ClickPipes for CDC

This section outlines the pricing model for Change Data Capture (CDC) connectors in ClickPipes.

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OLTP CDC

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Pricing dimensions

Pricing for OLTP CDC connectors is calculated based on two dimensions: data volume and compute.

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Data volume

The raw, uncompressed bytes read from the database replication stream and ingested into ClickHouse. Pricing depends on the phase of ingestion:

• Initial load / resync: In this phase, the connector captures and ingests a consistent snapshot of the tables selected for replication. This happens when a ClickPipe is first created, when a new table is added to an existing ClickPipe, or when there is an irrecoverable error that requires reingesting a consistent snapshot.
• Continuous Replication (CDC): In this phase, the connector captures ongoing changes from the tables selected for replication, such as inserts, updates, and deletes. This happens when the initial load phase is completed and the ClickPipe transitions to a Running state.

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Compute

The compute units provisioned per service for CDC ClickPipes, shared across all CDC ClickPipes within a service. The compute units provisioned by default depend on the tier of your organization. Because compute is shared, this pricing component remains flat per service as CDC ClickPipes usage scales. It’s possible to provision additional compute units by scaling the CDC ClickPipes service, with price scaling linearly.

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Example

Consider a service in the Scale tier with the following setup:

• 1 Postgres CDC ClickPipe replicating 8 tables, with an initial load of 200 GB and 100 GB of changes (CDC) per month.
• 1 MySQL CDC ClickPipe replicating 5 tables, with an initial load of 100 GB and 50 GB of changes (CDC) per month.

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Monthly cost breakdown

Initial load (one-time, charged at the lower rate): $(200 + 100) \text{ GB} \times \$0.10/\text{GB} = \$30$ Continuous replication (CDC): $(100 + 50) \text{ GB} \times \$0.20/\text{GB} = \$30$ Compute (shared across both ClickPipes, charged per service): $1 \text{ compute unit} \times \$0.20/\text{hr} \times 730 \text{ hours} = \$146$ First month total: $\$30 \text{ (initial load)} + \$30 \text{ (CDC)} + \$146 \text{ (compute)} = \$206$ $\$30 \text{ (CDC)} + \$146 \text{ (compute)} = \$176 \text{ per month}$ For CDC ClickPipes, compute is a fixed cost shared across all CDC ClickPipes in a service, regardless of the connector type. In this example, adding a MySQL ClickPipe contributed only the cost for ingested data, not additional compute — this means your bill grows with the data you ingest rather than the number of ClickPipes you run. To avoid performance bottlenecks and efficiently reuse the provisioned compute within a service, we recommend replicating all tables from the same upstream database instance via a single ClickPipe until there is a valid reason to split the workload into multiple ClickPipes or scale up.

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Data warehousing CDC

Pricing for data warehousing CDC connectors is under development.

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CDC ClickPipes FAQ

Can I use my ClickHouse Cloud credits for CDC ClickPipes?

Yes. ClickPipes pricing is part of the unified ClickHouse Cloud pricing. Any platform credits you have will automatically apply to ClickPipes usage as well.

How much additional cost should I expect from CDC ClickPipes in my existing monthly ClickHouse Cloud spend?

Cost impact varies widely based on your use case, data volume, and organization tier. Most customers see an increase of 5–25% relative to their baseline ClickHouse Cloud monthly spend, though lower-spend services can exceed this. It’s important to note that cost for CDC ClickPipes scales very efficiently: compute is shared across all CDC ClickPipes in the same service, so adding new ClickPipes adds only marginal cost based on ingested data volume.For CDC ClickPipes connectors marked as free under Billing Status, you can estimate future costs based on the data volume metrics provided in the ClickPipes UI (Metrics > CDC bytes and Initial load bytes) and via ClickHouse Cloud’s Prometheus-compatible endpoint.

Where can I see CDC ClickPipes costs in my ClickHouse Cloud bill?

CDC ClickPipes costs are listed as separate line items in your ClickHouse Cloud bill with an Entity Type of clickpipe, broken down by pricing dimension (ClickPipe Data Transfer ($), ClickPipe Compute ($), ClickPipe Initial Load and Resyncs ($)).For billing reconciliation, you can monitor real-time data volume metrics in the ClickPipes UI (Metrics > CDC bytes and Initial load bytes), or consume these metrics into your existing monitoring stack using ClickHouse Cloud’s Prometheus-compatible endpoint.

Do CDC ClickPipes prevent my ClickHouse Cloud service from idling?

No, but due to the continuous nature of CDC, the service is likely to be woken on the configured sync interval. CDC ClickPipes wakes up the service on the configured sync interval if there is data to ingest, but the service can otherwise idle normally. If there is no data to ingest on a particular sync run, CDC ClickPipes will not wake up the service.

Will I be charged if I pause my CDC ClickPipe?

Yes. You will be charged for the compute resources that are provisioned and shared across all CDC ClickPipes within a service. Data volume charges do not apply while a pipe is paused, since no data is ingested.

Pausing a CDC ClickPipe for long periods of time is not recommended, since it can lead to an irrecoverable state as a result of replication log expiration and/or affect the health of your upstream data source.

Can I scale the compute allocated for CDC ClickPipes in my service?

The compute resources provisioned by default for CDC ClickPipes are optimized to handle most workloads without the need to scale. If you notice a resource utilization bottleneck, you can scale the CDC ClickPipes service. The cost for compute scales linearly with the provisioned compute units.