Managed databases with a free tier
13 of the 20 managed offerings we track have a genuine free tier or monthly allowance. The most generous always-free options are MongoDB Atlas M0 (512 MB), Upstash Redis (500K commands/month) and Redis Cloud (30 MB). DataStax Astra gives a large monthly read/write allowance, and Aiven offers free plans for several engines. Free trials (credit- or time-limited) like ClickHouse Cloud's $300/30 days are listed on each offering page. Prices are a June-2026 snapshot; verify on the linked vendor pricing page before relying on them.
Source: Vendor pricing pages. Data as of June 2026.
Offerings with a free tier
| Offering | Engine | Free tier |
|---|---|---|
| Aiven for Apache Kafka | Apache Kafka | Free tier (5 topics, ~250 KiB/s in/out, powers off after 24h idle, no SLA) plus a ~$35/month Developer tier. |
| Aiven for ClickHouse | ClickHouse | Free trial credits across the catalog; a free ClickHouse plan tier is listed (limits vary). |
| Aiven for MySQL | MySQL | Free plan (1 CPU / 1 GB RAM / 1 GB storage, $0/month) plus a ~$5/month developer tier. |
| Aiven for Valkey | Redis / Valkey | Free plan (1 GB RAM, $0/month, single-node). |
| Amazon DocumentDB | MongoDB | No permanent free tier; a 30-day trial (750 hours db.t3.medium + 30M I/Os + 5 GB) for new accounts. |
| Amazon MSK | Apache Kafka | No free tier published for MSK. |
| Amazon RDS for MySQL | MySQL | 12-month AWS Free Tier: 750 hours/month of db.t3.micro Single-AZ + 20 GB storage for new accounts. |
| DataStax Astra DB | Apache Cassandra | Free monthly allowance: about 30M reads, 4.5M writes, 40 GB storage (no card). |
| MongoDB Atlas | MongoDB | Free M0 shared tier (512 MB storage, ~100 ops/sec) forever. |
| NetApp Instaclustr for Cassandra | Apache Cassandra | Free developer-node trial (Non-Production SLA). |
| Redis Cloud | Redis / Valkey | Free 30 MB database ($0). |
| Tinybird | ClickHouse | Free plan ($0, no card): 0.25 vCPU, 1k requests/day, 10 GB storage included. |
| Upstash Redis | Redis / Valkey | Free: 500K commands/month, 256 MB max size, 10 GB bandwidth, 1 database. |
Source: Vendor pricing pages. Data as of June 2026.
Apache Kafka · Free tier (5 topics, ~250 KiB/s in/out, powers off after 24h idle, no SLA) plus a ~$35/month Developer tier.
Aiven for ClickHouseClickHouse · Free trial credits across the catalog; a free ClickHouse plan tier is listed (limits vary).
Aiven for MySQLMySQL · Free plan (1 CPU / 1 GB RAM / 1 GB storage, $0/month) plus a ~$5/month developer tier.
Aiven for ValkeyRedis / Valkey · Free plan (1 GB RAM, $0/month, single-node).
Amazon DocumentDBMongoDB · No permanent free tier; a 30-day trial (750 hours db.t3.medium + 30M I/Os + 5 GB) for new accounts.
Amazon MSKApache Kafka · No free tier published for MSK.
Amazon RDS for MySQLMySQL · 12-month AWS Free Tier: 750 hours/month of db.t3.micro Single-AZ + 20 GB storage for new accounts.
DataStax Astra DBApache Cassandra · Free monthly allowance: about 30M reads, 4.5M writes, 40 GB storage (no card).
MongoDB AtlasMongoDB · Free M0 shared tier (512 MB storage, ~100 ops/sec) forever.
NetApp Instaclustr for CassandraApache Cassandra · Free developer-node trial (Non-Production SLA).
Redis CloudRedis / Valkey · Free 30 MB database ($0).
TinybirdClickHouse · Free plan ($0, no card): 0.25 vCPU, 1k requests/day, 10 GB storage included.
Upstash RedisRedis / Valkey · Free: 500K commands/month, 256 MB max size, 10 GB bandwidth, 1 database.
No always-free tier (trial or paid only)
These offerings have no genuine always-free tier — only a trial or paid plans:
- Amazon ElastiCache — No always-free node tier (historic 12-month t3/t4g.micro offer for new accounts may apply).
- Azure Database for MySQL — 12 months free of a B1ms Flexible Server (750 hours/month) plus storage for new accounts.
- ClickHouse Cloud — $300 in credits, 30-day trial (also via AWS/Azure Marketplace).
- Confluent Cloud — $400 free trial credit at signup, valid 30 days.
- Google Cloud SQL for MySQL — No always-free Cloud SQL tier; covered only by the general $300 new-customer credit.
- PlanetScale — None. PlanetScale removed its free Hobby tier in April 2024 and has not reinstated it.
- Upstash Kafka — Not available (service discontinued).
Frequently asked questions
Which managed databases have a free tier in 2026?
Offerings with a genuine free tier or allowance include Aiven for Apache Kafka, Aiven for ClickHouse, Aiven for MySQL, Aiven for Valkey, Amazon DocumentDB, Amazon MSK, Amazon RDS for MySQL, DataStax Astra DB, MongoDB Atlas, NetApp Instaclustr for Cassandra, Redis Cloud, Tinybird, Upstash Redis. MongoDB Atlas M0 (512 MB) and Upstash Redis (500K commands/month) are the most generous always-free options; DataStax Astra gives a large monthly read/write allowance, and Aiven offers free plans for several engines.
What is the difference between a free tier and a free trial?
A free tier is always free within limits (like MongoDB Atlas M0 or Upstash's 500K commands/month). A free trial is time- or credit-limited (like ClickHouse Cloud's $300 / 30 days or DocumentDB's 30-day trial). This page focuses on offerings with a genuine always-free tier or monthly allowance.
Are free database tiers good enough for production?
Usually no. Free tiers cap size, throughput, connections or SLA and often lack high availability. They are ideal for prototypes, learning and low-traffic side projects. Move to a paid tier before launching anything that needs uptime guarantees.
Keep exploring
Last updated: 2026-06-20