A side project costs $0 on the free plans of Neon, Supabase and Prisma Postgres. For a 10 GB production app on an always-on 1 GB instance, PlanetScale's single node ($10 a month) and Xata ($11.80) are cheapest, Neon Launch comes to $22.85 and Supabase Pro to $25.25. At 100 GB on an 8 GB instance, Supabase Pro is $136.50 a month against $189.76 on Neon Launch. Prices read on vendor pages on October 28, 2026.
Eight hosted Postgres services priced on the same three workloads, from a free side project to a 100 GB production database, with every bill worked out.
Serverless Postgres pricing looks similar on the headline, a free tier and a low entry price, but the services bill on different meters: Neon charges per compute-hour and scales to zero, Supabase sells a flat plan plus instance sizes, PlanetScale and Xata price fixed instances, and Prisma Postgres counts database operations. The cheapest choice flips with workload size, so we priced every service on the same three workloads instead of comparing entry prices.
Toolradar data: our serverless databases category tracks 8 tools, and 63% of them offer a free or freemium plan, which is why a side project rarely needs to pay. The serverless database statistics cover the wider category, including non-Postgres engines.
Methodology: we compared eight hosted Postgres or Postgres-compatible services, chosen from the 8 serverless database tools we track, on the compute, storage and plan rates published on each vendor's pricing page or pricing documentation on October 28, 2026, using US East (N. Virginia) rates where prices vary by region. Bills are our arithmetic on those rates for 730 hours a month, and we did not benchmark performance. For free tiers only, see our free database hosting guide.
Top Picks
Selected by pricing managed and serverless Postgres services on vendor-published compute, storage and plan rates at three workload sizes. How we rate
Usage-billed serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero, branching and a permanent free plan.
Starting price
Free; Launch $0.106 per CU-hour
Best for
Apps and dev environments that sit idle much of the day, and teams that use database branches.
Postgres with auth, file storage, APIs and a dashboard, sold as a flat plan plus instance size.
Starting price
Free; Pro from $25/mo
4.6 (233 reviews)
Best for
Product teams that want the database and the backend services in one predictable plan.
Fixed-size Postgres clusters with single-node, 3-node HA and Metal NVMe options.
Starting price
Single node from $5/mo
4.2 (6 reviews)
Best for
Always-on production databases where predictable instance pricing or a 3-zone standby matters.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neon | Free; Launch $0.106 per CU-hour | n/a | Apps and dev environments that sit idle much of the day, and teams that use database branches. |
| Supabase | Free; Pro from $25/mo | 4.6 233 reviews | Product teams that want the database and the backend services in one predictable plan. |
| PlanetScale Postgres | Single node from $5/mo | 4.2 6 reviews | Always-on production databases where predictable instance pricing or a 3-zone standby matters. |
| Xata | From $0.012/hr ($9/mo micro) | n/a | Teams and AI agents that create many short-lived database branches. |
| Prisma Postgres | Free; Starter $10/mo | 4.5 13 reviews | TypeScript teams on Prisma ORM with modest, predictable query volume. |
| Crunchy Bridge | From $9/mo (Hobby-0 on AWS) | n/a | Teams that want classic managed Postgres with the lowest storage rate here. |
| Nile | Free; Pro $15/mo | n/a | B2B SaaS teams that want tenant-level isolation and analytics built in. |
| CockroachDB Cloud | Standard $0.092 per vCPU-hour | 4.3 29 reviews | Teams that want distributed SQL and resilience more than the lowest bill. |
- Starting price
- Free; Launch $0.106 per CU-hour
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: Apps and dev environments that sit idle much of the day, and teams that use database branches.
- Pro: Suspended compute costs $0, after 5 minutes idle by default.
- Pro: No monthly minimum on Launch; invoices under $0.50 are not collected.
- Pro: 10 branches per project on Launch, extra branches $1.50 per month.
- Con: Storage at $0.35 per GB-month is the highest rate here.
- Con: An always-on 2 CU database cost the most of any service we priced at 100 GB.
Neon's Free tier is quite generous, offering 100 CU-hours and 0.5 GB storage per project, making it excellent for development and small projects.
Watch out
CU-hour overages can quickly increase costs.
- Starting price
- Free; Pro from $25/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.6 (233 reviews)
Best for: Product teams that want the database and the backend services in one predictable plan.
- Pro: Pro includes 8 GB disk, 250 GB egress and auth for 100,000 MAU.
- Pro: A monthly compute credit covers the Micro instance.
- Pro: Spend cap on by default on Pro.
- Con: Free projects pause after 1 week of inactivity.
- Con: Point-in-time recovery starts at $100 a month extra.
Supabase is the open-source Firebase alternative that developers actually want to use, Postgres database, authentication, storage, edge functions, and real-time subscriptions in one platform.
Watch out
Free projects pause after 7 days of inactivity: your app goes offline until someone visits it again. Not suitable for any production use, only for development and demos
PlanetScale Postgres
Fixed-size Postgres clusters with single-node, 3-node HA and Metal NVMe options.
- Starting price
- Single node from $5/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.2 (6 reviews)
Best for: Always-on production databases where predictable instance pricing or a 3-zone standby matters.
- Pro: HA clusters include a primary and two replicas across 3 zones.
- Pro: 10 GB of storage included per node.
- Pro: Metal clusters with local NVMe from $50 a month.
- Con: No free plan and no scale-to-zero.
- Con: Storage above the included amount is billed again on each HA node.
PlanetScale removed its free tier in 2024, making it a harder sell for hobbyists.
Watch out
No free tier, even development databases cost $5/mo minimum
- Starting price
- From $0.012/hr ($9/mo micro)
- Free plan
- No
Best for: Teams and AI agents that create many short-lived database branches.
- Pro: No per-branch or per-user fee; storage billed by the minute.
- Pro: Large 8 GB instance at $70 a month.
- Pro: Open-source edition is free to self-host.
- Con: Storage at $0.28 per GB-month is second highest here.
- Con: Cloud starts with a 14-day trial, not a free plan.
It's best for developers and teams needing instant, anonymized Postgres branches for rapid iteration.
Prisma Postgres
Managed Postgres from the Prisma team, billed on database operations rather than instances.
- 4.4 on G2 (12 reviews)
- 5.0 on SourceForge (1 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Starter $10/mo
- Free plan
- Free to use
- Rating
- 4.5 (13 reviews)
Best for: TypeScript teams on Prisma ORM with modest, predictable query volume.
- Pro: Free plan with 200,000 operations and 2 GB storage.
- Pro: Hard spend limit on by default.
- Pro: Business includes 50M operations and 100 GB for $129 a month.
- Con: Extra storage costs $2 per GB on Starter.
- Con: Operations above 1M on Starter cost $8 per million.
- Starting price
- From $9/mo (Hobby-0 on AWS)
- Free plan
- No
Best for: Teams that want classic managed Postgres with the lowest storage rate here.
- Pro: Storage at $0.10 per GB, the lowest rate we found.
- Pro: Prices include infrastructure, backups and data transfer.
- Pro: Runs on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
- Con: No free plan and no scale-to-zero.
- Con: Standard-8 (8 GB) is $140 a month, above PlanetScale and Xata.
However, the lack of transparent pricing suggests it's likely tailored for enterprise clients with custom needs, potentially making it expensive for smaller businesses or those seeking predictable costs.
- Starting price
- Free; Pro $15/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: B2B SaaS teams that want tenant-level isolation and analytics built in.
- Pro: Free plan has no pauses.
- Pro: Pro includes 150M query tokens and 5 GB.
- Pro: Unlimited tenants and vector embeddings.
- Con: Extra storage costs $1.00 per GB on Pro.
- Con: Query-token billing is hard to map to an instance-based budget.
Nile Database offers a generous Free tier with substantial features, making it highly accessible for developers and small projects.
Watch out
Storage overages beyond tier limits
CockroachDB Cloud
Distributed SQL database with a PostgreSQL-compatible interface, billed per vCPU-hour.
- 4.3 on G2 (29 reviews)
- Starting price
- Standard $0.092 per vCPU-hour
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.3 (29 reviews)
Best for: Teams that want distributed SQL and resilience more than the lowest bill.
- Pro: 30-day trial with $400 of credit.
- Pro: Standard plan estimate of about $203 a month for 2 vCPU and 100 GB.
- Pro: Change data capture and cross-region replication sold as per-vCPU add-ons.
- Con: Postgres-compatible, not PostgreSQL itself; check your extensions.
- Con: Mission Critical starts at $0.162 per vCPU-hour.
CockroachDB offers one of the most compelling free tiers in the database market, 50M Request Units and 10 GiB storage per month with scale-to-zero is enough to run a real production app at low traffic for free.
Watch out
Request Unit consumption varies dramatically by query complexity. A simple key lookup costs ~1 RU, but a full table scan or complex JOIN can consume thousands of RUs. The 50M free RUs can evaporate quickly with unoptimized queries.
Other Serverless Databases tools worth considering
More published tools from our Serverless Databases category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
How serverless Postgres is billed
Serverless Postgres is a managed PostgreSQL database where the provider runs the servers, storage and backups, and you pay for usage or a plan rather than renting a whole machine. "Serverless" ranges from true scale-to-zero (Neon, Xata) to fixed instances you resize on demand (Supabase, PlanetScale, Crunchy Bridge).
| Service | Compute meter | Storage billing | Scale to zero | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neon | Compute-unit hours (1 CU is about 4 GB RAM) | Per GB-month, no included storage on paid plans | Yes, after 5 minutes | Yes |
| Supabase | Flat plan plus instance size | 8 GB included on Pro | No | Yes, paused after 1 week inactive |
| PlanetScale Postgres | Fixed instance, single node or 3-node HA | 10 GB included per node | No | No |
| Xata | Fixed instance billed hourly | Per GB-month, billed by the minute | Yes | 14-day trial; open source self-host |
| Prisma Postgres | Database operations | 10 GB included on Starter | Not applicable | Yes |
| Crunchy Bridge | Fixed instance | Flat per-GB rate | No | No |
Two details change real bills. PlanetScale bills network storage on every node, so a highly available 3-node cluster pays for each GB above the included 10 GB three times. Neon's paid plans also charge $0.20 per GB-month for instant-restore history, which depends on how much your data changes and is left out of the bills below.
How much does serverless Postgres cost per month?
Three workloads, priced on vendor rates read October 28, 2026 (US East where regional). An always-on instance runs 730 hours a month. Egress is assumed to stay inside each plan's included allowance. Totals are our arithmetic.
1. Side project (under 500 MB, idle most of the day): $0 on Neon Free, Supabase Free, Prisma Postgres Free and Nile Free. The catches: Supabase pauses a free project after a week without activity, and Neon's free compute suspends after 5 minutes idle and caps each project at 100 CU-hours a month.
2. 10 GB production app, 1 GB RAM instance always on:
| Service | Arithmetic | Monthly bill |
|---|---|---|
| PlanetScale single node PS-10 (Arm) | Instance only, storage inside the included 10 GB | $10.00 |
| Xata micro | $9 instance + 10 GB x $0.28 | $11.80 |
| Crunchy Bridge Hobby-1 | $18 + 10 GB x $0.10 | $19.00 |
| Neon Launch, 0.25 CU | 182.5 CU-hours x $0.106 + 10 GB x $0.35 | $22.85 |
| Supabase Pro + Micro | $25 plan (Micro covered by the compute credit) + 2 extra GB ($0.25) | $25.25 |
| PlanetScale HA PS-10 (Arm), 3 nodes | $30, storage inside the included 10 GB per node | $30.00 |
3. 100 GB app, 8 GB RAM instance always on:
| Service | Arithmetic | Monthly bill |
|---|---|---|
| PlanetScale single node PS-80 (Arm) | $50 + 90 GB x $0.125 | $61.25 |
| Xata large | $70 + 100 GB x $0.28 | $98.00 |
| Supabase Pro + Large | $25 + $110 Large - $10 credit + 92 GB x $0.125 | $136.50 |
| Crunchy Bridge Standard-8 | $140 + 100 GB x $0.10 | $150.00 |
| PlanetScale HA PS-80 (Arm), 3 nodes | $148 + 90 GB x $0.125 x 3 nodes | $181.75 |
| Neon Launch, 2 CU | 1,460 CU-hours x $0.106 + 100 GB x $0.35 | $189.76 |
Where the ranking flips: Neon is the most expensive always-on option at 100 GB but among the cheapest paid choices for a database that is idle most of the day, because suspended compute costs nothing; Xata also scales to zero. At 2 CU, Neon's bill falls in proportion to the hours compute actually runs. The single-node prices are the floor, not like for like: a single node has no standby, while PlanetScale's HA price buys a primary plus two replicas across three availability zones. Prisma Postgres bills operations instead of instances, so its Starter and Business plans fit these sizes only if your query volume stays inside their included operations.
Key Features to Look For
Scale to zero (Essential)
Idle compute stops billing. Neon suspends after 5 minutes and Xata scales to zero, which suits dev branches, previews and low-traffic apps.
Database branching (Essential)
Copy-on-write branches for previews and tests. Neon includes 10 branches per project on Launch, then $1.50 per branch-month; Xata does not bill per branch.
High availability (Essential)
A standby in another zone keeps the app up during failures. PlanetScale's HA SKUs include a primary and two replicas; single-node plans have no standby.
Point-in-time recovery (Important)
Restore to any second, not only to a daily backup. Supabase sells PITR from $100 a month; Neon keeps up to 7 days of history on Launch.
Storage pricing (Important)
The per-GB rate dominates large databases: Crunchy Bridge charges the least per GB and Neon the most, while PlanetScale charges again for each node.
Spend caps and alerts (Important)
Supabase Pro has a spend cap on by default, Prisma Postgres a hard spend limit, and Neon emails at 80% and 100% of a set budget.
Bundled backend services (Nice to have)
Supabase includes auth for 100,000 monthly active users on Pro plus file storage; Neon now bundles auth, object storage and functions too.
What to check before you choose
-
Estimate how many hours a day your database is busy. Under a few hours, scale-to-zero beats any fixed instance.
-
Price your storage in 12 months, not today: at 100 GB the per-GB rate decides the bill.
-
Decide whether you need a standby. A single node is cheaper but has no automatic failover.
-
Check what the plan includes besides Postgres: auth, file storage, backups and point-in-time recovery are priced very differently.
-
Look at regional pricing if you are outside US East; PlanetScale and CockroachDB rates vary by region.
-
Turn on spend caps or alerts on day one, especially on usage-based plans.
Evaluation Checklist
Load a copy of your real data and record the storage size each service reports.
Run a week of traffic and read the compute-hours or operations counted on each dashboard.
Create and delete a branch to see how branch storage is billed.
Restore a backup to a point in time and time the restore.
Trigger a failover or restart and measure downtime on the plan you would buy.
Set a spend limit and confirm what happens when it is reached: throttling, suspension or overage.
Pricing Overview
Free
Side projects and prototypes: Neon Free, Supabase Free, Prisma Postgres Free, Nile Free, with limits on storage, compute hours or operations.
$0
Entry production
$5 to $25 per month
Mid-size production
Around 100 GB on an 8 GB instance, with or without a standby, on PlanetScale, Xata, Supabase, Crunchy Bridge or Neon.
$60 to $200 per month
Team and enterprise plans
SSO, compliance reports and SLAs: Nile Scale and Supabase Team, with custom enterprise pricing above.
$350 to $599 per month
Pricing Comparison
| Service | Free plan | Entry paid price | Storage | 10 GB app / month | 100 GB app / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Neon | 100 CU-hours, 1 GB per project | Launch: $0.106 per CU-hour, no monthly minimum | $0.35 per GB-month | $22.85 | $189.76 |
Supabase | 500 MB, 2 active projects | Pro from $25/mo | 8 GB included, then $0.125 per GB | $25.25 | $136.50 |
None | Single node from $5/mo; HA from $15/mo | 10 GB per node included, then $0.125 per GB per node | $10 single node; $30 HA | $61.25 single node; $181.75 HA | |
Xata | 14-day trial | Micro $0.012/hr ($9/mo) | $0.28 per GB-month | $11.80 | $98.00 |
200k operations, 2 GB | Starter $10/mo (1M operations) | 10 GB on Starter, then $2 per GB | Starter price if under 1M operations | Business $129 if under 50M operations | |
None | Hobby-0 $9/mo on AWS | $0.10 per GB | $19.00 | $150.00 | |
Nile | Free, 1 GB | Pro $15/mo (5 GB, 150M query tokens) | $1.00 per extra GB on Pro | $20 plus extra query tokens | $110 plus extra query tokens |
30-day trial with $400 credit | Standard $0.092 per vCPU-hour | Billed on provisioned storage | Not modelled | About $203 (vendor estimate, 2 vCPU) |
Rates checked October 28, 2026 on Neon pricing, Supabase pricing, PlanetScale pricing, PlanetScale Postgres pricing docs, Xata pricing, Prisma pricing, Crunchy Bridge pricing, Nile pricing and CockroachDB pricing. Monthly bills are our arithmetic for 730 always-on hours in US East, excluding egress above included allowances, backups beyond defaults and Neon's restore history.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Comparing entry prices. Neon Launch has no monthly minimum, yet it is the most expensive always-on option at 100 GB in our scenarios.
- ×
Leaving scale-to-zero off on development branches, which turns idle hours into billed CU-hours.
- ×
Pricing a single node and calling it production. Without a standby, a node failure means downtime until it is replaced.
- ×
Forgetting that PlanetScale bills network storage on each of the three HA nodes.
- ×
Building on Supabase's free plan for a live app, then losing a weekend to a project paused after a week without activity.
Expert Tips
- →
- →
On PlanetScale, Arm SKUs are cheaper than x86 at every size we priced; the PS-80 HA cluster is $148 on Arm.
- →
Use Supabase's monthly compute credit fully: on Pro it covers the Micro instance, so the first instance upgrade is where costs start to climb.
- →
Compare head-to-head on Toolradar: Neon vs Supabase, Supabase alternatives, Neon alternatives and PlanetScale alternatives. The managed databases category lists the non-serverless options.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A free plan whose project is paused or deleted after inactivity, used for a live product.
-
No published per-GB storage rate, which makes the 100 GB bill impossible to predict.
-
Usage-based billing with no spend cap or budget alert.
-
Point-in-time recovery sold as a separate add-on you only discover after an incident.
The Bottom Line
For a side project, start on Neon's free plan or Supabase Free: both cost $0, and Neon's scale-to-zero means no pause after a quiet week. For an always-on production database, the cheapest bills in our scenarios come from PlanetScale's single node and Xata, while Supabase Pro is the best value once you also want auth, file storage and a dashboard in one plan.
Neon remains the strongest choice for workloads that sit idle much of the day and for teams that lean on branching, but price it with your real busy hours: at 100 GB on an always-on 8 GB instance it was the most expensive option we priced. If you need a standby, compare PlanetScale's HA price, which includes two replicas, against the single-node totals rather than the entry price. Browse all options in the serverless databases category.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does serverless Postgres cost in 2026?
A side project costs $0 on Neon, Supabase or Prisma Postgres free plans. A 10 GB production app on an always-on 1 GB instance costs up to $30 a month on the services we priced, less on a single node, and a 100 GB app on an 8 GB instance about $61 to $190, depending on the service and whether you buy a standby (our arithmetic on October 28, 2026 rates).
Is Neon cheaper than Supabase?
It depends on uptime. Neon is cheaper for databases that are idle most of the day because suspended compute costs nothing. For an always-on 10 GB app the two are close ($22.85 vs $25.25 a month), and at 100 GB on an 8 GB instance Supabase Pro is cheaper at $136.50 against $189.76 on Neon Launch.
What is the cheapest Postgres hosting for production?
In our scenarios, PlanetScale's single-node Postgres gave the lowest bill at both production sizes, $61.25 a month for 100 GB on an 8 GB instance. It has no standby, so for high availability compare PlanetScale's 3-node HA cluster at $30 and $181.75 for the same workloads.
Does Supabase's free plan pause?
Yes. Supabase pauses free projects after one week of inactivity and limits you to two active projects, each with a 500 MB database. Pro removes the pause and includes a compute credit that covers the smallest instance.
How does Neon pricing work?
Neon's Launch plan bills $0.106 per compute-unit hour and $0.35 per GB-month of storage, metered hourly with no monthly minimum. One CU is about 4 GB of RAM, and compute suspended by scale-to-zero accrues no CU-hours. The Scale plan charges $0.222 per CU-hour and adds SLA, SOC 2 and private networking.
Is PlanetScale Postgres serverless?
Not in the scale-to-zero sense. PlanetScale prices fixed instance sizes you can resize, from a $5 single node to highly available 3-node clusters, plus storage beyond 10 GB per node. Its Metal clusters with local NVMe storage start at $50 a month.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Serverless Postgres Pricing Compared (2026)", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/serverless-postgres-pricing-compared
Spotted an outdated price or a wrong fact? Suggest a correction: we check it against the vendor's own page. Work for one of these vendors? Claim your listing to update it yourself.
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