Cockroach Labs is the company behind CockroachDB, a cloud-native, distributed SQL database built for the cloud. The software is designed to scale horizontally and provide high availability, making it suitable for applications that require fault tolerance and resilience. The architecture of CockroachDB allows it to automatically handle data replication and distribution across multiple nodes, which helps to ensure that even in the event of hardware failures, data remains available and consistent. The free tier offered by Cockroach Labs is aimed at developers wanting to explore the capabilities of CockroachDB without incurring costs. This tier provides limited resources, allowing users to build and prototype applications using the full suite of CockroachDB functionalities without the overhead of managing database infrastructure. Overall, CockroachDB is particularly suited for applications that demand low-latency access to data across various regions, making it a strong candidate for modern, globally-distributed applications and services.