TiDB
Cloud-native distributed SQL database
The Lens
TiDB is a distributed SQL database that speaks the MySQL protocol. Your existing MySQL queries, drivers, and tools just work, but now your data is spread across multiple nodes that scale independently.
Self-hosting is free under Apache 2.0. You get the full distributed database: automatic sharding, distributed transactions, real-time analytics (via TiFlash, a columnar storage engine), and online DDL changes. It's designed to handle petabytes.
TiDB Cloud (the managed service) has a free Serverless tier: 5GB storage, 50M request units/month. Paid Serverless starts at usage-based pricing. Dedicated clusters start around $600/mo.
The catch: running TiDB yourself is not a weekend project. A minimum production cluster needs at least 3 TiKV nodes, 3 PD nodes, and 2 TiDB nodes, that's 8 servers minimum. The operational complexity is on par with running a CockroachDB or Vitess cluster. If you're not at the scale where a single MySQL instance is failing you, TiDB introduces complexity you don't need. The free cloud tier is great for testing, not for production workloads.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
free self hosted paid cloud**Self-hosted (free):** Apache 2.0. Full-featured distributed SQL with TiFlash analytics. No feature gating.
**TiDB Cloud Serverless (free tier):** 5GB row storage, 5GB columnar storage, 50M Request Units/month. Good for prototyping, not production.
**TiDB Cloud Serverless (paid):** Usage-based: roughly $0.25/M read RUs, $1.50/M write RUs. Storage at $0.40/GB/mo.
**TiDB Cloud Dedicated:** Starting ~$600/mo for a basic cluster. Production-grade with SLA.
**Self-hosting infrastructure costs:** 8+ nodes minimum. On AWS (m5.xlarge), that's $800-1,200/mo. On Hetzner dedicated servers, $200-400/mo. Plus you're managing a distributed system.
**The real question:** Are you at a scale where a single MySQL instance (which handles millions of rows fine) is actually failing? If not, TiDB is adding operational cost for capacity you don't need. Vitess (used by YouTube) is the other option for MySQL-compatible horizontal scaling.
Free self-hosted. Cloud free tier for testing (5GB). Production cloud starts ~$600/mo. Only worth it at serious scale.
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