In this blog post, we'd like to bring attention to two new features in CrateDB Cloud. They're part of our continuous effort to make CrateDB Cloud even easier to try out. We’re excited to introduce the ability to suspend clusters and a brand new category of clusters – shared resources clusters.
Suspend Clusters
This feature focuses on minimizing the costs during downtime by enabling the user to pause their cluster. Teams in the earlier developmental stages may not need their databases running 24/7. To make the pricing more transparent, we’ve split the cost of running a cluster into two parts - storage and compute. Suspending clusters allows the users to pause the compute part when it's not needed. This suspension can save the average user with a CR2 cluster around $350 a month. When the cluster is suspended, only storage is billed. To guarantee your stored data is safe, backups do not expire while a cluster is suspended.
Try out cluster suspension in our 30-day free trial!
Shared resources clusters
We implemented a new category of clusters to further reduce the costs of trying out CrateDB Cloud. The new smallest category (CR0) clusters work by dynamically sharing hardware resources with each other. These clusters are hosted in separate spaces from the classic CR1-CR4 plans. Because they are so cost-effective, these clusters are the perfect candidates for a testing playground. For example, they are ideal for developing your application against the database, checking compatibility, migration testing etc.
At the time of writing this article, depending on the provider, the prices are:
Azure East US 2 - $0.07 / hour
Azure West Europe - $0.09 / hour
AWS West Europe - $0.08 / hour
The CR0 clusters are limited to 1 node with 4 GiB of storage, 2 GiB RAM, and 2 CPUs. This makes them ideal for testing and early development environments.
In conclusion, the cluster suspension and shared resources clusters are great additions that significantly reduce the barrier of entry and make CrateDB Cloud an even lower-priced option to try. With the introduction of CR0 shared clusters, the cost of deploying your first CrateDB Cloud cluster has been reduced by 73%! That should allow even the smallest of teams with strict budgets to try out our cloud solution. Are you already using CrateDB? Give it a go! If you haven't signed up yet, now is a great time to try our 30-day free trial.
