute cost for the cluster is calculated by multiplying the number of vCPUs provisioned by the highest per vCPU-hour rate amongst Iowa ($0.100), St. Ghislain ($0.113) and Jurong West ($0.121) regions: (32 vCPU * $0.121), which equals $3.872 per hour.

Note: These prices are intended as examples only. For the latest pricing, refer to CockroachDB Pricing.

For an Advanced cluster, each node is provisioned with dedicated compute resources. Users can customize the number of vCPUs per node, which applies to all nodes in the cluster. Compute costs are based on the vCPUs provisioned for each node, with rates depending on the cloud provider, region, and whether a security add-on is enabled.

Compute charges are calculated by multiplying the hourly rate of the provisioned compute by the number of nodes in the cluster. Hourly charges are accumulated throughout the month to determine the total monthly charge.

For example, consider a GCP cluster provisioned in Oregon (us-west1). The cluster consists of three nodes, each with 8vCPU, 32 GiB of RAM. The compute cost for the cluster is determined by multiplying the hourly rate of 8vCPU, 32GiB RAM machine type ($1.062) and the total number of nodes (3), which equals $3.186 per hour.

Note: These prices are intended as examples only. For the latest pricing, refer to CockroachDB Pricing.

### IOPS

IOPS are included as part of request units (RUs).

IOPS are included in storage costs.

For Advanced clusters on AWS, each node will incur charges for the provisioned IOPS, an amount determined based on the allocated storage size (in GiB).

### Storage

For CockroachDB Basic clusters, storage is automatically provisioned on demand, eliminating the need for manual management. Costs are based on actual usage and adjust dynamically as data is added or removed, starting from zero.

Storage is billed hourly, with rates depending on the cloud provider and the region where the cluster is hosted. Basic plan clusters charge for storage per GiB-hour. These charges are accumulated throughout the month to determine the total monthly storage charges.

For CockroachDB Standard clusters, storage is automatically provisioned on demand, eliminating the need for manual management. Costs are based on actual usage and adjust dynamically as data is added or removed, starting from zero.

Storage is billed hourly, with rates specific to each cloud provider and the region where the cluster is hosted. CockroachDB Cloud measures storage in GiB-hour. These charges are accumulated throughout the month to determine the total monthly storage charges.

A CockroachDB Standard cluster maintains a minimum of three replicas of your data. The second and third replicas are included, with no additional storage charge. If you add further replicas, each will incur a storage cost equal to that of the first replica—the logical database size.

Each Advanced cluster is provisioned with dedicated storage, and users can configure the per-node storage size when setting up their cluster. This storage setting applies to all nodes in the cluster. The storage is billed hourly, with the rate depending on the cloud provider, the region where the cluster is hosted, and whether the Advanced security add-on is enabled. Storage costs are independent of other resources, meaning you can adjust your cluster's storage capacity without altering its compute capacity. For guidance on provisioning compute and storage, refer to Plan Your Cluster.

- For AWS clusters: Storage charge (per hour) is calculated by multiplying the storage size (in GiB) by the per GiB-hour rate for storage, plus any additional charges for IOPS.
- For GCP and Azure clusters: Node storage charge (per hour) is determined by multiplying the storage size (in GiB) by the per GiB-hour rate, without additional IOPS fees.

These charges are accumulated throughout the month to determine the total monthly storage charges.

For example, consider a GCP cluster provisioned in Oregon (us-west1). The cluster consists of three nodes, each with 75 GiB of storage. The storage cost for the cluster is determined by multiplying the storage size (75 GiB) by the storage rate ($0.0010338 per GiB) per node. The total storage cost is then calculated by multiplying this figure by the number of nodes: (75 GiB * $0.0010338) * 3, which equals $0.232605 per hour.

Note: These prices are intended as examples only. For the latest pricing, refer to CockroachDB Pricing.

### Backups

Backups on Basic clusters are included in the Request Unit costs. Managed backups occur daily and are not configurable.

Managed backups are charged per-GiB storage rates that vary per cloud provider, region, and backup frequency (daily vs. more than daily). The per-GiB unit prices are tiered, based on the amount of backup data stored: Less than 5 GiB-Month, 5 to 100 GiB-Month, 100 to 500 GiB-Month, 500 to 1000 GiB-Month, or 1000 GiB-Month and higher.

When you delete a cluster, Cockroach Labs will retain the backups for the configured retention time, during which backup storage costs will still apply. If you want to delete retained managed backups, contact the Cockroach Labs Support team.

Self-managed backups to your own object storage are charged a per-GiB fee for the data transferred. This option provides an advanced backup scheduler and additional control over backup storage placement.

For further details, refer to CockroachDB Cloud Pricing.

Managed backups are charged per-GiB storage rates that vary per cloud provider, region, backup frequency (daily vs. more than daily), and whether the Advanced security add-on is enabled. The per-GiB unit prices are tiered, based on the amount of backup data stored: Less than 5 GiB-Month, 5 to 100 GiB-Month, 100 to 500 GiB-Month, 500 to 1000 GiB-Month, or 1000 GiB-Month and higher.

Self-managed backups to your own object storage are charged a per-GiB fee for the data transferred. The rate varies depending on whether the Advanced security add-on is enabled. Self-managed backups offer additional control over backup storage placement, and an advanced backup scheduler.

For further details, refer to CockroachDB Cloud Pricing.

### Data transfer

For CockroachDB Basic, data transfer is included in the Request Unit price.

For CockroachDB Standard, CockroachDB Cloud bills directly to customers based on their usage.

The usage data is based on the volume of data moved (per GiB) and the cloud provider’s identified data transfer type, which CockroachDB categorizes as Same-region data transfer, Cross-Region data transfer, or Public Internet data transfer. Each category is reflected as a line item on your invoice. Within each data transfer category, for a given Cloud provider, rates are consistent across plans: CockroachDB Standard, Advanced, and Advanced with security add-on enabled.

Cloud providers may vary in how they calculate each category and define each region. We recommend consulting the provider’s documentation for details (i.e. AWS, GCP, or Azure).

#### Same-region

There are no charges for same-region data transfer between CockroachDB cluster nodes. Data egressing the cluster to endpoints in the same region for backups or changefeeds, or using private connectivity, is charged the cloud provider's list price for same-region data transfer.

#### Cross-region

When data moves between CockroachDB nodes that are in different regions, or from a CockroachDB node to another endpoint in a different region, it is metered as cross-region data transfer.

Cross-region data transfer includes:

- Data transfer required to support queries that involve lookups on nodes in another region.
- CockroachDB replication across nodes that are in different regions.
- Data egress from the CockroachDB Cloud cluster via supported private connectivity services to a private endpoint in another region.
- Managed backup and Self-managed backup data transfer to another region.
- Change data capture (changefeed) data transfer to another region.

Customers are charged the cloud service provider’s (CSP) list price for metered cross-region data transfer.

Typically, data transfer costs across regions are higher than data transfer costs across AZs (data centers) in a single region.

#### Public internet

This is the usage for any data leaving CockroachDB such as SQL data being sent to clients, or logs and metrics exported to third-party tools.

For CockroachDB Advanced, CockroachDB Cloud bills directly to customers based on their usage.

The usage data is based on the volume of data moved (per GiB) and the cloud provider’s identified data transfer type, which CockroachDB categorizes as Same-region data transfer, Cross-Region data transfer, or Public Internet data transfer. Each category is reflected as a line item on your invoice. Within each data transfer category, for a given Cloud provider, rates are consistent across plans: CockroachDB Standard, Advanced, and Advanced with security add-on enabled.

Cloud providers may vary in how they calculate each category and define each region. We recommend consulting the provider’s documentation for details (i.e. AWS, GCP, or Azure).

#### Same-region

There are no charges for same-region data transfer between CockroachDB cluster nodes. Data egressing the cluster to endpoints in the same region for backups or changefeeds, or using private connectivity, is charged the cloud provider's list price for same-region data transfer. Egress private endpoint usage is posted in separate line items under the Data transfer section, as Private endpoint - bytes processed - Advanced plan.

#### Cross-region

When data moves between CockroachDB nodes that are in different regions, or from a CockroachDB node to another endpoint in a different region, it is metered as cross-region data transfer.

Cross-region data transfer includes:

- Data transfer required to support queries that involve lookups on nodes in another region.
- CockroachDB replication across nodes that are in different regions.
- Data egress, including changefeed and backup traffic egress, from the CockroachDB Cloud cluster via supported private connectivity services to a private endpoint in another region.
- Managed backup and Self-managed backup data transfer to another region.
- Change data capture (changefeed) data transfer to another region.

Customers are charged the cloud service provider’s (CSP) list price for metered cross-region data transfer.

Typically, data transfer costs across regions are higher than data transfer costs across AZs (data centers) in a single region.

#### Public internet

This is the usage for any data leaving CockroachDB such as SQL data being sent to clients, or logs and metrics exported to third-party tools.

### Change data capture (changefeeds)

For change data capture (CDC), all CockroachDB Cloud clusters can use changefeeds.

In CockroachDB Basic, CDC cost is usage-based via Request Units.

The main feature of CockroachDB CDC is the changefeed, which targets an allowlist of tables, known as watched tables.

In CockroachDB Standard, CDC is billed monthly based on the total size in GiB-Month of all of a cluster's watched tables. The per-GiB unit price is tiered, based on the size of watched data: Less than 5 GiB-Month, 5 to 100 GiB-Month, 100 to 250 GiB-Month, 250 to 500 GiB-Month, or 500 GiB-Month and higher.

The main feature of CockroachDB CDC is the changefeed, which targets an allowlist of tables, known as watched tables.

In CockroachDB Advanced, CDC is billed monthly based on the total size of a cluster's watched tables and whether the Advanced security add-on is enabled. The per-GiB unit price is tiered, based on the size of watched data: Less than 5 GiB-Month, 5 to 100 GiB-Month, 100 to 250 GiB-Month, 250 to 500 GiB-Month, or 500 GiB-Month and higher.

Data sent from a CockroachDB Advanced cluster over an egress connection to a private endpoint, such as changefeeds and logs, are charged according to data transfer costs.

## Non-payment

If a Cloud organization with billing configured lapses in payment, non-payment reminders are sent the Billing contact info designated in the Cloud Console under Billing > Settings. By default this billing contact is set to the original Organization Admin of the Cloud organization.

After sending multiple payment failure reminders with no acknowledgement or change in billing, all clusters in the organization are deleted including data. Deleted clusters cannot be restored.

## Learn more

- Plan a CockroachDB Basic cluster
- Plan a CockroachDB Standard cluster
- Plan a CockroachDB Advanced cluster