vs

Bedrock vs CockroachDB

Bedrock: Expensify's WAN-replicated SQLite server with Paxos leader election, MySQL protocol and job/cache plugins. CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions.

key differences

  • Licensing: Bedrock is open source (copyleft) (GNU LGPL v3); CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License).
  • CockroachDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than Bedrock (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is none in Bedrock and native in CockroachDB.
  • Only CockroachDB has full-text search, vector search, geospatial, change data capture, triggers.
  • CockroachDB has a serverless option; Bedrock does not.

choose bedrock for

  • +Highly available SQL backend spanning multiple data centres
  • +Durable job queues alongside relational data
  • +Teams that like SQLite semantics but need replication and failover

best at · OLTP, Queue, Cache

choose cockroachdb for

  • +Global payments and ledger systems of record
  • +Identity, account and session metadata across regions
  • +Inventory and order management with strict consistency
  • +Data-residency workloads that must pin rows to a country

best at · OLTP, Geo, Metadata

overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
–
Document, Spatial, Vector
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Expensify
Cockroach Labs
First release
2016
2015
Latest version
2026-10-23 (Oct 23, 2026)
26.3 (Aug 19, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GNU LGPL v3
Source-availableCockroachDB Software License
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
2.5
47.1
Rank
#474
#33
GitHub stars
1.3K
32.6K
Stack Overflow questions
–
467
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
None
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Primary replica
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server, Serverless
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
—
✓
Vector search
—
✓
Geospatial
—
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
✓
Triggers
—
✓
Stored procedures
—
✓
Materialized views
—
✓
TTL / expiry
—
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
—
✓
Encryption at rest
—
✓
Role-based access
—
✓
Time travel
—
✓
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
✓
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL (SQLite dialect)
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Any MySQL driver, PHP
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, Rust, PHP
Best for
OLTP, Queue, Cache
OLTP, Geo, Metadata, Ledger

Bedrock vs CockroachDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Bedrock and CockroachDB?

Bedrock: Expensify's WAN-replicated SQLite server with Paxos leader election, MySQL protocol and job/cache plugins. CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions. Licensing: Bedrock is open source (copyleft) (GNU LGPL v3); CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License). CockroachDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than Bedrock (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is none in Bedrock and native in CockroachDB.

When should I choose Bedrock over CockroachDB?

Choose Bedrock for highly available SQL backend spanning multiple data centres; durable job queues alongside relational data; and teams that like SQLite semantics but need replication and failover. Choose CockroachDB for global payments and ledger systems of record; identity, account and session metadata across regions; and inventory and order management with strict consistency.

Is Bedrock or CockroachDB more popular?

CockroachDB ranks #33 on the WhichDB Score (47.1/100) and Bedrock ranks #474 (2.5/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Bedrock and CockroachDB open source?

Yes. Bedrock is open source. License: GNU LGPL v3. Not in the OSI sense. CockroachDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: CockroachDB Software License.