Aiven Free Tier 2026: Run Postgres, Valkey, Kafka and OpenSearch for $0

Aiven’s free tier hands you five managed open-source services — Aiven for PostgreSQL Free, Aiven for MySQL Free, Aiven for Valkey Free, Aiven for Apache Kafka Free, and Aiven for OpenSearch Free — at $0 with no credit card. The catch: fixed hardware, automatic idle shutdown, and no VPC, integrations, or SLA. Below you’ll find a full comparison table, per-service limits, and the upgrade path.

How This Guide Was Built

This guide is desk research, not hands-on testing: it is based entirely on Aiven’s official docs and pricing pages fetched on 2026-10-02, and no Aiven account was created and no service was provisioned while writing it. We cross-checked the Aiven pricing page, the per-service free-tier concept pages, and the Aiven service pricing docs, and we froze every number to that date so you can judge staleness yourself. When a fact isn’t stated in Aiven’s sources — like point-in-time recovery depth on the free MySQL plan — we say so instead of guessing.

The Aiven Free Tier at a Glance

Aiven gives you five managed open-source services free with no time limit and no credit card, per the Aiven pricing page, but each runs on fixed hardware and powers off automatically when idle. You get one free service per type per organization, free services survive the end of a trial or a switch to a paid account, and every plan includes basic monitoring and documentation-only support per Aiven’s support page. The full picture:

Service	Price	Compute (VMs / CPU / RAM)	Storage	Key numeric limit	Included extras	Top 3 exclusions	Idle behaviour	First paid step (price)
Aiven for PostgreSQL Free	$0/mo	1 dedicated VM, 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM	1 GB storage	max_connections = 20, single DR-only backup/no PITR	Doc-only support	No PITR, no pooling, no integrations	Auto power-off when idle; restartable	Developer $5/mo
Aiven for MySQL Free	$0/mo	1 VM, 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM	1 GB disk	max_connections = 76	Monitoring plus backups	No region choice, no integrations, PITR not documented	Auto power-off when idle	Developer $5/mo
Aiven for Valkey Free	$0/mo	1 node, 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM	maxmemory 50% → ~512 MB usable	~512 MB data memory	Monitoring plus backups	No forking, no integrations, no region choice	Auto power-off when idle	Valkey Developer 2 CPU/4 GB
Aiven for Apache Kafka Free	$0/mo	Fixed configuration	—	250 KiB/s ingress + 250 KiB/s egress; up to 5 topics x 2 partitions	Karapace Schema Registry, sample data, basic monitoring	No Kafka Connect, no MirrorMaker2, no tiered storage	Auto power-off when idle	Startup from ~$75/mo
Aiven for OpenSearch Free	$0/mo	Fixed configuration	20 GB storage, 4 GB RAM	2 shards (max 20 shards/node), 50 concurrent connections	Sample datasets, basic monitoring, snapshot retention up to 3 days	No security plugin, no custom domains, no dynamic disk sizing	Auto power-off when idle	OpenSearch Developer or Startup

Specs are a 2026-10-02 snapshot; Aiven reserves the right to change provider, region, or configuration.

Aiven Free vs. Specialist Free Tiers: The Decision Frame

Aiven Free wins when you need multiple data systems — a relational database, a cache, a message broker, and a search engine — under one account and one console; specialist free tiers usually win on depth for a single engine. If you only need Postgres, our best free database for 2026 hub compares dedicated options like Supabase’s free tier, Neon’s free tier, Turso, and CockroachDB, which generally offer more storage or better per-engine features than Aiven’s 1 GB dedicated VM. For Redis-compatible caching, compare our Upstash free tier guide, and for document storage see our MongoDB Atlas free tier guide. Use Aiven when breadth and a single dashboard matter more than per-engine generosity.

Aiven for PostgreSQL Free

Aiven’s free PostgreSQL is 1 dedicated VM with 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, and 1 GB storage, capped at max_connections = 20 with a single disaster-recovery-only backup, per the official PostgreSQL free tier docs. That backup exists to recover from disasters — there is no point-in-time restore to an arbitrary moment. The engine itself is real PostgreSQL, and you can check which extensions are available in the Aiven PostgreSQL extensions reference or the upstream PostgreSQL documentation.

What you don’t get on the free plan:

• No point-in-time recovery (PITR)
• No connection pooling
• No service integrations
• No VPC or static IPs
• No region choice
• Documentation-only support
• You cannot fork an existing service TO the free plan

Best use: learning real Postgres SQL, prototyping schemas, and wiring up a small side project — not production traffic.

Aiven for MySQL Free

Aiven’s free MySQL runs on 1 VM with 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, and 1 GB disk, with max_connections = 76, monitoring, and backups included, per the official MySQL free tier docs. The main constraints are no region choice and no service integrations, so you land wherever Aiven places you and wire everything up yourself. Whether point-in-time recovery is available on the free plan is not specified in Aiven’s sources, so treat PITR depth as unknown until you verify in the console. It’s a solid sandbox for MySQL-specific syntax and small PHP or WordPress-style prototypes.

Aiven for Valkey Free

Aiven’s free Valkey is a single node with 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM, with maxmemory set to 50% of RAM, leaving about 512 MB of usable data memory, per the official Valkey free tier docs. Valkey is the open-source, Redis-compatible fork that emerged from the Redis licensing change — see valkey.io for lineage and Redis’s own docs if you need the protocol reference. Monitoring and backups are included, but there’s no forking, no integrations, and no region choice. Best use: session stores, caching patterns, and learning Valkey commands without burning local RAM.

Aiven for Apache Kafka Free

Aiven’s free Kafka is a fixed-configuration cluster that includes the Karapace Schema Registry, but it caps throughput at 250 KiB/s each way and allows up to 5 topics with 2 partitions each, per the official Kafka free tier docs. That’s enough for learning event-driven patterns and small pipelines, and nothing more. Per Aiven’s docs, the free plan excludes:

• Kafka Connect
• MirrorMaker2
• Tiered storage
• Service integrations
• Some settings are non-configurable
• Creation is Console-only — you can’t spin it up via API or CLI

Learn Kafka fundamentals from the Apache Kafka documentation and the Karapace site, then graduate to a paid plan when you need connectors or real throughput.

Aiven for OpenSearch Free

Aiven’s free OpenSearch gives you 4 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, 2 shards (with a maximum of 20 shards per node), and 50 concurrent connections, per the official OpenSearch free tier docs. Snapshot retention is up to 3 days, and Aiven loads sample datasets so you can experiment immediately. Exclusions include the security plugin, custom domains, dynamic disk sizing, and service integrations, and you cannot migrate the service to another region after creation. Consult the OpenSearch documentation for query syntax. Best use: learning search relevance, aggregations, and log-style indexing on a real managed cluster.

Setup Walkthrough: From Signup to First Service

You start at https://console.aiven.io/signup with no credit card, then create one free service per type from the Console. Based on Aiven’s official docs:

1. Sign up at console.aiven.io/signup — no credit card required. Aiven’s orgs and projects docs explain how organizations and projects are structured if you want to plan ahead.
2. Create one free service per type. Per Aiven’s docs, Kafka and OpenSearch free services are created Console-only (see create a free Kafka service and create a free OpenSearch service). Aiven does offer a CLI and Terraform provider for provisioning generally — confirm per-service support before scripting.
3. Connect with standard clients: psql for Postgres (see Aiven’s PostgreSQL get-started guide), the MySQL client, the Valkey CLI (see the Valkey get-started guide), and any Kafka client with Karapace (see the Kafka get-started guide).
4. Understand idle shutdown. With no continuative activity, free services power off automatically, with prior notification. You can restart from the Console. A brand-new service that’s never used can power off within the first few hours — so create services when you’re ready to use them. Aiven’s terms reserve this right.
5. Upgrade when you need PITR, high availability, VPC peering, integrations, or an SLA.

When to Upgrade: Developer, Startup, and Custom Plans

The first paid step is the Developer plan from $5/month for PostgreSQL and MySQL, while production-oriented Startup plans start around $75/month, per Aiven’s pricing pages. Details from Aiven’s sources:

• Developer ($5/mo for PostgreSQL/MySQL): 8 GB storage, but still max_connections = 20 and no connection pooling. Valkey Developer steps up to 2 CPU/4 GB. OpenSearch Developer gets 30 GB storage, daily backups, and always-on operation. See PostgreSQL pricing, MySQL pricing, Valkey pricing, and OpenSearch pricing.
• Startup (from about $75/mo): production features including high availability, PITR, VPC peering, forking, connection pooling, and a 99.99% SLA.
• Custom plans start at $5,000/mo for large-scale deployments.
• 30-day trial: no card required, up to 10 VMs, 1 VPC, and 10 peering connections — but services power off at trial end if you haven’t added a card. Billing is managed through Aiven’s billing groups.

Note the Developer trap: paying $5/mo does not lift the 20-connection cap or add pooling. If connection limits are your bottleneck, Startup is the real fix.

FAQ

Most questions about Aiven Free come down to five facts: free services don’t expire but do power off when idle; disk and connection caps are hard limits; there’s no connection pooling on free or Developer plans; there’s no VPC peering below Startup; and you can run one free service per type per organization. All of this comes from Aiven’s official free-tier and pricing documentation as of 2026-10-02.

Does the Aiven free tier expire after 30 days?

No. Per Aiven’s pricing page, free-tier services have no time limitation — the 30-day window applies to the separate trial, which offers more VMs and VPC features but shuts services down at trial end if no card is added. Free services keep running indefinitely, subject to the idle power-off behaviour.

Why did my free Aiven service turn off by itself?

Because free services power off automatically when there is no continuative activity, with prior notification, per Aiven’s free-tier documentation. A brand-new service that has never been used can power off within the first few hours. Restart it from the Aiven Console to resume work.

Can I use Aiven Free PostgreSQL for production?

No — and Aiven’s own docs position the free tier for learning and prototyping. You get max_connections = 20, no pooling, no PITR, no VPC, no integrations, and documentation-only support. For production, you need at least a Startup plan with HA and a 99.99% SLA, or a specialist provider.

Is Aiven Free Valkey the same as Redis?

Not by name, but it’s compatible. Valkey is the open-source, Redis-compatible fork maintained by the Linux Foundation — see valkey.io. Your existing Redis clients and commands work against it, but Aiven’s product is called Valkey, and the free plan caps usable data memory at about 512 MB via the 50% maxmemory setting.

What happens if I upgrade to a paid plan?

Upgrading keeps the same service and adds capacity: Developer adds storage (8 GB for PostgreSQL/MySQL) and always-on operation, while Startup adds HA, PITR, VPC peering, forking, pooling, and the 99.99% SLA. Details vary by service — check Aiven’s per-service pricing pages before committing. Per Aiven’s docs, you cannot fork a paid service down to a free plan.

The Bottom Line

Aiven Free is the best single-dashboard way to learn and prototype Postgres, MySQL, Valkey, Kafka, and OpenSearch at $0 indefinitely — five engines under one account. But fixed hardware, automatic idle shutdown, 1 GB disks, 20-connection caps, and no production features make it a prototype tier, not a hosting tier. Our verdict: if you’re evaluating multiple data technologies for a bootstrapped stack, start here; if you’ve settled on one engine and need depth, head to our best free database for 2026 hub or our Render free tier guide for the app-hosting side of the stack.