CockroachDB vs YugabyteDB

Quick verdict

CockroachDB from Cockroach Labs stores data in ranges replicated with Raft across nodes, zones or regions, speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol and much of its SQL dialect, and runs transactions at SERIALIZABLE isolation by default. v26.4, a Regular release, reached GA on 26 October 2026. All releases from v24.3.0 (November 2024) are under the CockroachDB Software License; the former free Core licence was removed. See our CockroachDB profile and CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL.

YugabyteDB from Yugabyte splits tables into tablets replicated with Raft. YSQL reuses the PostgreSQL query layer and is designed to be PostgreSQL-compatible; YCQL is a semi-relational API rooted in the Cassandra Query Language; both share one storage layer. The core database is Apache 2.0, while YugabyteDB Anywhere (a self-managed control plane) and YugabyteDB Aeon (the managed service) are commercial. Current series are v2026.1 (STS, 29 June 2026) and v2025.2 (LTS, 11 December 2025). See our YugabyteDB profile.

Side by side

Key differences

Licence and cost of the self-managed database

This is the clearest difference. CockroachDB has had no open source edition since v24.3.0 (18 November 2024). Self-hosted clusters need a licence key: Enterprise (paid, by quote), Enterprise Free (for businesses under USD 10M annual revenue including parents and affiliates, government bodies excluded, telemetry required, community support) or a 30-day Enterprise Trial. A multi-node cluster without a valid key is throttled to 5 concurrent open SQL transactions after a 7-day grace period, and Free or Trial clusters are throttled after 7 days without telemetry. Single-node development clusters need no key.

YugabyteDB keeps its database under Apache 2.0: the default build produces only Apache 2.0 binaries, with no revenue, node or feature caps. Only the YugabyteDB Anywhere management code in the same repository is under the PolyForm Free Trial licence, and Anywhere is sold commercially. If your policy requires an OSI-approved licence, or your revenue is above USD 10M and you want to self-manage without a quote, YugabyteDB is the one that fits.

PostgreSQL compatibility and SQL behaviour

Both accept PostgreSQL drivers and many ORMs, but they get there differently. YugabyteDB's YSQL reuses PostgreSQL's query layer on top of distributed storage, so PostgreSQL syntax, functions and much of its behaviour carry over; distributed storage still changes some behaviour and performance. CockroachDB implements its own SQL engine that speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol and dialect; it is not a drop-in PostgreSQL replacement, and some features and extensions are missing (see CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL).

Isolation defaults differ too. CockroachDB runs SERIALIZABLE by default and expects applications to retry on error code 40001 ("restart transaction"); READ COMMITTED is available once the sql.txn.read_committed_isolation.enabled cluster setting is on. YugabyteDB supports Serializable, Snapshot and Read Committed; for new v2025.2 or later universes deployed with yugabyted, Anywhere or Aeon, Read Committed is on by default, while older or manually deployed universes behave as Snapshot unless you set yb_enable_read_committed_isolation.

-- Works on both (PostgreSQL-style SQL)
CREATE TABLE accounts (
  id      BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
  owner   TEXT NOT NULL,
  balance DECIMAL(12,2) NOT NULL
);

BEGIN TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100 WHERE owner = 'alice';
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100 WHERE owner = 'bob';
COMMIT;
-- Under SERIALIZABLE, retry the whole transaction on SQLSTATE 40001.

APIs: SQL only versus SQL plus a Cassandra-style API

YugabyteDB offers YCQL next to YSQL. YCQL is rooted in the Cassandra Query Language and works with Cassandra drivers, with document and indexing support, which gives teams moving off Cassandra a path to transactions and strong consistency on the same platform. CockroachDB offers SQL only, with JSONB columns for semi-structured data.

Multi-region design and change data capture

CockroachDB builds multi-region into SQL: you declare database regions, mark tables as regional or global, place rows by region, and choose whether the database should survive a zone or a region failure. Changefeeds stream row changes to Kafka, cloud storage or webhooks, and backups go to S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure Blob Storage.

YugabyteDB offers synchronous replication across regions, partition-by-region (geo-placement) and read replicas, and Aeon documents fault tolerance from a single node up to surviving three region outages (with seven regions). Its CDC options, through the PostgreSQL replication protocol or a Debezium-based gRPC connector, are both Early Access, which matters if CDC is central to your architecture.

Pricing and licensing

CockroachDB. Self-hosted Enterprise is priced by quote; Enterprise Free is free below USD 10M annual revenue. CockroachDB Cloud: organisations created on or after 15 September 2026 use the Continuum model. On cockroachlabs.com/pricing (checked 7 November 2026, AWS us-east-1, USD), the pricing table lists Standard (shared infrastructure, AWS and Google Cloud, 99.99% SLA) at 0.092 per vCPU-hour, but the same page's Features section says Standard starts "from 0.057 / vCPU-hr"; the page does not explain the difference, so treat neither figure as settled and confirm with Cockroach Labs. Mission Critical (dedicated, AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, 99.999% multi-region SLA) is listed at 0.162 per vCPU-hour in both places. Provisioned storage appears in the calculator at 0.155 per GiB-month, and the CDC add-on rate is also shown inconsistently. New organisations get a 30-day trial with USD 400 of credit; there is no free Cloud tier. Existing customers keep their current plans unless they opt in.

YugabyteDB. The database is free under Apache 2.0; YugabyteDB Anywhere has no published price. YugabyteDB Aeon, listed on yugabyte.com/pricing on 7 November 2026 in USD: Standard from 125 per vCPU per month, Professional from 167 per vCPU per month, Enterprise by quote; Professional customers can add Enterprise Security or Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery at 25 per vCPU per month each (both included in Enterprise). Disk storage is 0.10 per GB-month and backup storage 0.025 per GB-month. The pricing page describes a full-feature free trial, and the Aeon documentation describes a free single-node Sandbox cluster on AWS or Google Cloud.

As arithmetic only, a 730-hour month at CockroachDB Standard's 0.092 rate is about USD 67 per vCPU (about USD 42 at 0.057), against YugabyteDB Aeon Standard from USD 125 per vCPU. The plans differ in what is included (shared versus dedicated infrastructure, SLAs, support), so compare like for like with a quote from each vendor.

Pricing checked on the vendors' official pages on 7 November 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.

Where each one leads

Limitations

When to choose each

When neither is right

• One PostgreSQL server with replicas is enough: see CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL.
• Your application is MySQL-based: see CockroachDB vs MySQL and our TiDB profile.
• You only need key-based access at very high write rates: see Cassandra vs ScyllaDB.
• You want a serverless service from your cloud provider: see DynamoDB vs Cosmos DB.

Final recommendation

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• CockroachDB licensing FAQs
• CockroachDB releases
• CockroachDB: transactions and isolation
• Cockroach Labs pricing
• yugabyte/yugabyte-db repository (licences)
• YugabyteDB general FAQ
• YugabyteDB release series
• YugabyteDB: isolation levels
• Yugabyte pricing

Checked November 2026.

How we research comparisons: our editorial method.