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Updated yesterday · Independent Analysis
CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL
Capability Overview
CockroachDBvs PostgreSQL
4.3G2-0.1 vs PostgreSQL
Only in CockroachDB
- ✦ Distributed SQL
- ✦ PostgreSQL Wire Protocol
- ✦ Multi-Region Replication
✓ Free plan1k+ users · est. 2015
PostgreSQLvs CockroachDB
4.4G2+0.1 vs CockroachDB
Only in PostgreSQL
- ✦ Advanced SQL
- ✦ JSON/JSONB Support
- ✦ Full-Text Search
✓ Free planMost popular users · est. 1996
Quick VerdictIndependent Analysis
CockroachDB and PostgreSQL are both Databases tools. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
Scenario: Survive Availability Zone Failure Without
CockroachDB
Survive Availability Zone Failure Without Manual Failover
CockroachDB's multi-zone deployment survives the loss of an entire availability zone automatically, with zero data loss and sub-30-second recovery versus minutes of manual failover for traditional primary/replica setups.
PostgreSQL
JSONB Indexing for Flexible Schema Without NoSQL Migration
PostgreSQL's JSONB with GIN indexes stores semi-structured data in relational tables and queries nested keys at under 5ms, avoiding a full NoSQL migration for use cases that need occasional schema flexibility.
CockroachDB Unique Strength
Geo-Partitioned Tables for Data Residency Compliance
CockroachDB's geo-partitioning pins rows to specific cloud regions by key prefix, ensuring GDPR-regulated customer data never leaves EU nodes without sacrificing SQL query capability.
→ Choose CockroachDB if this scenario applies to you. PostgreSQL doesn't offer a comparable solution.
CockroachDB Unique Strength
Rolling Schema Migrations Without Maintenance Windows
CockroachDB's online schema changes apply column additions and index builds while the database serves traffic, avoiding the maintenance windows that single-node SQL databases require for schema changes.
→ Choose CockroachDB if this scenario applies to you. PostgreSQL doesn't offer a comparable solution.
PostgreSQL Unique Strength
Table Partitioning Cuts Time-Series Query Time by 90%
Declarative partitioning splits large time-series tables into monthly partitions, cutting query scan time by 90% for date-range queries that previously scanned billions of rows.
→ Choose PostgreSQL if this scenario applies to you. CockroachDB doesn't offer a comparable solution.
PostgreSQL Unique Strength
Logical Replication for Zero-Downtime Migration
Logical replication syncs a live production database to a new instance in real time, enabling a migration cutover measured in seconds rather than the hours a pg_dump/restore requires.
→ Choose PostgreSQL if this scenario applies to you. CockroachDB doesn't offer a comparable solution.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified Jun 28, 2026
CockroachDB Plans
Free tier available
Serverless
Free- ✓10 GiB free storage
- ✓50 million free Request Units (RUs) per month
- ✓PostgreSQL-compatible SQL
- ✓Automatic scaling to zero
- ✓Multi-AZ redundancy
View on vendor site
MOST POPULARDedicated
Contact Sales- ✓Dedicated CPU and RAM resources
- ✓Multi-region deployment options
- ✓Private networking (VPC Peering, AWS PrivateLink)
- ✓99.99% uptime SLA
- ✓Configurable automated backups
View on vendor site
Enterprise
Contact SalesBest for: Custom pricing for large-scale multi-region deployments
- ✓Self-hosted or fully managed deployment
- ✓99.999% uptime SLA option
- ✓Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK)
- ✓Single Sign-On (SSO) and advanced IAM
- ✓HIPAA and FedRAMP compliance
View on vendor site
PostgreSQL Plans
Free tier available
Capability Breakdown
3 differences found across 10 standardized features
Feature
CockroachDB
PostgreSQL
Horizontal Scaling
✓
✗
Full-Text Search
✗
✓
Vector Search
✗
✓
Total (raw)
20
20
CockroachDB Features
- •Distributed SQL
- •PostgreSQL Wire Protocol
- •Multi-Region Replication
- •Serializable Isolation
- •Automatic Sharding
- •Geo-Partitioning
- •Follower Reads
- •Online Schema Changes
- •ACID Transactions
- •Backup to Cloud Storage
- •Change Data Capture
- •LDAP/SAML Auth
- •Row-Level TTL
- •Import/Export
- •Prometheus Monitoring
- •Kubernetes Operator
- •REST API
- •SDK
- •CLI
- •Connection Pooling
PostgreSQL Features
- •ACID Transactions
- •Advanced SQL
- •JSON/JSONB Support
- •Full-Text Search
- •Table Partitioning
- •Foreign Data Wrappers
- •Logical Replication
- •Point-in-Time Recovery
- •Row-Level Security
- •Extensions (pgvector, PostGIS, TimescaleDB)
- •Parallel Queries
- •Window Functions
- •MVCC Architecture
- •Stored Procedures (PL/pgSQL)
- •Streaming Replication
- •Materialized Views
- •REST API
- •SDK
- •CLI
- •Connection Pooling
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
Pros
- +Survives disk, machine, rack, and datacenter failures with zero data loss.
- +Horizontally scales both reads and writes by simply adding new nodes.
- +PostgreSQL wire-protocol compatibility simplifies migration and tooling.
- +Geo-partitions data to keep it close to users, reducing latency.
- +Offers strongly consistent, ACID-compliant transactions across regions.
Cons
- −Higher write latency than single-region databases due to consensus protocol.
- −Not a drop-in PostgreSQL replacement; lacks stored procedures and triggers.
- −Complex distributed architecture can have a steeper learning curve.
- −Performance tuning requires understanding data distribution and locality.
- −Serverless cold starts can introduce initial query latency for idle apps.
Pros
- +Extensible architecture supports GIS, time-series, and vector data
- +ACID compliance and MVCC ensure high data integrity and concurrency
- +Advanced indexing (GIN, GiST, BRIN) accelerates complex queries
- +Rich data types including native JSONB, arrays, and range types
- +Mature, battle-tested reliability for mission-critical applications
Cons
- −Requires manual tuning for high-throughput, write-heavy workloads
- −Connection management can be resource-intensive at massive scale
- −No built-in horizontal scaling; requires third-party solutions
- −Vacuuming process can cause performance overhead on busy tables
- −Replication setup is more complex than some modern distributed DBs
At a Glance
User Rating
4.3/5vs4.4/5
CockroachDB
PostgreSQL
▲
Starting Price
Free tiervsPay-per-use
CockroachDB
PostgreSQL
Feature Count
20 featuresvs20 features
CockroachDB
PostgreSQL
User Base
1vs0
CockroachDB
▲
PostgreSQL
CockroachDB · Price & Data SyncLast verified: June 28, 2026 · CE-DB-2026W23-B0FFC9 · ✓ Pricing updated May 21, 2026
PostgreSQL · Price & Data SyncLast verified: June 28, 2026 · CE-DB-2026W22-D9B048 · No changes detected
Recent Price History
CockroachDB
CockroachDB removed the "Standard" plan
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
CockroachDB
CockroachDB removed the "Free" plan
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
CockroachDB
CockroachDB added a new "Dedicated" plan
Plan added · May 21, 2026
CockroachDB
CockroachDB added a new "Serverless" plan at $0/mo
Plan added · May 21, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
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