RisingWave

What it is for

RisingWave is a streaming SQL database: you declare materialized views, it keeps them fresh from CDC and queues, and you query them like Postgres. Use it when the job is always-on SQL views you start with a 7-day Cloud trial or Apache 2.0 on your metal, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is RisingWave Cloud SQL Editor (catalog of sources / tables / materialized views / sinks beside a Run cell) — not a pricing card. The console itself is ops, not a fifth product.

Key features

• Streaming materialized views — Postgres-style SQL that stays current as events arrive (docs; pricing). One view. Indexes and ordinary views are modes of this. psql / the SQL cell is ops.
• CDC sources — change streams from Postgres, MySQL, and (Pro) SQL Server so a table becomes a source you did not poll (pricing Data Connectivity). A pipe, not a view. Direct SQL Server CDC is Pro SKU of this.
• Sinks — push a view out to Kafka, Iceberg, or (Pro) Snowflake / BigQuery / OpenSearch (pricing Premium connectors). A destination, not a SELECT. Iceberg / lakehouse serving is this surface.
• Time travel — query a view as it was at an earlier timestamp (pricing Premium). A clock, not a live view. Automatic schema evolution is next to this.
• Cloud or self-managed — hosted clusters billed in RWU-hours, or Apache 2.0 on your Kubernetes (pricing). A place to run, not a query. BYOC / BYOK8s is Pro SKU of this.

The SQL Editor “Run” button is ops. Alert rules and the dashboard are ops. RWU-hours are the meter. SSO and LDAP are governance SKU.

Who it's for

Best fit: streaming teams who will burn the 7-day Cloud trial (no setup), then pay $0.227 per RWU-hour on Basic — or stay on Apache 2.0 self-managed when they will operate Kubernetes themselves.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from risingwave.com/pricing. Cloud is RWU-hours. Self-managed OSS is Apache 2.0.

• Basic (Cloud) — 7-day free trial, then from $0.227 / RWU / hour. Fully hosted on AWS, GCP, or Azure. Up to 64 cores. Standalone. Pay-as-you-go. Standard support. Core features.
• Pro (Cloud) — pay-as-you-go or annual. Fully hosted, BYOC, or BYOK8s. No core limit. Distributed. Premium connectors, time travel, schema evolution, Iceberg, elastic disk cache, SSO. Premium 24×7 support for purchase.
• Self-managed — Apache 2.0 engine on your metal. A paid annual license adds premium features, support, and SLA. Custom packages on request.
• RWU — “RisingWave Unit”: instance type × cluster size × cloud config. Data transfer follows the cloud provider.

Confirm checkout; taxes follow your location. Annual commits discount.

Limitations / costs

• Cloud Basic is a 7-day trial, then RWU-hours. There is no published forever-free hosted quota after the trial.
• Premium sinks and SQL Server CDC are Pro. Basic is core streaming SQL on a hosted standalone.
• A streaming SQL engine, not a serverless OLTP branch database. For scale-to-zero Postgres see Neon. For warehouse SQL see MotherDuck.

Alternatives

• Neon — serverless Postgres with branches when you do not need streaming views.
• MotherDuck — hosted DuckDB when the job is analytics SQL, not CDC-fresh views.
• Airbyte — EL connectors when you will move batches, not keep a materialized view live.

Official tutorial

Official RisingWave channel video: What is RisingWave? (oEmbed author: RisingWave). First-party product intro.

Written path: risingwave.com/pricing plus the Cloud SQL Editor screenshot.

Website

https://risingwave.com

Repository

https://github.com/risingwavelabs/risingwave

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official RisingWave Cloud SQL Editor (catalog + Run cell). Dollars checked on risingwave.com/pricing (Basic trial then $0.227/RWU-hour; Pro / self-managed license). Tutorial oEmbed author: RisingWave.

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.