dbt Pricing 2026

Plans, hidden costs, and alternatives compared

Prices last confirmed on Nov 8, 2026 on getdbt.com. Same data as Markdown or JSON.

Reviews on G2

3 plans tracked Updated Nov 2026

Cite this data: Toolradar, dbt pricing verified Nov 2026, toolradar.com/tools/dbt/pricing

dbt starts at $100/user/month on the Starter plan.

Verified Nov 2026 from the official pricing page.

Is dbt worth the price?

Fair value

dbt Cloud pricing shifted to a consumption-based model in 2024, adding per-model-run charges on top of per-seat fees.

The Developer plan is free for 1 user with limited runs, enough to learn dbt. Starter at $100/user/mo gets teams up to 5 seats with 15,000 model runs included.

The hidden cost: model run overages at $0.01 per run add up fast for teams running complex DAGs hourly. dbt Core (open source) is free and handles the same transformations, dbt Cloud's value is in the IDE, scheduler, and governance features.

Pricing Plans

Free Trial

Developer

Free

Free tier

1 developer seat
3K models/month
1 project
Browser IDE
Job scheduling

Starter

$100/per user/month

Small teams

5 developer seats
15K models/month
dbt Catalog
dbt Semantic Layer
API access

Enterprise

Custom

Large orgs

100K models/month
30 projects
dbt Mesh
dbt Canvas
Cost optimization

Calculate your cost View full pricing

Hidden Costs & Gotchas

Model run overages

Starter includes 15,000 runs/month. Every run beyond costs $0.01.

Consumption-based pricing makes costs unpredictable

unlike flat per-seat pricing, your bill varies monthly based on how many models run.

Queried metrics (Semantic Layer) are separately metered

Starter includes 5,000 queries/month. Dashboards hitting the Semantic Layer can burn through this in days if not monitored

dbt Cloud IDE is the only supported development environment on paid plans, you cannot use VS Code or another editor without losing CI/CD integration. This creates IDE lock-in

Multiple projects require Enterprise

Starter limits you to 1 project. Teams managing separate data products or domains need Enterprise at 4x the cost

dbt Core is free but requires significant DevOps investment

setting up Airflow/Dagster for scheduling, managing environments, and building CI/CD pipelines costs engineering time that dbt Cloud replaces with managed infrastructure

Annual billing is required on Enterprise, no monthly option. Starter offers monthly billing but at higher effective rates than annual

Which Plan Do You Need?

Individual analysts learning dbt or working solo → Developer (Free, 1 user)

Free IDE, scheduler, and limited model runs. Enough to learn dbt, build personal projects, and evaluate before committing to a paid plan.

Small data teams (2-5 people) starting with dbt Cloud → Starter ($100/user/mo)

15,000 model runs/month included, 5,000 queried metrics, 1 project. Up to 5 developer seats. The scheduler and CI/CD features save significant engineering time vs managing dbt Core yourself.

Teams that want dbt without dbt Cloud costs → dbt Core (Free, open source)

Same transformation engine as dbt Cloud, completely free. Requires self-managed scheduling (Airflow, Dagster, GitHub Actions), your own IDE setup, and no built-in governance. But $0 forever.

Overage & Usage Pricing

ci Jobs

CI/CD test runs count toward model run quota

storage

No separate storage charges, data lives in your warehouse

model Runs

$0.01 per successful model run beyond plan allocation (Starter: 15,000/mo)

metric Queries

Overage pricing for Semantic Layer queries beyond plan limit (not publicly disclosed for Starter)

enterprise Runs

Custom allocation, overage rate negotiated per contract

How dbt compares

1 of 2 direct competitors offers a free plan.

Starting price and free plan: dbt and its direct competitors
Tool	Starting price	Free plan
dbt	$100/user/month	Yes
Looker	$35,000/year, billing unit not specified	No
Metabase	$100/month, billing unit not specified	Yes

dbt Pricing FAQ

How much does dbt cost?

dbt starts at $100/user/month on the Starter plan. A free plan is also available.

Does dbt have a free plan?

Yes. dbt offers a free plan called "Developer". It includes: 1 developer seat, 3K models/month, 1 project.

Does dbt offer a free trial?

Yes. dbt offers a free trial lasting 14 days.

What are alternatives to dbt?

Alternatives to dbt include Looker, Metabase. Looker starts at $35,000/year, billing unit not specified; Metabase starts at $100/month, billing unit not specified.

How much does dbt cost for a team of 10?

For 10 users on the Starter plan, dbt is $1,000/month, or $12,000/year, at the published per-user rate.

Does dbt have a promo code or discount code?

As of November 8, 2026, Toolradar has no dbt promo code, coupon or discount code on file. dbt's own pricing page (https://getdbt.com/pricing, read November 8, 2026) does list a 14-day free trial and a free plan, so you can start without a code. Offers change, so confirm the terms at checkout.