Neon
Serverless Postgres
Neon is a fully managed serverless Postgres with branching, autoscaling, and a generous free tier.
Our Verdict
Neon is the best serverless Postgres for Vercel/Next.js projects. Scale-to-zero billing is perfect for side projects.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- +True serverless (scale to zero)
- +Database branching
- +Great free tier
- +Fast cold starts
Cons
- -Newer platform
- -Smaller community
- -No self-hosting
Build vs Buy with AI
Buy This ToolHard to Build3-6 months for serverless architecture
Neon's serverless architecture with scale-to-zero and instant branching is built on custom storage technology. Standard Postgres doesn't scale to zero.
Key Considerations
- •Scale-to-zero requires custom storage layer
- •Database branching needs copy-on-write filesystem
- •For always-on workloads, regular Postgres works fine
- •The free tier is generous enough for most side projects
Features
PostgreSQLYes
BranchingYes
AutoscalingYes
Scale to zeroYes
Built-in AuthNo
Self-hosted optionNo
Read replicasYes
Best For
Serverless appsVercel usersCost-conscious projects
Pricing
Free tier available
Free$0
- - 0.5GB storage
- - 1 project
- - Branching
Launch$19/mo
- - 10GB storage
- - Unlimited projects
- - Autoscaling
Scale$69/mo
- - 50GB storage
- - Read replicas
- - Priority support
Compare Neon
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Last updated: 2026-01-15