Please use the form below to provide your feedback. Because your feedback is valuable to us, the information you submit in this form is recorded in our issue tracking system (JIRA), which is publicly available. You can track the status of your feedback using the ticket number displayed in the dialog once you submit the form.

Create an Account and Deploy Your Free Tier Operational Cluster

  • Capella Operational
  • tutorial
March 23, 2025
+ 12
Create an account and start managing your data with Couchbase Capella.

To get started with Couchbase Capella, create an account and use it to deploy a forever free tier operational cluster. This account provides you with a environment where you can explore and learn about Capella with no time constraint.

With a perpetual offering, you have the freedom to work with your active free tier operational cluster at your own pace and try out the Couchbase Capella software.

With an active and working free tier operational cluster, there is no pressure of expiration dates or incurring additional costs.

You cannot deploy a free tier cluster in Capella Columnar. This free tier offering is only available in Capella Operational.

Create an Account

To create an account, go to the Couchbase Capella Sign-up page and choose one of the following sign-up options:

Procedure

  1. Enter the following information:

    • Your Full Name

    • Your Email Address

    • A Password that contains:

      • At least eight characters

      • Uppercase characters (A-Z)

      • Lowercase characters (a-z)

      • Numbers (0-9)

      • Special characters, such as @, #, or $

  2. Click Get Started. Couchbase sends an email to the email address you provided with a confirmation code for your account.

  3. Enter the confirmation code into the provided field.

  4. Review and agree to the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

  5. (Optional) Subscribe to offers, products, and services from Couchbase.

  6. Click Create Account.

For 30-day Capella free trial users:

  • If your free trial account has not yet expired, your account is automatically converted to the free tier plan after your 30-day trial period if over. To deploy a free tier operational cluster, go to Operational and create and deploy your free tier operational cluster.

  • If your free trial account has already expired, log in to your account and click Activate Free Tier. Proceed to deploy a free tier operational cluster or upgrade to a paid plan to continue using Capella operational.

Create and Deploy Your Free Tier Operational cluster

After you create your account, Couchbase creates your organization and sets a default project labeled My First Project.

Only 1 free tier operational cluster is available per organization and it automatically turns off after 72 hours of inactivity. For more information, see Turn Operational Cluster On and Off.

Create and deploy your first operational cluster:

  1. Click Create Cluster.

  2. Select My First Project as the project for your cluster.

  3. Under Cluster Option, select Free.

  4. In the Name field, enter a name for your cluster or accept the default option.

  5. (Optional) Provide a description of your cluster.

  6. Select one of the available cloud service providers:

  7. Select an available geographic region for your cluster.

  8. Enter a CIDR Block for your cluster, or accept the default. For more information about how to configure a CIDR block, see Cloud Service Provider, Region, and CIDR Block.

  9. Click Create Cluster to deploy your free tier operational cluster with Capella.

Accounts with a paid plan can deploy a free tier operational cluster alongside their paid operational clusters.

Turn Operational Cluster On and Off

If there’s no activity in your free tier operational cluster for more than 72 hours, Couchbase turns off the cluster and any linked App Services. This removes the cluster’s compute resources, but preserves it’s data and state. This also removes any linked App Service nodes and associated infrastructure, but preserves the state.

You can also turn off your free tier operational cluster using the UI:

  1. In the Operational tab, find your free tier cluster:

    1. Click ︙.

    2. Click Turn Off

  2. Confirm the cluster turn off request:

    1. In the confirmation field, type yes.

    2. Click Yes, Proceed to turn off your cluster.

To turn your free tier operational cluster back on, go to Operational  Home and click Turn On Cluster.

When you resume activity in your operational cluster, any linked App Services are also turned back on. If you’re unable to resume activity in your cluster, contact Couchbase support.

To create or turn on an operational cluster, you must have the Organization Owner or Project Creator role.

Delete Free Tier Operational Cluster

If there’s no activity in your free tier operational cluster for more than 30 days, Couchbase deletes the operational cluster and any linked App Services. Couchbase sends periodic emails after 72 hours of inactivity warning you that your free tier cluster is turned off and will delete after 30 days.

To recreate your free tier operational cluster, see create and deploy your free tier operational cluster.

Deploy Capella Free Tier App Services

You can use Capella App Services to:

  • Sync your data between Capella operational buckets and mobile or edge devices running Couchbase Lite.

  • Authenticate and manage mobile and edge users

To deploy free tier App Services for mobile development:

  1. In the App Services tab, click Create App Service.

  2. Enter a name for your App Service.

  3. Select your free tier operational cluster to link to your App Service.

  4. Click Create App Service.

Your free tier App Service automatically links to your free tier operational cluster.

For more information about how to configure App Services, see Configure Your Free Tier App Services (Mobile sync).

Upgrade to a Paid Account

You need to add an activation ID to upgrade to a paid plan and gain access to all Capella operational features.

Free tier operational clusters do not automatically migrate to paid tier operational clusters upon the upgrade. Capella allows only one free tier operational cluster per organization at any time.

When upgrading from a free tier plan to a paid plan, Couchbase deletes your existing free tier operational cluster.

When you upgrade to a paid plan, you can choose to deploy another free tier operational cluster alongside your provisioned operational cluster. To back up and transfer your data from your existing free tier operational cluster to a new free tier or paid operational cluster, you must use the cbbackupmgr tool.

For more information about using the cbbackupmgr tool, see Backup a Free Tier Capella Operational Cluster.

Free Tier Plan Features

For more information, use the Capella UI to learn more about the free tier features and compare to other Couchbase Capella plans:

  1. In the Operational tab, choose your operational cluster to go to your cluster’s page.

  2. Click the Settings tab.

  3. In the navigation menu, click Plan.

  4. Select, compare and review your Couchbase Capella plan.

Next Steps

After you create an account and deploy an operational cluster, you can: