Overview
Ubicloud builds an open-source cloud platform that runs on rented bare metal, mainly Hetzner in Germany and Leaseweb in the US, and more recently on AWS and Google Cloud. Its managed PostgreSQL is the main database product: the database and its disk sit on the same host with local NVMe, which avoids the per-IOPS charges of network storage. The founding team built Citus Data and early Heroku Postgres.
There are two families. Hobby instances use shared, burstable CPUs and start at $19.54/mo for 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB. Standard instances have dedicated CPU and start at $78/mo for 2 vCPU, 8 GB and 64 GB, doubling in price with each size up to 60 vCPU. You choose 0, 1 or 2 standbys for high availability, and read replicas can be added and promoted.
Everything is available from a console, a CLI (`ubi pg ...`) and an API, and you get the real postgres superuser role, 86 supported extensions, 386 tunable parameters on PostgreSQL 18, Prometheus metrics and OpenTelemetry log shipping. Backups are kept 7 days with restore to any minute into a new instance. There is no free tier and no scale-to-zero, so it fits steady workloads more than side projects.
Pricing and plans
checked 28 Sept 2026| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| hobby-1 | $19.54/mo | 1 shared vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage |
| hobby-2 | $39.08/mo | 2 shared vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB storage |
| standard-2 | $78/mo | 2 dedicated vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 64 GB local NVMe |
| standard-4 | $156/mo | 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 128 GB |
| standard-8 | $313/mo | 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 256 GB |
| standard-16 | $625/mo | 16 vCPU, 64 GB RAM, 512 GB |
| standard-30 / standard-60 | $1,180 / $2,361 per mo | 30 or 60 vCPU, up to 240 GB RAM and 2 TB |
What it does
- Local NVMe storage
- Postgres runs on the same host as its disk, so there is no separate IOPS meter; the vendor publishes TPC-C benchmarks against RDS and Aurora.
- High availability
- Choose 0, 1 or 2 standbys; failover fences the old primary and promotes the most up-to-date standby, and a recycle endpoint rehearses failover.
- Point-in-time restore
- Backups kept 7 days; restore any minute as a new instance to inspect before cutting over.
- Superuser access
- You hold the postgres superuser role, with 86 extensions and validated config for PostgreSQL and PgBouncer.
- Observability
- Built-in metrics, Prometheus remote-write, 7 days of searchable logs and OpenTelemetry log export.
- Open-source control plane
- The same software can be run yourself on your own bare-metal servers.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Low list prices for dedicated-CPU Postgres compared with the hyperscalers
- No IOPS charges thanks to local NVMe
- Superuser access and wide configuration control
- EU hosting in Germany on Hetzner
- Open source and self-hostable, so there is an exit path
Limitations
- No free tier and no scale-to-zero; the cheapest database is $19.54/mo
- Backups retained only 7 days
- Asynchronous replication can lose the last moments before a failure unless two standbys run in synchronous quorum
- No packaged zero-downtime migration service; migrations use standard Postgres methods with engineering help
- Few locations: Germany, US and whatever AWS or GCP regions are offered
Who it suits
Good for
- Production Postgres with steady load where cost matters
- Teams leaving RDS because of IOPS bills
- EU-based apps that want Hetzner pricing with managed operations
Look elsewhere if
- Hobby projects that need a free database
- Spiky workloads that benefit from scale-to-zero
- Teams that need stated compliance certifications
Alternatives to Ubicloud Managed PostgreSQL
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aiven Managed open-source data platform (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, Valkey, OpenSearch, ClickHouse) | $5/mo | Free tier | |
| Clever Cloud European managed PaaS | €6/mo | ||
| Convex Reactive backend and document database | $25/mo | Free tier | |
| Crunchy Bridge Managed PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and GCP | $9/mo | ||
| DigitalOcean Managed Databases Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, Kafka and OpenSearch | $15.15/mo | ||
| Dragonfly Cloud Managed Redis-compatible in-memory data store | $36/mo |
Questions
How much does Ubicloud Postgres cost?
Hobby instances start at $19.54/mo (1 shared vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB). Dedicated standard instances start at $78/mo for 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM and 64 GB, billed per minute.
Does Ubicloud have a free PostgreSQL tier?
No. There is no free database plan; billing is per minute from the first instance.
Is Ubicloud open source?
Yes. The Ubicloud control plane is open source and can be self-hosted on bare-metal servers.
Where does Ubicloud run?
On Hetzner in Germany, Leaseweb in the US, and on AWS and Google Cloud.
How long are Ubicloud backups kept?
Seven days, and you can restore to any minute in that window as a new instance.
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