Backend / bridge
Neon
Serverless Postgres that scales to zero, with database branching: a database-only alternative to Supabase for developer-led AI workflows.
Neon is a serverless Postgres database. It splits storage from compute, so compute suspends when idle and you pay only while it runs, and it can create a copy-on-write branch of a database in seconds. That makes it a good fit for coding agents and developers who want an isolated test database per feature, and for apps whose traffic is spiky. It is a database only: there is no built-in authentication or file storage, so an app that needs logins pairs it with an auth library or provider. Listed plans, checked 29 September 2026: the Free plan includes 100 compute-hours per project, 0.5 GB of storage, 10 branches and 5 GB of egress, with compute suspending after five minutes idle; Launch is pay-as-you-go at $0.106 per compute-hour and $0.35 per GB-month with 500 GB of egress included; Scale is $0.222 per compute-hour with 25 branches included. An earlier version of this page listed a $19 monthly price; Neon's pricing page no longer shows one, and billing is now usage-based.
Strengths
- Scale to zero: idle databases cost nothing for compute, so many small projects are cheap
- Branching creates an isolated copy of the database for a feature or an agent's experiment
- Free plan includes 100 compute-hours, 0.5 GB of storage and 10 branches per project
- Standard Postgres, so it is portable like Supabase
- Usage-based Launch plan means no fixed monthly fee for a small app
Trade-offs
- No built-in authentication or storage, so you assemble those yourself; Supabase bundles them
- The mandatory five-minute suspend on the Free plan adds a cold-start delay on the first request after idle
- Usage-based billing is harder to predict than a flat $25 plan
- Fewer AI builders connect to it directly than to Supabase, so it suits developer-led setups more than non-coders
- Free storage is only 0.5 GB per project
Our take
Neon is the better fit when you want just a database, with branching for safe experiments and near-zero cost at rest. If you are a non-coder using a builder that connects to Supabase, Supabase is the simpler route because it bundles login and storage; choose Neon when your app or agent workflow is developer-led.