GoldenGate Licensing Calculator
Model costs, explore K8s compliance rules, and build a per-tenant pricing strategy
Oracle GoldenGate licensing costs are determined by processor count, target system type, and delivery infrastructure. On Kubernetes, every node that pulls a GoldenGate image must be licensed regardless of actual usage. This tool models CapEx costs, calculates the per-tenant price, and explains the compliance rules for K8s deployments and service provider scenarios.
Pipeline architecture
Licensing applies to K8s nodes running Extract or Replicat pods (image-pull rule). Target system type determines which GoldenGate product is required.
$7,500 per Processor — includes GoldenGate Core + Non-Oracle in a single SKU. Does not include Big Data targets. Useful when replicating to multiple relational databases.
Big Data target rule
Big Data licenses are per distinct target technology type. One license covers all Kafka clusters. A second separate license is required for S3. A third for Snowflake.
Each distinct target type (Kafka, S3, Snowflake...) requires a separate $20,000/Processor license
Cost breakdown
Processor count uses the cloud vCPU rule: vCPUs / 2 (hyper-threading enabled). On-prem uses core count multiplied by the Core Factor Table value (0.5 for Intel Xeon/AMD EPYC). Annual support is Oracle's standard 22% of net license fees.
Oracle licenses GoldenGate based on the physical or virtual machines that pull and run the container image. Pulling a GoldenGate image onto a Kubernetes node licenses that node, regardless of whether a pod is actively running at any given moment.
GoldenGate pod scheduled to Node A: Node A is now licensed.
Pod migrates to Node B during autoscaling: Node B is also licensed.
Pod returns to Node A: you now have two licensed nodes, not one.
Consequence: you must license the entire pool of nodes that GoldenGate pods can reach, including nodes used only during failover or scaling events.
Soft partitioning does not count
CPU affinity, cgroups, Docker resource limits, and Kubernetes resource requests/limits are all soft partitioning. Oracle does not recognize them for licensing scope. Only hard partitioning (dedicated physical partitions) or Oracle-recognized virtual machine boundaries limit the licensed footprint.
Node labels combined with node selectors (or node affinity) are the only Kubernetes-native mechanism Oracle recognizes for limiting the licensed node pool. If GoldenGate pods are constrained to a labeled node group, only those nodes require licensing.
Label the nodes
kubectl label node node-01 oracle-gg=licensed kubectl label node node-02 oracle-gg=licensed
Add nodeSelector to the pod spec
spec:
nodeSelector:
oracle-gg: licensed
With this configuration, the Kubernetes scheduler will not place GoldenGate pods on unlabeled nodes, even during autoscaling. The licensed footprint is bounded by the labeled node group.
Taint the licensed nodes
To prevent non-GoldenGate workloads from occupying licensed node capacity, apply a taint to the labeled nodes and add the matching toleration to GoldenGate pod specs. This keeps the licensed pool dedicated to GoldenGate.
Oracle's Pluggable Database (PDB) architecture provides no licensing isolation for GoldenGate. The K8s node running the Extract process gets licensed based on its processor count, regardless of whether Extract connects at the Container Database (CDB) root level or at the PDB level.
A CDB root-level Extract captures changes across all PDBs simultaneously. A PDB-level Extract captures changes for one PDB. Both approaches license the same K8s node.
Oracle Multitenant option
The Oracle Multitenant database option is a separate license that becomes required when a CDB contains more than three user-created PDBs (on Oracle 19c and later).
| PDB count | Multitenant option required? | Additional cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 PDBs | No | $0 |
| 4+ PDBs | Yes | $17,500/Processor |
If tenants are isolated in separate PDBs within the same CDB and the tenant count exceeds three, the Multitenant option cost stacks on top of GoldenGate costs.
Oracle GoldenGate is licensed by footprint, not by consumption. You must license peak capacity, not average capacity. This creates compliance exposure in dynamic environments where node pools grow and shrink.
If the Kubernetes cluster autoscaler adds a new node and schedules a GoldenGate pod there, that node is now licensed territory. If you haven't budgeted for it, you are out of compliance.
Spot or preemptible nodes that run GoldenGate pods briefly still count as licensed nodes for the period they ran the image. Avoid using spot instances for GoldenGate workloads unless you account for this in your license count.
Use node labels, node selectors, and pod disruption budgets to confine GoldenGate pods to a fixed, pre-licensed node pool. Disable cluster autoscaling for that node group, or set a hard max that matches your licensed processor count.
OCI GoldenGate (the managed service) uses per OCPU-hour pricing, which eliminates peak-capacity compliance risk. It is only available on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and does not run on third-party clouds.
Standby nodes in a high-availability pool must be licensed even when idle if GoldenGate images are pulled to them. Size your license count to include all failover capacity, not just primary nodes.
Fixed monthly or annual charge regardless of data volume or table count. Simple to invoice and predict.
Best for: tenants with predictable, similar workloads.
Price increases as tenants replicate more tables. Aligns cost with value: larger schemas pay more.
Best for: tenants with variable schema sizes.
Charge per GB replicated or per million rows. Requires measurement instrumentation and adds billing complexity.
Best for: tenants with highly variable change rates.
Flat base covers a usage tier. Overages are billed at a per-unit rate. Balances predictability with fairness.
Best for: mixed tenant workloads with a few high-volume outliers.
Big Data target surcharge
GoldenGate for Big Data costs $2,500 more per Processor than Core or Non-Oracle editions. If you are replicating to Kafka, S3, or Snowflake, include this surcharge in your per-tenant cost baseline before applying any markup. Multiple Big Data target types each require a separate license at $20,000/Processor.
Pricing calculation steps
Service provider licensing dependency
Reselling GoldenGate as part of a managed CDC service requires an Oracle Partner Network (OPN) agreement with embedded software licensing rights. Standard on-prem licenses (Enterprise Standard License, Application Specific Full Use, Bring Your Own License) do not permit multi-tenant resale. Contact Oracle Partner Business Development before building a service on GoldenGate.
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