What is the difference between Neon and Turso?

Neon is best for Developers who want serverless Postgres with branching and scale-to-zero, while Turso is best for Developers wanting SQLite at the edge. Neon starts at $19/mo and Turso starts at Free.

Is Neon or Turso cheaper?

Neon starts at $19/mo with a free tier. Turso starts at Free with a free tier.

Is there a free alternative to Turso?

Both Neon and Turso offer free tiers.

Neon vs Turso

Neon is Serverless Postgres with autoscaling, branching, and a generous free tier for modern applications, while Turso is edge-hosted distributed database built on libSQL (SQLite fork) for ultra-low latency reads. The biggest difference up front: Turso is free, while Neon starts at $19/mo. Neon is built for developers who want serverless postgres with branching and scale-to-zero, whereas Turso targets developers wanting sqlite at the edge.

At a glance

	Neon	Turso
Best for	Developers who want serverless Postgres with branching and scale-to-zero	Developers wanting SQLite at the edge
Starting price	$19/mo	Free
Free tier	✓	✓
Open source	✓	✓
Free tier available	✓	✓
Open source	✓	✓
Autoscaling	✓	—
Branching	✓	✓
Edge SQLite	—	✓
Embedded Replicas	—	✓
Multi-Region	—	✓
Scale-to-Zero	✓	—
Serverless Postgres	✓	—

Neon

Strengths

Scale-to-zero means no cost when database is idle
Database branching for development and preview environments
Fully compatible Postgres with extensions support
Generous free tier for development and small projects

Weaknesses

Cold starts when scaling from zero can add latency
Relatively young platform compared to managed Postgres competitors
Connection pooling needed for serverless frameworks
Limited regions compared to larger cloud providers

Try Neon → Full review

Turso

Strengths

Open source and transparent
Includes Edge SQLite as a core feature, purpose-built for database workflows
Fully open-source — you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in
Free 9 GB total storage — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done

Weaknesses

Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Ecosystem of third-party integrations is smaller than the market leaders in database
Community support can be slower than the dedicated support teams at commercial alternatives

Try Turso → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Turso is completely free (Free 9 GB total storage), which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Neon starts at $19/mo, but Free tier with 0.5 GB storage and 190 compute hours. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.

Feature gaps: Neon offers Autoscaling, Scale-to-Zero and Serverless Postgres that Turso lacks. Turso brings Edge SQLite, Embedded Replicas and Multi-Region that Neon does not have. Both share Branching.

Team fit: Neon is geared toward any size teams, while Turso is aimed at small teams teams. Pick the one that matches where your team is today and where it is headed — migrating tools later is always painful.

Open source: Both Neon and Turso are open source, so self-hosting and code audits are on the table with either choice.

Where each tool shines: Neon's biggest strengths are: scale-to-zero means no cost when database is idle. database branching for development and preview environments. Turso's biggest strengths are: open source and transparent. includes edge sqlite as a core feature, purpose-built for database workflows.

Watch out for: With Neon, users commonly note that cold starts when scaling from zero can add latency. With Turso, the main complaint is that free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade.

Choose Neon if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: developers who want serverless postgres with branching and scale-to-zero
You specifically need Autoscaling and Scale-to-Zero
You care about database branching for development and preview environments
Your team size fits the any size profile Neon is designed for
The free tier works for you: free tier with 0.5 gb storage and 190 compute hours

Choose Turso if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: developers wanting sqlite at the edge
Budget is a hard constraint — Turso is free, Neon is not
You specifically need Edge SQLite and Embedded Replicas
You care about includes edge sqlite as a core feature, purpose-built for database workflows
Your team size fits the small teams profile Turso is designed for