Compare Neon and Supabase free tiers side-by-side. Storage, compute, branching, auth, edge functions, realtime — verified data, cost-at-scale analysis, and database alternatives. Compiled 2026-03-26.

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Neon vs Supabase — Free Tier Comparison

Published 2026-03-26 · Reviewed 2026-09-13, corrections outstanding · Figures compiled 2026-03-26 · 5 of 5 figures in the “Other Database Alternatives” table come from our records for 1,574 developer tools

100
Neon Projects
2
Supabase Projects
$0.106/CU-hour
Neon Launch — usage-based, no monthly minimum
$25/mo
Supabase Pro

Quick verdict: Both free plans include Postgres, auth, file storage and functions. Choose Neon for database branching on the free plan, scale-to-zero after 5 minutes idle, and up to 100 free projects. Choose Supabase for realtime subscriptions, which Neon's pricing page does not list.

What each free plan includes: Neon's Free plan gives 100 CU-hours and 0.5 GB of Postgres storage per project, auth up to 60k MAU, 5 GB of object storage and Functions, across up to 100 projects. Supabase's Free plan gives a 500 MB database, 50,000 MAU, 1 GB of file storage, 500,000 Edge Function invocations and realtime, across 2 active projects that pause after a week of inactivity.

Jump to section

  1. Free Tier Comparison Table
  2. Key Differences
  3. Cost at Scale
  4. When to Choose Each
  5. Other Database Alternatives
  6. Recent Deal Changes

1. Free Tier Comparison Table

Side-by-side comparison using verified data from our index. Neon and Supabase free tiers. Compiled 2026-03-26.

FeatureNeon FreeSupabase FreeNotes
Database Storage 0.5 GB per project 500 MB Similar raw limits. Neon is per-project (up to 100 projects = potential 50 GB total), Supabase is total across 2 projects
Projects 100 2 Neon allows 50× more projects — ideal for microservices, multi-tenant apps, or per-client databases
Compute 100 CU-hours/month, up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM) Shared compute (limited resources) Neon offers explicit compute hours with auto-scaling. Supabase shared compute has no published limits
Branching 10 branches per project Paid only (Pro+) Neon includes branching on the free plan; Supabase requires a paid plan.
Auth (MAU) 60K MAU (Neon Auth) 50K MAU (Supabase Auth) Both include auth on the free plan.
File Storage 5 GB object storage per project 1 GB Both include file storage on the free plan.
Functions 1M invocations, 10 active capacity-hours a month 500K invocations/month Both include functions on the free plan.
Realtime None 200 concurrent connections Supabase includes realtime subscriptions. Neon's pricing page lists no realtime service.
Scale-to-Zero Yes (5 min idle timeout) Pauses after 1 week inactivity Neon scales to zero quickly and resumes in ~1s. Supabase pauses entirely after a week — requires manual unpause
Connection Pooling 10K connections via pooler Pooler included (Supavisor) Both include connection pooling. Neon's 10K limit is generous for serverless workloads
Neon verified data: Serverless Postgres with branching — free tier includes 100 CU-hours/month per project, 0.5 GB storage per project, up to 100 projects, 10 branches per project, Neon Auth (60K MAU), auto-scaling up to 2 CU, scale-to-zero, 5 GB of Object Storage, and Functions (10 active capacity-hours, 400 waiting capacity-hours, 1M invocations)
Verified: 2026-09-13 · Full profile →
Supabase verified data: Postgres development platform: database, Auth, Storage, Realtime and Edge Functions. The Free plan is $0: unlimited API requests, 50,000 monthly active users, a 500 MB database on a shared CPU with 500 MB RAM, 5 GB egress plus 5 GB cached egress, 1 GB file storage, 500,000 Edge Function invocations, and Realtime with 200 concurrent connections and 2 million messages a month. Free projects are paused after 1 week of inactivity, with a limit of 2 active projects. Pro starts at $25 a month for the first project and includes $10 a month of compute credits, enough for one Micro instance.
Verified: 2026-08-17 · Full profile →

2. Key Differences

Beyond the raw numbers, these architectural differences shape which platform fits your use case.

Both Are Backend Platforms Now

Both free plans bundle Postgres with auth, file storage and functions. Neon made Object Storage, Functions and Managed Better Auth generally available on 2026-09-17 (neon.com/blog/neon-backend-is-ga). Supabase also includes realtime subscriptions, which Neon's pricing page does not list.

Project Limits: 100 vs. 2

Neon's 100 free projects is the standout difference. Each project gets its own 0.5 GB storage and 100 CU-hours/month. This makes Neon ideal for per-client databases, microservices architectures, or agencies managing multiple sites. Supabase's 2-project limit means you'll hit the paid tier quickly if you need more than a couple apps.

Branching: Dev Workflows vs. Production-First

Neon's database branching (10 branches per project) lets you create instant copy-on-write database copies for development, testing, and previews. This is transformative for CI/CD — branch your database like you branch your code. Supabase doesn't offer branching on the free tier (it's a Pro feature), so testing against production-like data requires manual setup.

Scale-to-Zero vs. Inactivity Pausing

Neon scales to zero after 5 minutes of idle and resumes in ~1 second — designed for intermittent workloads. Supabase pauses projects entirely after 1 week of inactivity, requiring manual unpause from the dashboard. For always-on projects this doesn't matter, but for side projects you check weekly, Neon's approach is significantly better.

3. Cost at Scale

What happens when you outgrow the free tier? Neon Launch (pay for what you use, no monthly minimum) vs Supabase Pro (from $25/mo).

MetricNeonSupabaseNotes
Starter paid plan Launch: pay for what you use, no monthly minimum Pro: from $25/mo Neon bills $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month. Supabase Pro includes $10/month of compute credits.
Storage included None included on Launch: $0.35/GB-month, no cap 8 GB disk per project + 100 GB file storage (Pro) Neon Launch bills object storage at $0.023/GB-month.
Compute $0.106 per CU-hour (Launch), autoscaling up to 16 CU $10/month compute credits, enough for one Micro instance (Pro) Neon bills nothing while compute is scaled to zero.
Branching Included on all plans Pro+ only Neon branching is free-tier-up. Supabase gates it behind Pro
Scale-to-zero All plans Not available (always-on) Neon saves money by scaling down when idle. Supabase bills for always-on compute
Spending protection Usage-based billing, per-project caps $25/mo base + usage, spend caps available Both offer billing alerts. Supabase has a fixed base; Neon is fully usage-based
Bottom line on scaling: Neon Launch has no fixed price. It bills $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month with no monthly minimum, and nothing while compute is scaled to zero. Supabase Pro starts at $25 a month with 8 GB of disk and $10 of compute credits. Both paid plans include auth, file storage and functions; Supabase also includes realtime.

4. When to Choose Each

Decision Guide

Choose Neon if:

You need Postgres with branching for dev/test workflows, you're running many small projects or microservices (100 free projects), you want scale-to-zero for intermittent workloads. Best for: serverless apps, microservices, CI/CD-heavy teams, agencies.

Choose Supabase if:

You want realtime subscriptions alongside Postgres, auth, file storage and edge functions on one platform. Neon's pricing page does not list realtime. Best for: apps that push live updates to clients.

Consider alternatives if:

For embedded/edge databases, try Turso (SQLite at the edge, 100 databases free). For a self-hosted BaaS, try Appwrite or PocketBase. See alternatives below.

5. Other Database Alternatives

If neither Neon nor Supabase fits, these database platforms offer competitive free tiers.

ProviderTierFree Tier Details
CockroachDB Trial Distributed SQL database. No free plan for new deployments since 2026-09-15, when CockroachDB moved new clusters to Cockroach Continuum pricing. New Cloud organizations get a 30-day free trial with $400 in credit; Standard is $0.092 per vCPU-hour. Clusters created before 2026-09-15 stay on their existing plans during their current term.
Turso Free Edge SQLite — 100 databases, 5 GB storage, 500M rows read/month, 10M rows written/month free
Convex Free Reactive backend — 1M function calls/month, 0.5 GB database + vector storage, 1 GB file storage, real-time sync
Notable mentions: Turso gives 100 databases with 5 GB storage for SQLite-at-the-edge workloads. For a Firebase-like self-hosted experience, see Supabase vs Firebase. See our full database comparison for 30+ options.

6. Recent Deal Changes

From our deal change tracker:

Neon — 2025-08-14

Neon moved its paid Launch and Scale plans to usage-based pricing with a $5 monthly minimum. The Free plan went from 0.5 GB of storage and 191.9 compute hours per account to 0.5 GB and 50 CU-hours per project, across up to 10 projects. Source ↗

Impact: medium · Source →

Supabase — 2026-02-01

Project pause policy tightened — inactive projects now pause after 1 week Source ↗

Impact: medium · Source →

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Methodology: 5 of 5 figures in the “Other Database Alternatives” table come from our records for 1,574 developer tools. Neon data verified against neon.com/pricing (2026-09-13). Supabase data verified against supabase.com/pricing (2026-08-17). Cost-at-scale analysis based on published pricing tiers. Deal changes tracked from official vendor announcements.

This comparison covers Neon vs Supabase free tiers as of March 2026. For more database options, see our full database comparison with 30+ free options. Browse all 1,574 developer tools at /search.

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