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dbt Pricing

freemiumopen source · Apache-2.0last verified September 6, 2026official site ↗

At a glance

Open-source data transformation framework (Apache-2.0) with managed SaaS cloud tiers. dbt Core is 100% free and open-source for self-hosted CLI and containerized execution with zero licensing fees. dbt Cloud Developer plan is free ($0/mo) for 1 seat with web IDE and job scheduling. dbt Cloud Starter plan costs $100/developer/mo (up to 5-8 seats) with automated CI triggers, Semantic Layer integration, and 15K models/mo. dbt Cloud Enterprise offers custom annual pricing with dbt Mesh multi-project governance, Virtual Private dbt VPC deployment, SAML SSO, RBAC, SOC 2 Type II, and 99.9% uptime SLA.

Self-hosting cost

dbt is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage. Any hosted, managed, or API plans remain separately priced.

Free & cheaper DevOps & Deployment

same category, free plan or open-source license

Ciliumopen sourceFree and 100% open source under the Apache-2.0 license (with dual GPL-2.0/BSD-2-Clause BPF datapath templates) as a CNCF Graduated project. Cilium has no software licensing fees for self-hosted or cloud Kubernetes deployments (including GKE Dataplane V2 and Azure CNI Powered by Cilium); organizations pay only for their compute infrastructure. For mission-critical enterprise environments, Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium (by Cisco) provides quote-based annual subscriptions (per-node/environment) with 24/7 SLA support, hardened LTS builds, Customer Testing Environments (CuTEs), enterprise BGP/EVPN, and advanced multi-cluster security and observability retention.UpstashFreemium serverless data platform (Redis, Kafka, Vector, QStash). Free tier includes daily command/request quotas (10k commands/day for Redis/Kafka/Vector, 500 messages/day for QStash at $0/mo). Pay-as-you-go charges per request ($0.20-$0.40 per 100k requests) and storage ($0.25/GB/mo) with scale-to-zero idle compute. Pro fixed plans start at $280/mo with dedicated throughput and 99.99% SLA, and Enterprise plans provide dedicated VPC peering and custom compliance.OrbStackFree for personal and non-commercial use, educational studies, and open-source development. Commercial and business use (or individuals generating >$10,000/year) requires a paid Pro license at $8/user/month billed annually ($96/year) or $10/month monthly, covering up to 5 devices per user with priority support and a 30-day trial. Enterprise plans provide custom volume pricing, centralized billing, MDM/SSO directory integration, and 99.9% uptime SLAs.Rayopen sourceRay is a free and open-source distributed computing framework governed by the PyTorch Foundation under the Apache 2.0 license. It can be self-hosted on any cloud or on-prem cluster with zero licensing costs, while managed execution is available via cloud providers like Anyscale.
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FAQ

How much does dbt cost?

Open-source data transformation framework (Apache-2.0) with managed SaaS cloud tiers. dbt Core is 100% free and open-source for self-hosted CLI and containerized execution with zero licensing fees. dbt Cloud Developer plan is free ($0/mo) for 1 seat with web IDE and job scheduling. dbt Cloud Starter plan costs $100/developer/mo (up to 5-8 seats) with automated CI triggers, Semantic Layer integration, and 15K models/mo. dbt Cloud Enterprise offers custom annual pricing with dbt Mesh multi-project governance, Virtual Private dbt VPC deployment, SAML SSO, RBAC, SOC 2 Type II, and 99.9% uptime SLA. Paid pricing starts at $100/developer/mo.

Does dbt have a free plan?

Yes — dbt has a free plan alongside its paid tiers.

Can you self-host dbt for free?

dbt is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage. Any hosted, managed, or API plans remain separately priced.

What are free or cheaper dbt alternatives?

Cilium, Upstash, OrbStack are in the same category with a free plan or open-source license.

pricing is editorial catalog data (last verified September 6, 2026) — vendors change plans; confirm on the official site before you buy. Reuse this data under CC-BY 4.0 via /data.