What is Firebolt?
Firebolt is an analytical database engineered to deliver millisecond query performance at scale for diverse workloads. It supports scalable batch ELT, low-latency analytics, and AI applications with efficient vector search capabilities. The platform features a decoupled architecture with independent metadata, storage, and compute layers, enabling multidimensional elasticity and flexible deployment options.
With Postgres-compliant SQL extended for modern analytics, Firebolt offers rich transactions, ACID compliance, and strong consistency. It integrates seamlessly with the modern data ecosystem, including Apache Iceberg support, and provides comprehensive security and compliance features. Users can deploy Firebolt fully managed in the cloud or self-host it anywhere using Firebolt Core, which is forever free.
Features
- Scalable Batch ELT: Scales out for multi-stage queries with fact:fact joins and high-cardinality aggregations
- Low Latency Analytics: Engineered for millisecond query performance with high concurrency at scale
- AI Workloads: Efficiently serve AI applications with fast vector search and flexible integration options
- Postgres Compliant: Postgres-compliant SQL extended for modern analytics including array processing and vector search
- Iceberg Support: Read and write Apache Iceberg tables with optimized query performance
- Elastic Compute: Scale compute resources independently with per-second billing and auto-start/stop capabilities
- Rich Transactions: ACID-compliant transactions with strong consistency and snapshot isolation
- Deploy Anywhere: Run fully managed in the cloud or self-host anywhere with Firebolt Core
Use Cases
- Building customer-facing data applications with sub-second query performance
- Running scalable ELT pipelines for data preparation and transformation
- Serving AI applications with efficient vector search capabilities
- Powering business intelligence dashboards with high-concurrency analytics
- Analyzing large datasets in healthcare, cybersecurity, or fintech domains
- Handling mixed workloads including batch processing and real-time analytics
- Deploying analytical databases in regulated environments with compliance requirements
FAQs
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What is a Firebolt Unit (FBU)?
Firebolt Unit is a normalized rate of consumption that scales linearly with engine capacity across node type, number of nodes, and number of clusters. Consumption is proportional to FBU and runtime, with per-second billing and no binding to specific instance types. -
How does Firebolt help control costs?
Firebolt provides multidimensional scaling to right-size workloads, autostop/autostart features to eliminate idle time, and global visibility of consumption through built-in organizational governance and account-level breakdowns. -
What regions does Firebolt support?
Firebolt supports US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Europe (Ireland), Europe (Frankfurt), and Asia Pacific (Singapore) regions. -
Does Firebolt offer commitment-based discounts?
Yes, commitment-based discounts are available through contact with the sales team. -
How is per-second billing calculated?
Each node type is billed based on specified FBUs, with compute usage charged in one-second increments. For example, an M-type node uses 16 FBUs, and if it runs for one minute, consumption is calculated as (16/3600) × 60 = 0.27 FBU-hours.
