CockroachDB Cloud vs IBM Db2
CockroachDB Cloud
cockroachlabs.com
IBM Db2
ibm.comSide by side
| Figure | CockroachDB Cloud | IBM Db2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.06/mo | $630/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 7 |
| Spec score · Sql Databases | 8.6 (#5) | 8.5 (#7) |
| Spec score · Spatial Databases | 8.5 (#9) | 8.5 (#10) |
| Spec score · Distributed SQL Databases | 8.6 (#6) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Spec score · Database Software | 8.5 (#25) | 8.6 (#22) |
| Spec score · Transaction Data Store Software | 8.4 (#10) | 8.4 (#12) |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Integrations | The maker describes managed data pipelines, native drivers, and connections to third-party observability and logging tools; its integration categories include data streaming, monitoring, AI, developer tools, and infrastructure. | IBM documents connections through drivers and integrations with DataStage, Segment, Cognos Analytics, Looker, Tableau, Excel, SPSS Statistics, SAS, and R. |
| Security | CockroachDB Cloud encrypts node-to-node and client-server traffic with TLS, uses cloud-provider disk encryption at rest, and supports column-level encryption. | IBM describes access controls, encryption for data in motion and at rest, behavior monitoring, and data masking features for Db2. |
| Support | The current pricing page lists a 1-hour P1 support response for Standard and a 30-minute P1 response for Mission Critical. | The pricing page lists Community Support for Db2 AI Community and Enterprise Support for Db2 AI Standard and AI Advanced. |
Plans
CockroachDB Cloud
- Standard$0.06 a month
- Mission Critical$0.16 a month
- BasicFree
- Cockroach Continuum Standard$0.09 a month
- Cockroach Continuum Mission Critical$0.16 a month
- Standard$0.18 a month
- Advanced$0.60 a month
IBM Db2
- FreeFree
- Performance$630 a month
- Db2 AI CommunityFree
- Db2 Database SaaS FreeFree
- Db2 Database SaaS Performance$630 a month
- Db2 AI AdvancedPriced on request
- Db2 AI StandardPriced on request
In their own words
CockroachDB Cloud
CockroachDB Cloud is a managed distributed SQL platform for development, testing, and production workloads. It provisions clusters, scales compute and storage, performs rolling upgrades, and manages backups. The database supports ACID transactions and can scale reads and writes horizontally without manual sharding. Deployments can span AWS, Azure, and GCP, including multiple providers and regions. Cockroach Labs' Terraform provider and Cloud APIs support operation automation. Security features include TLS for traffic between clients and servers and between nodes, cloud-provider disk encryption at rest, and column-level encryption. The listed plans include Basic at free and Standard at $0.06 a month; usage is metered by the minute, billed monthly, and rates vary by region. New Cloud organizations receive a 30-day trial with $400 in credits. The trial ends after 30 days or when the credits run out, and clusters are then paused. Pricing terms also distinguish deployments created before and from September 15, 2026, so the applicable plan depends on deployment timing.
IBM Db2
IBM Db2 is a database for low-latency transactions, real-time analytics, and mission-critical workloads. It supports transactional, analytical, and operational work on the same database and can feed Db2 Warehouse and watsonx.data. AI-powered query optimization uses historical query patterns to adjust execution plans and automate tuning. Db2 12.1.2.0 adds a VECTOR type and SQL vector-distance queries for semantic search, retrieval-augmented generation, and recommendation systems. Db2 pureScale supports continuous availability on premises or in the cloud, with Pacemaker integration. Security features include access controls, encryption in transit and at rest, behavior monitoring, and data masking. IBM documents integrations with DataStage, Segment, Cognos Analytics, Looker, Tableau, Excel, SPSS Statistics, SAS, and R. Supported deployments include self-hosting and Amazon RDS for Db2. Free plans are available; Performance is listed at $630 a month, billed hourly.