Neon
Serverless Postgres that scales to zero — you only pay when your database is actually being used
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Free tier, Pro from $19/mo
Neon is Postgres that disappears when you are not using it. On the free tier, your database scales to zero during quiet periods and wakes up when a request comes in. This means a side project that gets occasional traffic costs nothing, not $39/month like PlanetScale.
The tradeoff is cold starts — that first query after a period of inactivity takes a second or two while the database wakes up. For APIs and web apps, this is usually fine. For real-time applications, it might matter. The branching feature is great for testing migrations safely. If you want Postgres without paying for idle time, Neon is the best option right now.
What's good
- Scales to zero on the free tier — no cost when your app has no traffic
- Database branching for safe schema changes and testing
- Generous free tier with 0.5 GB storage and autoscaling
Watch out for
- Cold starts on free tier add 1-2 seconds to the first query after inactivity
- Newer service than established options like RDS or Supabase
- Compute limits on free tier can bottleneck during traffic spikes