TiDB Cloud: pricing, free tier and alternatives (2026)

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Overview

TiDB is an open-source distributed SQL database that is compatible with the MySQL protocol. Data is split across nodes automatically, so you scale out by adding capacity rather than sharding by hand, and a columnar engine (TiFlash) keeps an analytical copy for real-time reporting. TiDB Cloud is PingCAP's managed service for it, with full-text and vector search added.

The Starter plan (formerly called Serverless) is multi-tenant and scales to zero. Each organization can run up to five free instances, each with 5 GiB of row storage, 5 GiB of columnar storage and 50 million Request Units per month. Above that you pay $0.20 per GiB and $0.10 per million RUs, with a spend limit you set. When a free instance hits its quota, new connections are refused until the next month.

Essential (preview) adds provisioned autoscaling compute and point-in-time recovery up to 30 days; the vendor cites roughly $20 a day for a typical small production setup. Premium starts at $1,800/mo, and Dedicated clusters start at $1,376/mo with nodes you size yourself on AWS, Google Cloud or Azure. Before paying, test how many RUs your real queries use, since that drives the Starter and Essential bills.

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Pricing and plans

Free tier · no card

Starter: per organization 25 GiB row storage, 25 GiB columnar storage and 250M Request Units a month (5 GiB + 5 GiB + 50M RUs on each of the first five instances). Up to 5 free instances; scales to zero; new connections are refused once a quota is hit.

Plan	Price	What you get
Starter	$0 + usage	Free quota, then $0.20/GiB storage and $0.10 per 1M RUs; spend limits; scale to zero; AWS and Alibaba Cloud
Essential (preview)	Usage-based	Provisioned autoscaling compute up to 100K RUs, PITR with up to 30-day retention; vendor cites about $20/day for a typical small production setup
Premium (preview)	From $1,800/mo	Unlimited autoscaling, CMEK, PrivateLink, VPC peering, 99.99% multi-zone availability
Dedicated	From $0.22/hr per node; clusters from $1,376/mo	4 to 32 vCPU per node on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure; PCI-DSS and SOC 2 Type II
Self-Managed	Custom	Enterprise support for running TiDB on your own infrastructure; TiDB Community is free open source

Request Units measure reads, writes, SQL CPU and network egress together, so costs depend on query shape; the RU cost per operation is on a docs page that could not be loaded. The pricing page states the free quota per organization (25 GiB + 25 GiB + 250M RUs) while the plan docs state it per instance for the first five instances (5 GiB + 5 GiB + 50M RUs each), which add up to the same totals. Essential and Premium are marked Preview. Dedicated needs a payment method or an approved proof-of-concept trial. Starter is generally available on AWS and in public preview on Alibaba Cloud; Starter regions confirmed in docs include AWS N. Virginia, Oregon, Frankfurt, Singapore and Tokyo.

Source: www.pingcap.com/pricing/ · prices as published, excluding tax.

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What it does

MySQL compatibility: Connect with MySQL drivers and ORMs; TLS is required and user names carry an instance prefix on Starter and Essential.
Horizontal scaling: Storage and compute scale out without manual sharding; Dedicated replicates each storage node across availability zones.
HTAP columnar storage: A columnar copy of data serves analytical queries alongside transactions.
Branching: Create branches of Starter and Essential instances, up to five per organization by default.
Vector and full-text search: Native vector capabilities and full-text search for AI and search features.
Spend limits: Starter lets you cap monthly spend so usage cannot exceed a budget.

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Strengths and limitations

Strengths

Large free quota with no credit card and up to five free instances
Scales from a free serverless tier to multi-cloud dedicated clusters on the same engine
MySQL-compatible, so existing tools and ORMs work
Open-source engine that can be self-hosted
Row and columnar storage in one database for mixed workloads

Limitations

Request Unit billing makes Starter costs hard to predict before testing
Some features are partially supported or unavailable on Starter and Essential
Essential and Premium are still in preview
Dedicated clusters start at $1,376/mo and node storage cannot be decreased after creation
Not every MySQL feature behaves the same in a distributed database

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Who it suits

Good for

MySQL apps expected to outgrow a single server
SaaS platforms that need many small databases or branches
Apps mixing transactions with real-time analytics
Hobby projects that want a free MySQL-compatible database

Look elsewhere if

Teams that need PostgreSQL
Small production apps that want a fixed, predictable monthly bill

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Alternatives to TiDB Cloud

Tool	From	Free option
Aiven Managed open-source data platform (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, Valkey, OpenSearch, ClickHouse)	$5/mo	Free tier
Convex Reactive backend and document database	$25/mo	Free tier
Crunchy Bridge Managed PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and GCP	$9/mo	Paid
Firebase Backend platform with document and realtime databases	Usage-based	Free tier
MongoDB Atlas Managed document database	$8/mo	Free tier
Neon Serverless Postgres	Usage-based	Free tier

All managed databases →

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Questions

Is TiDB Cloud free?

The Starter plan is free within its quota: per organization 25 GiB row storage, 25 GiB columnar storage and 250M Request Units a month, across up to five free instances. No credit card is needed.

What happened to TiDB Serverless?

The scale-to-zero tier is now called TiDB Cloud Starter, alongside the newer Essential and Premium plans.

Is TiDB compatible with MySQL?

Yes, TiDB uses the MySQL protocol, so MySQL drivers, clients and most ORMs work with it.

How much does TiDB Cloud Dedicated cost?

Nodes start at $0.22 per hour and the pricing page lists clusters from $1,376/mo.

Does TiDB Cloud have an EU region?

Yes. Starter is available in AWS Frankfurt (eu-central-1), and Dedicated runs in 30+ regions across AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.

Sources read for this page