whichdevtool?
Menu
StacksDirectory Pricing changes Glossary
VPS and cloud servers App hosting and PaaS Managed databases Transactional email APIs Email marketing and newsletters Domain registrars CDN, DNS and edge security Monitoring, uptime and error tracking Auth and identity Frontend and full-stack frameworks Backend frameworks UI component libraries AI model APIs File and object storage Payments and billing Background jobs, queues and workflows ORMs and database toolkits

Managed PostgreSQL with copy-on-write branching

Xata

Vanilla PostgreSQL with copy-on-write branches that start in seconds, scale to zero when idle, and can carry anonymized production data; open source under Apache 2.0.

Visit xata.io ↗ Alternatives Open source Open source Self-hostable EU region
Xata homepage
§1

Overview

Xata is a PostgreSQL platform built around branching. Its storage layer uses copy-on-write, so a branch of a 100 GB database is ready in a few seconds and only stores the pages that change. Branches that are not being queried hibernate and wake in about a second, which makes it practical to give every pull request, preview deployment or AI coding agent its own database. PII can be anonymized as data is cloned, using Xata's open-source pgstream.

You can run production on Xata (with read replicas, high availability and point-in-time recovery) or keep production on another Postgres host and let Xata maintain a synced, anonymized clone to branch from. The engine is upstream PostgreSQL without a fork, so extensions and tools behave as usual.

Pricing is by instance size per hour while awake, from $0.012/hr for a micro instance, plus $0.28 per GB-month of storage. There is a 14-day trial but no permanent free cloud tier; the core platform is open source under Apache 2.0 and can be self-hosted for free, without the managed storage engine, multi-region or SLAs. BYOC runs the platform in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account for a management fee.

§2

Pricing and plans

Plan Price What you get
Open Source Free Self-hosted, Apache 2.0; branching and scale-to-zero (~10 s wake-up), community support, no multi-region
Xata Cloud micro $0.012/hr (~$9/mo) Up to 2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, plus $0.28/GB-month storage
Xata Cloud small $0.024/hr (~$18/mo) Up to 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM
Xata Cloud large $0.096/hr (~$70/mo) 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM
Xata Cloud xlarge $0.192/hr (~$140/mo) 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM; sizes run up to 32 vCPU / 128 GB at $1.536/hr
BYOC Custom Percentage of Xata-managed cloud spend in your AWS, GCP or Azure account; HIPAA BAA, 24/7 support

Xata Cloud is pay as you go on compute (per hour, only while a branch is awake) and storage ($0.28/GB-month in all regions, billed by the minute). There are no per-branch, per-user or per-database fees. Monthly figures are the vendor's own conversions of the hourly rates. Xata Cloud starts with a 14-day free trial, then needs a card; there is no permanent free cloud plan. The old Xata platform with a 15 GB free tier (later called Xata Lite) has been replaced by this product. HIPAA (BAA and advanced anonymization) is listed only for BYOC. Backup retention for point-in-time restore was not stated on the pages read. The pricing page has a region selector; the table shown is the default region.

Source: xata.io/pricing · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Copy-on-write branching
Branches share storage with their parent and store only changes, so creating one takes seconds regardless of database size.
Scale to zero
Idle branches hibernate and use no compute; they wake on the first query in about a second on Xata Cloud.
Anonymized production clones
Built-in PII anonymization (pgstream) lets branches carry production-like data without real personal data.
Zero-downtime schema changes
pgroll, Xata's open-source migration tool, is included in every plan.
Production features
Read replicas, high availability, point-in-time restore and NVMe-backed storage for databases run on Xata.
Open source and BYOC
The core is Apache 2.0 for self-hosting; BYOC deploys the managed platform into your own cloud account.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Fast, storage-efficient branches suited to per-PR and per-agent databases
  • Unmodified PostgreSQL, so extensions and tooling work as normal
  • No per-branch or per-seat fees; idle branches cost only storage
  • Open-source core that can be self-hosted
  • EU region (AWS eu-central-1) available

Limitations

  • No permanent free cloud tier: a 14-day trial, then a card is required
  • A branch's region is fixed at creation and child branches stay in the parent's region
  • Branch storage can be increased but not decreased, up to 1 TB
  • Multi-region, the Xatastor engine, SLAs and dedicated support are not in the self-hosted edition
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Teams that want a database per pull request or preview deployment
  • AI coding agents that need isolated Postgres with realistic data
  • Platforms provisioning a database per customer or generated app
  • Teams that want branching but keep production on another Postgres host

Look elsewhere if

  • Hobby projects looking for a free hosted database
  • Non-PostgreSQL workloads
§6

Pricing history

  • Search and file APIs removed from the free tier

    Effective 2025-01-10: search and file APIs left the free plan. The old free platform was later replaced by the trial-only Xata Cloud. Source ↗

§7

Alternatives to Xata

Tool From Free option Stages
Crunchy Bridge Managed PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and GCP
$9/mo Paid
MongoDB Atlas Managed document database
$8/mo Free tier
Scalingo European managed PaaS
€7.20/mo Trial
Google Cloud SQL Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQL Server
$0.0105/hr Trial
Render Managed PaaS
$7/mo Free tier
Clever Cloud European managed PaaS
€6/mo Trial

All managed databases →

§8

Questions

Does Xata still have a free tier?

Not on Xata Cloud: it has a 14-day trial, then pay as you go. The open-source edition is free to self-host.

How much does Xata cost?

From $0.012 per hour for a micro instance (about $9/mo if always on) plus $0.28 per GB-month of storage; idle branches are not billed for compute.

Is Xata real PostgreSQL?

Yes. Xata says it runs upstream PostgreSQL without significant modifications, so any Postgres client connects.

Can I use Xata branching without moving my production database?

Yes. Xata can keep a continuously synced, anonymized clone of a production database hosted elsewhere and branch from it.

Does Xata charge per branch?

No. You pay for compute while branches are awake and for storage used; branches share unchanged data with their parent.

Sources read for this page