Side-by-side comparison of 10+ database free tiers in 2026. Compare Supabase, Neon, Firebase, Turso, MongoDB, CockroachDB, Upstash, Cloudflare D1, and more — storage, compute, connections, and lock-in risk.
Published 2026-03-31 · Not yet reviewed · Figures compiled 2026-03-31, not re-checked since · 21 of 21 figures in the “Pricing Change Timeline” table come from our records for 1,580 developer tools · 19 database services compared
Quick verdict: Supabase wins for most developers — 500 MB Postgres, auth, storage, and real-time in one package. Choose Neon for serverless Postgres with branching and scale-to-zero. Both Neon and Supabase now include auth and storage on their free plans. Firebase has the largest ecosystem (auth, hosting, Cloud Functions) but locks you into Google. Turso is the edge play — SQLite with embedded replicas for ultra-low-latency reads. PlanetScale removed its free tier in April 2024, making it a cautionary tale for relying on free database hosting.
The database landscape has shifted: Serverless Postgres (Neon, Supabase) has won the developer mindshare battle. Edge databases (Turso, Cloudflare D1) are the new frontier. Traditional managed databases (RDS, Cloud SQL) are being replaced by platform-specific alternatives. And the PlanetScale free tier removal showed that even popular free tiers can disappear overnight.
Side-by-side comparison of the top 10 database free tiers.
| Database | Type | Free Storage | Compute / Connections | Special Limits | Branching | Always Free? | Lock-in Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase Source ↗ | Postgres + BaaS | 500 MB | Unlimited API requests, pooled connections | 50K MAU, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress | No | Yes | Low (standard Postgres) |
| Neon CHANGED OCT 1 Source ↗ | Serverless Postgres | 1 GB/project | 100 CU-hours/mo, scale-to-zero | 100 projects, 10 branches/project | Yes (10/project) | Yes | Low (standard Postgres) |
| Firebase Source ↗ | NoSQL (Firestore) + BaaS | 1 GiB | 50K reads/day, 20K writes/day | 50K MAU auth | No | Mostly (Storage removed Feb 2026) | High (proprietary) |
| Turso Source ↗ | Edge SQLite | 5 GB | 500M rows read/mo, 10M rows written/mo | 100 databases | No | Yes | Medium (libSQL fork) |
| MongoDB Atlas Source ↗ | Document NoSQL | 512 MB | Shared cluster (M0), 100 connections | AWS/Azure/GCP regions | No | Yes | Medium (MongoDB query language) |
| Cloudflare D1 Source ↗ | Edge SQLite | 5 GB | 5M rows read/day, 100K rows written/day | Resets daily at midnight UTC | No | Yes | Medium (Cloudflare ecosystem) |
| Upstash Source ↗ | Serverless Redis + KV | 256 MB | 500K commands/mo | QStash: 1K messages/day | No | Yes | Low (Redis-compatible) |
| Convex Source ↗ | Reactive backend | 0.5 GB | 1M function calls/mo | 1 GB file storage, real-time sync | No | Yes | High (proprietary) |
| PlanetScale FREE REMOVED Ended | Serverless MySQL | Was 5 GB | Was 1B row reads/mo | Removed April 2024 | Was included | No (removed) | High (proprietary Vitess) |
Postgres is the developer favorite for relational data. Four major managed Postgres options offer free tiers with very different trade-offs.
| Provider | Storage | Compute | Branching | Scale-to-Zero | Extra Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase Source ↗ | 500 MB | Shared instance, always-on | No | Pauses after 1 week inactive | Auth (50K MAU), Storage (1 GB), Real-time, Edge Functions | Full-stack apps |
| Neon CHANGED OCT 1 Source ↗ | 1 GB/project | 100 CU-hours/mo, auto-scales | 10 branches/project | Yes (instant resume) | Database branching, point-in-time restore, connection pooling | Postgres purists, CI/CD preview DBs |
| Nile Source ↗ | 1 GB | 50M query tokens, 500 max connections | No | Always-on (no cold starts) | Built-in multi-tenancy, unlimited tenant DBs | SaaS / multi-tenant apps |
Backend-as-a-Service platforms bundle a database with auth, hosting, and serverless functions. Great for getting started fast, but watch for lock-in.
| Provider | Database Type | Free Storage | Auth | Functions | Real-time | Lock-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firebase ECOSYSTEM LOCK-IN Source ↗ | Firestore (document) | 1 GiB | 50K MAU | None on Spark (Blaze only) | Yes | High — proprietary API, hard to migrate |
| Supabase OPEN SOURCE Source ↗ | Postgres (relational) | 500 MB | 50K MAU | Edge Functions | Yes | Low — standard Postgres, self-hostable |
| Appwrite Cloud CHANGED JUN 29 Source ↗ | Document-based | 2 GB across 2 projects | 75K MAU | 750K executions/mo | Yes | Low — fully open-source, self-hostable |
| Convex Source ↗ | Reactive document | 0.5 GB | Via Clerk/Auth0 integration | 1M calls/mo | Yes (built-in) | High — proprietary query language |
Edge databases replicate data close to users for ultra-low-latency reads. The new frontier in database architecture.
| Provider | Engine | Free Storage | Read Limits | Write Limits | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turso Source ↗ | libSQL (SQLite fork) | 5 GB | 500M rows/mo | 10M rows/mo | Multi-region reads, mobile/IoT |
| Cloudflare D1 Source ↗ | SQLite | 5 GB | 5M rows/day | 100K rows/day | Cloudflare Workers ecosystem |
| PocketBase Unconfirmed | SQLite | Unlimited (self-hosted) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Single-binary backend, hobby projects |
For caching, session storage, rate limiting, and real-time counters. Redis-compatible options dominate this category.
| Provider | Engine | Free Storage | Free Operations | Persistence | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upstash Source ↗ | Redis-compatible | 256 MB | 500K commands/mo | Yes | Serverless apps, rate limiting |
| Cloudflare KV Source ↗ | Key-value | 1 GB | 100K reads/day, 1K writes/day | Yes (eventually consistent) | Edge config, feature flags |
| Momento FREE REMOVED Ended | Cache + pub/sub | Removed Sept 2026 — was 5 GB transfer/mo | Was unlimited within that transfer limit | Cache only | High-throughput caching |
| Redis Cloud Source ↗ | Redis | 30 MB | Unlimited (shared) | Yes | Dev/test Redis instances |
Essential for AI/ML workloads — similarity search, RAG pipelines, and embedding storage. The fastest-growing database category in 2026.
| Provider | Free Vectors | Free Storage | Deployment | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weaviate CHANGED JUN 17 Source ↗ | Unlimited self-hosted. Cloud: 100,000 objects | Unlimited self-hosted. Cloud: 1 GB memory, 10 GB disk | OSS: free. Cloud: Free Forever, 1 cluster, 1 collection | Self-hosted vector search |
| Zilliz Cloud Source ↗ | Up to 5 collections | 5 GB | Free tier, no credit card | Managed Milvus, large-scale vector search |
| LanceDB Source ↗ | Unlimited (embedded) | Unlimited (embedded) | OSS: free. Cloud: $100 credits | Embedded vector search, local development |
| Upstash Vector Source ↗ | 200M vectors × dimensions | 1 GB, up to 1,536 dimensions | Serverless, no credit card. 10K queries or updates a day | Lightweight RAG, serverless apps |
Postgres + auth (50K MAU) + file storage (1 GB) + real-time + Edge Functions. Everything you need in one service with standard Postgres underneath. View Supabase details →
Best developer experience for Postgres. Branching lets you create instant database copies for CI/CD preview environments. Scale-to-zero means you only pay compute when queries run. Up to 100 free projects. Neon vs Supabase comparison →
Unmatched mobile SDK ecosystem. Firestore real-time sync, Firebase Auth, Cloud Messaging, and Crashlytics — all free tier. Just be aware of the proprietary lock-in and the Feb 2026 Storage removal from Spark plan. Supabase vs Firebase comparison →
5 GB storage with embedded replicas for reads at the edge. libSQL (SQLite fork) means familiar SQL with no ORM required. Best for apps where read latency matters more than write throughput. View Turso details →
Zilliz Cloud: 5 GB free managed Milvus with up to 5 collections. Weaviate: unlimited self-hosted. For simple RAG prototypes, Upstash Vector (200M vectors × dimensions free) gets you started fastest. AI/ML tools guide →
CockroachDB: CockroachDB closed its free Basic plan to new deployments on 2026-09-15; new Cloud organizations get a 30-day free trial with $400 in credit. Neon: serverless Postgres with usage-based pricing beyond free tier. Both have Postgres-compatible wire protocols for easy migration.
In April 2024, PlanetScale removed its free Hobby plan — one of the most impactful free tier removals in developer tooling history.
PlanetScale retired its Hobby plan on April 8, 2024. Its FAQ: "Databases which are not upgraded by April 8th will be put into sleep mode. If you need to retrieve your data after April 8th, you will be able to temporarily wake your database for 24 hours." The free tier had been generous: 5 GB storage, 1 billion row reads/month, 10 million row writes/month, and database branching. Thousands of developers had to migrate overnight.
PlanetScale's free tier, removed in April 2024, was widely recommended in tutorials, courses, and starter templates. Its removal broke thousands of hobby projects and forced a mass migration to Neon, Supabase, and Turso. It demonstrated that even popular, well-funded companies can eliminate free tiers when business priorities shift.
1. Prefer standard Postgres. If you use standard SQL, migration is straightforward. PlanetScale's Vitess-based MySQL with custom branching was harder to migrate from.
2. Check our Free Tier Risk Index — we score 37 vendors by free tier sustainability risk.
3. Have a migration plan. Export your schema and data regularly. Test imports on your backup database provider.
4. Watch for signals: funding changes, pricing restructuring, reduced limits. We track all of these in our pricing changes timeline.
Recent database-related pricing changes from our tracker. See the full timeline for all 424 tracked changes.
| Date | Provider | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| discovered Oct 4, 2026 · effective date unknown | SurrealDB Cloud | The free tier now includes a compute instance with 0.25 vCPU and 1 GB memory, but also lists several paid tiers with varying compute and storage options. The free tier is now explicitly a 'Start' plan with hourly billing for additional resources beyond the free limits. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Oct 1, 2026 | Neon | Neon raised the Free plan's Postgres storage from 0.5 GB to 1 GB per project and added a limit of 20 GB across all of an account's projects. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Sep 15, 2026 | CockroachDB | CockroachDB stopped offering its free Basic plan (50 million RUs and 10 GiB of storage free per month) to new deployments on 2026-09-15, when it moved new clusters to Cockroach Continuum pricing. New Cloud organizations now get a 30-day free trial with $400 in credit. Clusters created before 2026-09-15 stay on their existing plans during their current term. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| discovered Sep 7, 2026 · effective date unknown | Chroma | The free tier has changed. The current pricing page shows a Starter plan with $5 in free credits and usage-based pricing for writes, storage, and queries. Unconfirmed. We could not check this change against an archived copy of Chroma's page, so it does not count toward the rating. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| discovered Sep 5, 2026 · effective date unknown | Prisma Accelerate | The free tier now offers 200,000 operations/month for Prisma Postgres, not 100,000 operations/month. The free tier also includes 1M requests/month for Prisma Compute, 360 GB-hours memory, 4 active vCPU-hours, and 10 GB outbound bandwidth. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective between Jun 18, 2026 and Sep 3, 2026 | Turbopuffer | The vendor now has a $16/month minimum usage requirement for the 'scale' tier, effectively removing the truly pay-as-you-go option. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective between Jul 11, 2026 and Aug 28, 2026 | codehooks.io | The free tier now has significantly reduced API call limits (1/sec, 500/day). Previously 60/minute. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| discovered Aug 28, 2026 · effective date unknown | ScaleGrid Startup Program | The deal now has specific eligibility criteria (less than $1.5M in revenue and funding, new to ScaleGrid). The discount is now tiered: 50% off for 12 months on BYOC plans (medium or larger) and 25% off dedicated hosting (medium or larger). Small plans get 50% off BYOC and 25% off dedicated for 3 months. Previously 'up to $50,000 for a year with 50% off'. Unconfirmed. We could not check this change against an archived copy of ScaleGrid Startup Program's page, so it does not count toward the rating. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Jun 29, 2026 | Appwrite Cloud | Appwrite began deleting Free projects that stay paused for 90 days, with all their resources. Owners get email alerts before anything is deleted. Source ↗ | HIGH |
| effective Jun 17, 2026 | Weaviate | Weaviate Cloud replaced its 14-day sandbox trial with an always-free cluster (100,000 objects, 1 GB memory, 10 GB disk, 1 collection), announced on 2026-06-17: "The Weaviate Cloud managed database is now genuinely free, without a credit card or time expiration." Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| effective Apr 30, 2026 | Appwrite Cloud | Appwrite began enforcing Realtime limits on 2026-04-30, with the Free plan at 2 million messages a month, down from the 3 million its pricing page had listed, and a new 256 KB maximum message size. It announced the enforcement on 2026-03-23. Source ↗ | MEDIUM |
| discovered Apr 19, 2026 · effective date unknown | Hasura | Hasura DDN Free plan replaced the legacy Hasura Cloud free tier (60 req/min, 1 GB passthrough). Free tier now offers unlimited API requests, unlimited concurrent users, and unlimited models at any scale. Restrictions: 1 supergraph developer and 15-minute observability retention. Source ↗ | HIGH |
A source check reads each cited page for that service's name and a price. The figures in the tables above are from our own records, except for the services whose entry below dates them to a read of the vendor's own page.
Compare database free tiers, track pricing changes, and plan your data stack — all from your AI coding assistant.
claude mcp add agentdeals -- npx -y agentdealsWorks with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf → Full setup guide
We publish no ranking of these. Nothing we record measures popularity or generosity, so naming a best or a top few would be our preference rather than our data. We hold 45 Databases services in our catalogue, each with the free tier terms. This page compares them on free tier limits, what each charges past them, and lock-in risk; the table above carries the figures side by side. Our ranking rule is published at /criteria.
We name no most generous free tier here, because generosity is not one quantity: the columns above measure different things and a tier that leads one trails another. A badge on this page reads "Most Generous All-in-One", and we do not repeat it here: no column on the page carries the dimension the label names.
Each provider structures free tier limits differently — some cap storage, others cap requests or compute hours. Our comparison table provides exact numbers for each provider. Check the growth cost analysis section to understand what you'll pay when you exceed free tier limits.