Cloudflare Launches Open Beta of D1: A Serverless, SQLite-Based Relational Database with Time Travel Capability

Cloudflare Launches Open Beta of D1: A Serverless, SQLite-Based Relational Database with Time Travel Capability

Cloudflare, the web security and performance giant, has announced the open beta of its serverless relational database, D1. This innovative technology, which is built on SQLite, offers users enhanced performance, augmented storage limits, and the capability to create more databases. Furthermore, it incorporates a unique feature: Time Travel, which enables developers to revert their database back to a specific point within the last 30 days.

Boosted Performance and Scalability

The newly launched open beta of D1 is a significant upgrade from its alpha version, boasting considerable improvements in performance and scalability. Developers can immediately start creating new databases using the new storage backend. The serverless database D1 is designed to be SQL-based, capable of scaling to zero, and takes a ‘Region Earth’ approach to replication. This approach allows the database to be distributed across the globe, enhancing access and performance. The enhancements have resulted in D1 being up to 20 times faster on certain operations compared to its alpha version.

Alongside speed, the new architecture also amplifies write performance. For instance, a benchmark inserting 1,000 rows, each row around 200 bytes wide, is approximately 6-8 times faster than the previous version of D1. Larger batches of 10,000 rows at 200 bytes wide see an even larger improvement, between 10-11 times faster. This new storage backend is not only faster but also offers significantly more consistent latency.

Expanded Storage Limits and Database Creation

The open beta version of D1 also introduces higher per-database storage limits and the ability to create more databases. Developers on the Workers paid plan can now grow each database up to 2GB and create up to 25 databases, a substantial increase from the previous limits of 500MB and 10 databases respectively. Cloudflare has indicated that it will continue to work on enabling even larger databases in the coming weeks and months.

Time Travel Feature and Use with Workers for Platforms

A standout feature of the D1 beta is the Time Travel capability. This utility allows developers to roll their database back to a specific point in time, any minute within the last 30 days. The Time Travel feature is enabled by default for every D1 database, offering a safeguard against data loss and providing a valuable tool for testing and development.

In addition to these features, the D1 database is also available for use with Cloudflare’s Functions as a Service (FaaS) offering, Workers for Platforms. This integration allows developers to deploy a database per user, ensuring that customer data is kept separate and secure.

Looking Forward: General Availability and Pricing

Cloudflare plans to make D1 generally available for production workloads in the first quarter of 2024. The pricing model for D1 is based on rows, meaning developers will pay based on the amount of data stored in the database, which allows for cost-effective scaling. The detailed pricing information is available on the Cloudflare website.

The open beta of D1 is a significant milestone for Cloudflare, and the enhanced performance and new features make it a compelling option for developers looking for a serverless relational database. As the company continues to refine and expand the capabilities of D1, users can expect to see further improvements and innovative features in the future.