My stack

    Neon reviews

    Serverless Postgres database with autoscaling, instant branching and point-in-time restore, billed by compute and storage usage.

    Visit website
    ToolTrim verdict3.6/ 5Average

    The free tier's 100 CU-hours and 0.5 GB storage per project mark the point where a real project needs to move to Launch's $0.106/CU-hour, pay-as-you-go pricing.

    Neon, preview 1
    About

    In practice. What you can do with Neon.

    Neon is a serverless Postgres database that autoscales compute and scales to zero when idle, with instant branching to spin up isolated database copies for development, testing or PR previews, plus point-in-time restore.

    The free tier covers 100 CU-hours, 0.5 GB storage and up to 100 projects. Paid usage has no flat monthly price: Launch bills $0.106 per compute-hour and $0.35 per GB-month with no minimum, Scale raises the ceiling to 56 CU autoscaling and a 30-day restore window at $0.222 per compute-hour. It suits developers who want a standard Postgres database without managing servers, more than teams needing predictable flat pricing.

    Practical uses

    • PrototypingSpin up a free-tier Postgres database with instant branching for a new project at no cost under 100 CU-hours.
    • Preview environmentsBranch the database per pull request on the Launch plan instead of sharing one staging database.

    Features & use cases

    App builder
    Nocode web
    Devops

    Pros and cons. What Neon does well, and what to expect.

    Pros

    • Generous free tier: 100 projects and 0.5 GB storage each with no card required.
    • Instant database branching fits development, testing and PR preview workflows directly.

    Cons

    • No flat monthly price on paid tiers, so cost depends on actively monitoring compute-hour and storage usage.
    • Free plan storage is capped at 0.5 GB per project, too small beyond prototypes.

    When it makes sense. Keep Neon, or challenge it?

    Keep if

    • You want a serverless Postgres database with instant branching for development or preview environments.

    Challenge if

    • You need a fixed, predictable monthly bill rather than usage-based compute and storage pricing.

    Our verdict. What to know about Neon.

    Why this verdict

    Average

    Added value

    The free tier covers 100 CU-hours, 0.5 GB storage and up to 100 projects with no card required to start, and paid usage has no monthly minimum.

    Simplicity

    Neutral score: time to a first connected database is not covered by the collected sources.

    Fit for purpose

    Autoscaling, scale-to-zero, instant branching and point-in-time restore work as advertised across the stated plans.

    Performance

    The Scale plan autoscales up to 56 CU with unlimited storage and a 30-day history window, indicating a high capability ceiling.

    Reversibility

    Neon runs standard Postgres, which is portable through the standard pg_dump/export tooling any Postgres database supports.

    NeonPrice on quote
    Visit

    What’s next?