Introducing TiDB Cloud Starter: A New Name for Our Developer Friendly, Auto‑Scaling Plan

TiDB Cloud’s entry tier has a new name. TiDB Cloud Serverless will become TiDB Cloud Starter, and with this small change we clear a path for both existing users and the next wave of builders.

Why Are We Changing the Name to TiDB Cloud Starter?

Over the past two years, TiDB Cloud Serverless has been the on‑ramp for thousands of developers who need a production‑ready database that scales automatically, starts in seconds, and costs nothing until you exceed a generous free quota. While “serverless” accurately describes how the service works behind the scenes, many first‑time users told us the word felt abstract and overloaded with meanings.

We’re renaming this entry tier to TiDB Cloud Starter so its purpose is crystal clear: it’s the quickest way to begin building with TiDB Cloud. Everything you enjoy today remains unchanged, including:

• A fully managed database with both row‑based and columnar storage for mixed OLTP/OLAP workloads.
• Automatic, request‑driven scaling up and down (no capacity planning or knob‑twisting).
• Built-in vector search and full-text search to power GenAI retrieval, chatbots, and other AI applications.
• Always‑free monthly quota for up to five clusters per organization (5 GiB row data + 5 GiB columnar data + 50 million RUs per cluster).

What Do I Need to Do to Begin Using Starter?

Nothing!

All existing TiDB Cloud Serverless clusters will be labelled “Starter” in the console starting on August 12, 2025 PDT. Connection strings, endpoints, and underlying data will remain untouched, so your applications keep running without code changes or downtime. For pricing, Starter inherits the same free quota and usage‑based rates you had under TiDB Cloud Serverless. Please refer to pricing details for more specifics.

Looking Ahead

As your project grows, you will soon see additional options that unlock higher throughput, larger storage limits, and advanced enterprise features. We will share the full details when they are ready, but there is no impact today. That means you can stay focused on shipping your app, knowing that scaling paths will be there when you need them.

Where Can I Use TiDB Cloud Starter?

• AWS – Generally Available (GA) in five regions: Oregon, Virginia, Tokyo, Singapore and Frankfurt.
• Alibaba Cloud (International) – Public Preview in the Singapore region.

Next Steps

1. Log in to TiDB Cloud and create a new Starter cluster — it boots in seconds!
2. Already on TiDB Cloud Serverless? Relax! Your cluster is now a Starter cluster.
3. Connect with the MySQL client, try our examples, and get started.

Questions or feedback? Please feel free to reach out to our team on Slack or Discord — we’d love to hear how “Starter” helps you move faster.