The dbt platform is dbt Labs’ hosted product for building, scheduling, testing and documenting dbt projects. The platform was formerly branded dbt Cloud; the Fivetran requirements for it still describe the platforms as providing “the functionality of dbt Cloud”.[7] Customers pay for seats and for usage, where usage is mainly the number of Successful Models Built and, if purchased, Semantic Layer Queried Metrics, subject to reasonable usage. All billing computations use UTC.[3]
Plans at a glance
| Developer | Starter | Enterprise | Enterprise+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $100 per user per month | Custom | Custom |
| Developer seats | 1 | 5 | Custom | Custom |
| Projects | 1 | 1 | 30 | Unlimited |
| Successful models built per month | 3,000 | 15,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| Queried metrics per month | none listed | 5,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Support | Documentation and community | 24x5 | Priority with SLAs | Priority with SLAs |
| Wizard credits | $100 trial, 30 days | $100 trial, 30 days | $100 per month per account | $200 per month per account |
The figures come from the pricing page.[1] Starter adds lineage and the Semantic Layer to the Developer features and API access. Enterprise adds column-level lineage, governed metrics with caching, multi-project architecture (dbt Mesh), SSO, role-based access control and SCIM, and Enterprise+ adds PrivateLink, IP restrictions and the ability to run dbt in the customer’s own environment (Hybrid Projects).[1]
Billing by plan
Developer
The Developer plan is free and includes one Developer licence and 3,000 models each month, refreshed at the start of each calendar month. If the allotment is exceeded, further runs are cancelled until the next refresh or an upgrade, but the rest of the platform remains accessible and no work is lost.[2]
Starter
Starter customers pay monthly by credit card for seats and usage. Seats are charged upfront at the start of the month, prorated when added during the month, and not refunded when removed. Usage is charged in arrears for the previous month; models above 15,000 are billed on the next invoice at the pricing page rates, and unused included models do not roll over.[2] Customers needing more developer seats than Starter allows must contact sales about Enterprise or Enterprise+.[4] The upgrade from Developer to Starter moves the account straight to paid billing with its existing projects.[4]
Enterprise and Enterprise+
Enterprise customers pay annually by invoice, and monthly in arrears for additional usage if applicable, and may have negotiated usage rates; the Order Form states the details. Billing is not shown in the user interface and changes go through the dbt Labs account team.[2] In the usage view, Enterprise users see how much of their annual commitment is drawn down.[3]
Legacy Team plan
Customers who bought the Starter plan, then called Team, before 11 August 2023 stay on a legacy seat-based plan with unlimited models, subject to reasonable use, while their account is in good standing. dbt Labs may institute use limits if reasonable use is exceeded, and further features may be charged separately.[2]
What is counted
Seats
dbt platform seats come in four licence types: Analyst (not available for new purchase), Developer, IT and Read-Only. Seats are billed mainly on Developer and Read licences.[3] The Terms of Service allow only Authorized Users to access the services, require individual log-ins and bar sharing.[6]
Successful Models Built
A Successful Model Built is any model successfully built in a deployment environment through dbt orchestration. That includes scheduled jobs, CI builds triggered by pull requests and runs started by the API. Models that build count even if the overall run later fails, so a 100-model job that fails after 51 models counts 51.[3] Views, tables and incremental models count. Ephemeral models, tests, seeds and snapshots do not, and neither do builds in development environments such as the Studio IDE.[3] Models reused by dbt State are billed separately as daily active target tables.[3]
Queried Metrics
The Semantic Layer measures usage in distinct Queried Metrics. Every successful request to render or run SQL counts at least one, even if no data is returned, and each metric calculated in a request counts. Failed queries and metadata requests do not count.[3] Starter and Enterprise-tier customers can trial the Semantic Layer for up to 1,000 Queried Metrics per month, and dbt Labs may change limits or institute pricing at its discretion.[4]
Monitoring and controlling usage
Usage can be viewed in Account settings under Billing by users with the relevant roles: the Owner group on Starter and account and billing admins on the Enterprise tiers. The data is an estimate and final usage appears on monthly statements.[3] Every plan sends email alerts at 75%, 90% and 100% of usage estimates, and users cannot opt out.[5] To stop models accruing, a customer can switch off scheduled runs and pull request triggers on each job, check API-triggered runs, or delete jobs.[5]
Contract terms behind the plans
The Terms of Service state that Order Terms are twelve months unless otherwise agreed. If an Order Form says the term auto-renews, either party may give written notice at least 30 days before the end of the term. Additional paid Units added mid-term are priced at the highest per-unit price on the active subscription, prorated, under a further Order Form.[6] Use beyond the Account Parameters leads to extra fees; if units are activated beyond the Order Form, dbt Labs invoices only if the Order Form authorises it, and otherwise offers a supplemental Order Form that, if not signed within 30 days, lets it deactivate the extra units.[6] Payment is due within 30 days of invoice and fees are non-refundable.[6]
The licence is limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable, for the Order Term and for internal business purposes. Resale, distribution or sublicensing needs prior written permission.[6] Customers who contract through Fivetran paper use Order Form fees for dbt Labs Services instead of Fivetran’s consumption table.[7]
Software asset management points
- Reconcile seats per licence type against the identities provisioned in the platform, because Developer and Read licences drive the bill.
- Track models built per environment; CI builds and API runs count, and runaway schedules can exhaust Starter and Developer allotments.
- Starter allotments reset monthly and do not roll over. Enterprise commitments are annual.
- Watch plan-specific limits: projects (1, 1, 30, unlimited) and queried metrics.
Out of scope
Support level PDFs (Basic, Advanced, Premier), Professional Services, security reviews and negotiated private pricing are not covered.