CockroachDB
Fauna
| Feature | CockroachDB | Fauna |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free / from $0.01/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 |
| Best For | distributed-applications, fintech, global-companies, high-availability-apps | serverless-developers, jamstack-apps, globally-distributed-apps, startups |
| Founded | 2015 | 2012 |
| Distributed Sql | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi Region | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Scaling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Postgresql Compatible | ✓ | ✗ |
| Backup Recovery | ✓ | ✗ |
| Change Data Capture | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi Tenancy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Acid Transactions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Document Relational | ✗ | ✓ |
| Graphql Native | ✗ | ✓ |
| Global Distribution | ✗ | ✓ |
| Event Streaming | ✗ | ✓ |
| Temporality | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ CockroachDB Pros
- Survives infrastructure failures automatically
- PostgreSQL-compatible wire protocol
- Horizontal scaling without application changes
- Multi-region deployment with low-latency reads
- Generous free tier (10 GiB storage)
✗ CockroachDB Cons
- Higher latency than single-node databases for simple queries
- Complex pricing model for serverless tier
- Some PostgreSQL features not fully supported
✓ Fauna Pros
- Globally distributed with strong consistency
- Combines document and relational models
- Native GraphQL and FQL query support
- Serverless with no infrastructure to manage
✗ Fauna Cons
- Proprietary query language (FQL) has learning curve
- Can be expensive at high read/write volumes
- Smaller community compared to MongoDB or PostgreSQL
The Verdict
CockroachDB is built for distributed applications and fintech, with a focus on distributed-sql and multi-region. Fauna targets serverless developers and jamstack apps and leads with acid-transactions and document-relational.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($0/mo for CockroachDB, $0.01/mo for Fauna), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.