Neon vs Supabase — free-tier comparison
Neon and Supabase both provide managed PostgreSQL, but they solve different-sized problems. Neon focuses on serverless Postgres and branching; Supabase adds authentication, storage, realtime, APIs and edge functions around the database.
At a glance
Choose Neon when you want a focused Postgres database for an existing application stack. Choose Supabase when you want PostgreSQL plus a ready-made backend platform. The better free tier depends less on headline storage than on whether you would otherwise need to assemble auth, file storage and realtime yourself.
Choose Neon if
- You want standard Postgres without adopting a full BaaS
- Your app already has authentication, APIs and file storage
- Database branching and scale-to-zero compute fit your workflow
Choose Supabase if
- You need auth, storage, realtime and generated APIs together
- You want row-level security exposed directly to client applications
- You prefer one dashboard for most backend components
Key differences
| Neon | Supabase | |
|---|---|---|
| Product scope | Serverless PostgreSQL platform | PostgreSQL backend-as-a-service |
| Authentication | Bring another provider or build it | Supabase Auth included |
| Storage and realtime | Use separate services | Integrated products and APIs |
| Free inactivity behavior | Compute can scale to zero | Inactive free projects can pause |
Database
100 projects, 100 CU-hours/month per project, 0.5GB storage/project
Paid from Usage-based ($0.106/CU-hour + $0.35/GB-month)
- 100 projects
- 100 CU-hours/month per project
- 0.5GB storage per project
- Real serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero compute
- Instant copy-on-write database branching
- 0.5GB storage on the free plan
Best for
- Serverless and edge apps that need Postgres
- Preview and test databases branched per pull request
BaaS
500 MB database, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress plus 5 GB cached egress
Paid from $25/month
- 500MB database space
- 1GB file storage
- 5 GB egress plus 5 GB cached egress
- Real PostgreSQL with full SQL and extensions
- Auth, storage, realtime and auto-generated APIs out of the box
- Free projects can be paused after inactivity
Best for
- Web and mobile apps needing auth plus a relational database
- Realtime features such as chat, presence and live updates
The catch?
Neon
- Scales to zero when idle
- Some constraints remain unconfirmed
Supabase
- Pauses when idle
- Suspends at the limit
Detailed comparison
| Neon | Supabase | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier & pricing | ||
| Free tier ↑ better | Perpetual | Perpetual (pauses) |
| Paid from ↓ better | Usage-based | $25/mo |
| Regions ↑ better | Multi-region | Multi-region |
| BaaS | ||
| Database size ↑ better | — | 500 MB |
| Monthly active users ↑ better | — | 50,000 MAU |
| File storage ↑ better | — | 1 GB |
| Database | ||
| Storage ↑ better | 0.5 GB | — |
| Branches ↑ better | Included | — |
FAQ
Neon is usually simpler for database-only needs. Supabase is stronger when the application also needs managed authentication, storage, realtime and APIs.
The core database is PostgreSQL, so schema and data are portable in many cases. Supabase Auth, Storage, Realtime, extensions and edge functions need separate migration work.
Both can work. Compare connection pooling, wake-up behavior, region placement and the function provider rather than choosing from the database brand alone.