Neon
Serverless Postgres with autoscaling, branching, and a generous free tier for modern applications.
Overview
Neon is a serverless Postgres platform that separates storage and compute, enabling features like autoscaling, branching, and scale-to-zero. It gives you a fully managed Postgres database that starts instantly and costs nothing when idle.
The free tier is generous with 0.5 GB of storage and 190 compute hours per month. The Launch plan at $19/month adds more storage, compute, and support for production workloads. The open-source storage engine means you can also self-host.
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
Pricing estimate
Free tier with 0.5 GB storage and 190 compute hours
Quick info
- Category
- Database
- Starting price
- $19/mo
- Free tier
- Yes — Free tier with 0.5 GB storage and 190 compute hours
- Open source
- Yes
- Best for
- Any size
- Founded
- 2021
Last updated 2026-04-12
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