Comparison

CockroachDB vs Google Cloud Spanner

On the evidence we track, CockroachDB leads this comparison with a composite score of 63/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

CockroachDB full profile →Google Cloud Spanner full profile →

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★CockroachDB63

Google Cloud Spanner44

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	CockroachDBLeader	Google Cloud Spanner
Vioscale score	63 / 100medium · 66%	44 / 100low · 39%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	8	5
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Iso27001security.iso27001	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	5.1	-
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcockroachdb%2Fcockroach&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	-
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	99.999	-
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	235	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	32,415	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	15	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	-
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide	-

Score

Vioscale score

CockroachDB63 / 100medium · 66%

Google Cloud Spanner44 / 100low · 39%

Pricing

Free tier

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✓

Model

CockroachDBcommercial

Google Cloud Spannercommercial

Price level

CockroachDBlow

Google Cloud Spannerlow

Transparent

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Integrations

Count

CockroachDB8

Google Cloud Spanner5

Security

Disclosure policy

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Gdpr

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Hipaa

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Iso27001

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Pci

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Scorecard

CockroachDB5.1

Google Cloud Spanner–

Soc2

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Vulnerabilities

CockroachDBCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcockroachdb%2Fcockroach&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Google Cloud Spanner–

Reliability

Sla pct

CockroachDB99.999

Google Cloud Spanner–

Status page

CockroachDB–

Google Cloud Spanner✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

CockroachDB235

Google Cloud Spanner–

Github stars

CockroachDB32,415

Google Cloud Spanner–

Activity

Commits last 30d

CockroachDB15

Google Cloud Spanner–

Language

Primary

CockroachDBGo

Google Cloud Spanner–

Market

Availability

CockroachDBAvailable worldwide

Google Cloud Spanner–

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for relational databases. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Relational Databases
Capability	CockroachDB	Google Cloud Spanner
Core
SQL model	Full SQL	Full SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions	Full	Full
Highest isolation level	Serializable	Serializable
Consistency
Consistency	Strong	Strong
Scale
Horizontal scale	Natively distributed	Natively distributed
Replication
Replication	Consensus (Raft/Paxos)	Consensus (Raft/Paxos)
Availability
Automatic failover / HA	✓	✓
Deployment
Deployment	Managed	Managed
Serverless / scale-to-zero	✓	-
Compatibility
Wire compatibility	Postgres protocol	Postgres protocol
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs	✗	✓
Licensing
Licence class	Source-available (BSL/SSPL)	Proprietary
Data types
JSON / document support	✗	-
Geo / spatial	None	-

Core

SQL model

CockroachDBFull SQL

Google Cloud SpannerFull SQL

Transactions

ACID transactions

CockroachDBFull

Google Cloud SpannerFull

Highest isolation level

CockroachDBSerializable

Google Cloud SpannerSerializable

Consistency

CockroachDBStrong

Google Cloud SpannerStrong

Scale

Horizontal scale

CockroachDBNatively distributed

Google Cloud SpannerNatively distributed

Replication

CockroachDBConsensus (Raft/Paxos)

Google Cloud SpannerConsensus (Raft/Paxos)

Availability

Automatic failover / HA

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✓

Deployment

CockroachDBManaged

Google Cloud SpannerManaged

Serverless / scale-to-zero

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner-

Compatibility

Wire compatibility

CockroachDBPostgres protocol

Google Cloud SpannerPostgres protocol

Extensibility

Extensions / plugins / UDFs

CockroachDB✗

Google Cloud Spanner✓

Licensing

Licence class

CockroachDBSource-available (BSL/SSPL)

Google Cloud SpannerProprietary

Data types

JSON / document support

CockroachDB✗

Google Cloud Spanner-

Geo / spatial

CockroachDBNone

Google Cloud Spanner-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

CockroachDB

Leader

CockroachDB is a PostgreSQL-compatible distributed SQL database designed for global applications requiring high availability, automatic scaling, and strong consistency across data centers. It eliminates downtime, simplifies operations, and scales seamlessly without manual intervention.

Independently observed

Google Cloud Spanner

Google Cloud's globally distributed, multi-model database supporting relational, graph, key-value, and search capabilities with native PostgreSQL interface and Gemini AI integration.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

CockroachDB

Leader

HybridFree tier30-day trial

Free tier available with $400 in free credits. Provisioned capacity and on-demand pricing models for production workloads.

BasicFree

as of 2026-08-24verify ↗

Google Cloud Spanner

Usage-basedFree tier90-day trial

Usage-based pricing: compute capacity (nodes/processing units, hourly), storage (monthly), backups, data replication, network bandwidth. Free 90-day trial instances. Optional 1-year and 3-year committed use discounts. Three editions available: Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus.

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	CockroachDB	Google Cloud Spanner
WebPlatforms	✓	-
CLIPlatforms	✓	-
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✓	✗
HybridDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

CLI

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner–

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✓

Self-hosted

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✓

On-premise

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✗

Hybrid

CockroachDB✓

Google Cloud Spanner✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

CockroachDB

Leader

15 total

Datadog
Splunk
Dynatrace
New Relic
Terraform
Vercel
HashiCorp
pgvector
AWS
GCP
Azure
Kubernetes
MOLT (Migration Tool)
PostgreSQL drivers
SQLAlchemy

Independently observed

Google Cloud Spanner

5 total

Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform
Gemini CLI
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Agent Development Kit (ADK)
Data Agent Kit

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.