Traditional database hosting services, like cloud services, offer excellent performance but come with significant costs. However, not all projects require many dedicated resources. Considering that developers are constantly seeking affordable solutions, the database hosting landscape has evolved significantly in recent years. Thanks to the emergence of new players, numerous low-cost alternatives are now available for individuals and businesses considering database migration.
In this article, you will dig into popular database services to understand what they offer and how much they cost. Then, you will explore five cost-effective alternatives that guarantee affordability without compromising on functionality.
Let’s dive in!
The Real Cost of Database Hosting
In most cases, databases themselves do not cost money since they are open-source technologies. This means you do not have to pay for the database software itself. Instead, the primary cost comes from hosting.
Database hosting services provide essential infrastructure, security, and maintenance to keep your database operational. These usually charge based on how large the servers used to host your databases are.
Additionally, there may be fees for database migration, when transferring data from one server to another. That is common with cloud providers. These fees, also known as egress fees, are typical in cloud storage systems like S3 but might also apply to databases. For more information, read our guide on how to avoid egress fees with Cloudflare R2.
Understanding the real costs behind databases is crucial for budgeting effectively and selecting cost-efficient solutions that fit your needs.
Database Hosting Services: Types, Cost, and Providers
Database hosting is the process of storing databases on remote servers provided by a third-party company. That enables individuals and companies to access and manage their databases without needing to own and operate the physical hardware themselves.
Typically, database hosting is a service offered by a specialized provider. This service provides everything required to set up and run your chosen database. It offers a secure and accessible environment to keep your data safe and ensures scalability, allowing your data operations to grow as needed.
These are the more popular types of database hosting services:
- Integrated into web hosting
- VPS
- Cloud
- Serverless
Time to explore them by explaining what they are, analyzing how much they cost, and mentioning some key providers.
Built-In Databases in Traditional Web Hosting
Most traditional web hosting providers offer users the ability to create and manage pre-configured databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL. These databases are directly integrated into the hosting environment. Users can quickly set up them using tools like cPanel. Similarly, they can manage their data with clients like phpMyAdmin.
Save money with our guide on low-cost web hosting alternatives.
- Cost range: A few dollars per month
- Some well-known providers: Bluehost, Hostinger, HostGator, InMotion, SiteGround
VPS Database Hosting
VPS database hosting involves installing databases on a Virtual Private Server. This provides dedicated server space and resources for users to set up their preferred databases. Compared to traditional web hosting, it can result in greater flexibility, performance, and scalability. At the same time, users must configure the environment and manage database updates themselves.
- Cost range: From a few dollars per month to dozens of dollars per month, depending on how large the VPS is
- Some well-known providers: DigitalOcean, InterServer, IONOS, Linode, Vultr, Hetzner
Cloud Database Hosting
Cloud database hosting consists of storing databases on virtual servers within a cloud infrastructure, which guarantees high scalability, availability, and agility. Users can easily adjust resources according to changing needs, databases can be accessed from anywhere, and the provider takes care of maintenance, backups, and security for you.
- Cost range: From a few dollars a month to thousands of dollars a month, depending on usage
- Some well-known providers: Amazon Web Services RDS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud SQL
Serverless Database Hosting
Serverless database hosting is a type of cloud database hosting where users do not have to worry about the underlying infrastructure. The reason is that the cloud provider automatically handles resource allocation and scaling. This simplifies database management, helping developers focus on application development. Users are billed only for the actual usage.
- Cost range: From a few dollars per month to dozens of dollars per month, based on resources consumed
- Some well-known providers: AWS Lambda, FaunaDB
Top 5 Inexpensive Options for Database Migration
Now that you are familiar with popular approaches and providers for database hosting, you are ready to see more cost-effective solutions.
If you are eager to learn more about these solutions, check out the summary table below:
| Provider | Databases | Storage | Simultaneous Connections | Read Operations | Write Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle | Oracle Database, Oracle NoSQL | Up to 20 GB, up to 25 GB per table | Up to 30 sessions | Up to 133 million reads per month | Up to 133 million writes per month |
| MongoDB | MongoDB | 512 MB | Up to 500 connections | 100 reads per second | 100 writes per second |
| Clever Cloud | PostgreSQL, MySQL | 256 MiB, 10 MiB | Up to 5 connections | — | — |
| IBM | IBM Cloudant | 1 GB | — | 20 reads per second | 10 writes per second |
| Supabase | PostgreSQL | 500 MB | — | — | — |
Disclaimer: Providers may change these limits and even discontinue free options over time.
Let’s explore the top five database migration options to save money!
Oracle Cloud Always Free Tier
After signing up for Oracle Cloud, new users receive $300 in free credit to use on all eligible Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services for up to 30 days. After that, users can continue on an Always Free plan, which provides more than 25 services available for an unlimited period of time.
The Always Free plan includes two Oracle Autonomous Databases. These serverless databases can be used for transaction processing, data warehousing, Oracle APEX application development, and JSON-based application development. Plus, users gain access to an Oracle NoSQL Database supporting up to 3 tables.
🗃️ Databases: Oracle Database and Oracle NoSQL
📋 Plans:
- Oracle Autonomous Database:
- Maximum of 2 databases
- Up to 20 GB storage per database
- Up to 30 simultaneous sessions
- Oracle NoSQL:
- Up to 133 million reads per month
- Up to 133 million writes per month
- Up to 3 tables
- Up to 25 GB storage per table
- Read capacity limited to 50 units
- Write capacity limited to 50 units
👍 Pros:
- 20+ additional Always Free services (e.g., cloud storage, application performance monitoring)
- Free forever
- Seamless upgrade to paid plans at any time
- Both relational and NoSQL options
- $300 cloud credit free trial
- Integration with other Oracle Cloud services
👎 Cons:
- Payment method required
- Proprietary Oracle databases
- Limited to the regions where commercial Oracle Cloud Infrastructure service is available
MongoDB Atlas
MongoDB Atlas is a fully managed cloud database service that simplifies deploying, managing, and scaling MongoDB databases. This platform allows users to deploy clusters, which are groups of servers hosting MongoDB databases. These clusters can span multiple cloud regions on providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure.
Users can join MongoDB Atlas for free using the Shared plan, ideal for learning and exploring MongoDB in a cloud environment. The plan includes one M0 free cluster per project, offering 512 MB of storage for a basic MongoDB database.
🗃️ Databases: MongoDB
📋 Plans:
M0free cluster:- 512 MB of space
- Sort in memory limited to 32 MB
- No more than 100 read/write operations per second
- Up to 500 simultaneous connections
👍 Pros:
- Support for AWS, GCP, Microsoft Azure
- Free forever
- One
M0free cluster per project - Support for MongoDB 7.0
- Easy upgrade to dedicated clusters
- No credit card required to start
👎 Cons:
- Only 512 MB of space available
- No support for backups, primary failover testing, database auditing, network peering connections, and regional outage testing
- Free clusters automatically paused after 60 days of inactivity
Clever Cloud
Clever Cloud is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider that automates the scaling, deployment, and management of applications. Their solutions are optimized for several technological runtimes, including Java, Scala, Node.js, and PHP. The provider also offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions dedicated to DevOps projects.
Clever Cloud comes with a robust infrastructure to help developers focus on coding rather than server management. This includes databases, such as Elasticsearch, Redis, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. For PostgreSQL and MySQL, the company has some interesting free plans, though with certain limitations.
🗃️ Databases: PostgreSQL and MySQL
📋 Plans:
- PostgreSQL:
- Storage limited to 256 MiB
- Up to 5 simultaneous connections
- Shared RAM and vCPUs
- MySQL:
- Storage limited to 10 MiB
- Up to 5 simultaneous connections
- Shared RAM and vCPUs
👍 Pros:
- One-click setup, daily backups, and high availability options for PostgreSQL
- Unlimited number of free databases and applications
- No payment card required
- Free credits for testing the service upon registration
- Cloud services optimized for EU data and privacy regulations
👎 Cons:
- Limited storage and connections
- No logs or metrics
- MySQL plan too limited for real usage
IBM Cloud Cloudant
You can create an account for IBM Cloud for free, which gives you access to services like IBM Cloudant. This is a fully managed JSON document database that offers independent serverless scaling of provisioned throughput capacity and storage.
Cloudant is compatible with Apache CouchDB and accessible via an easy-to-use HTTPS API for web, mobile, and IoT applications.
IBM Cloudant is available through a “free forever” Lite plan, limited to 1 GB of storage. Designed for development and evaluation purposes, the Lite plan includes all Cloudant functions but has a limited amount of throughput capacity and data storage.
🗃️ Databases: IBM Cloudant (proprietary NoSQL)
📋 Plans:
- Lite plan:
- 1 GB storage
- Up to 20 reads per second
- Up to 10 writes per second
- Up to 5 queries per second
👍 Pros:
- 99.99% SLA uptime
- Compliance with GDPR, PCI, SOC2, and ISO 27001
- All JSON documents are stored across three separate availability zones for high availability and disaster recovery
- Easy to upgrade to a Standard plan
- Official SDK available in Java, Node.js, Python, and Go
👎 Cons:
- Proprietary NoSQL database technology
- Maximum JSON document size of only 1 MB
- Only one IBM Cloudant Lite plan instance per IBM Cloud account
Supabase
Supabase is a backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform. As an open-source Firebase alternative, it provides instant APIs, real-time subscriptions, authentication, data storage, and more. Specifically, it enables users to create new web and mobile application projects with features like a PostgreSQL database, file storage, and authentication out of the box.
Supabase’s FREE plan includes a dedicated PostgreSQL database for up to 2 supported projects. This database offers 500 MB of storage and root access to users, giving them full control over their data.
🗃️ Databases: PostgreSQL
📋 Plans:
- FREE:
- 500 MB of storage in a dedicated PostgreSQL database
- 5 GB of bandwidth per month
👍 Pros:
- Dedicated PostgreSQL database with no privilege restrictions
- Possibility to pause and unpause projects at any time
- Open source technology
- Active GitHub community forum and Discord community
👎 Cons:
- Paused after 1 week of inactivity
- Limited to 2 simultaneous active projects
Conclusion
In this guide, you explored different types of database hosting services and analyzed their costs. Fortunately, there are other modern, low-cost, effective solutions you can consider for database migration. Here, you saw the five best free alternatives to popular database hosting solutions to save money. If you are a small business or individual developer, knowing these affordable solutions can help you save significantly!
