Neon vs PlanetScale — free-tier comparison
At a glance
Neon: Most generous free tier
Database
0.5GB storage, 1 project
Paid from $19/month
- 0.5GB storage
- 1 project
- 10 branches
- Real serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero compute
- Instant copy-on-write database branching
- 0.5GB storage on the free plan
Best for
- Serverless and edge apps that need Postgres
- Preview and test databases branched per pull request
Database
5GB storage, 1 billion row reads/month
Paid from $29/month
- 5GB storage
- 1 billion row reads/month
- 10 million row writes/month
- Serverless MySQL that scales on Vitess
- Git-like database branching with non-blocking schema changes
- The free Hobby tier was discontinued in April 2024
Best for
- Teams that need MySQL at scale
- Schema changes without downtime
The catch?
Neon
- No catch
PlanetScale
- Free tier discontinued
Detailed comparison
| Neon | PlanetScale | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier & pricing | ||
| Free tier ↑ better | Perpetual ★ | Discontinued |
| Paid from ↓ better | $19/mo ★ | $39/mo |
| Regions ↑ better | Multi-region | — |
| Base de données | ||
| Storage ↑ better | 0.5 GB | — |
| Branches ↑ better | 10 branches | — |
FAQ
Neon separates storage and compute; compute scales to zero when idle and wakes on demand, so you pay for compute only while queries run.
It is an instant copy-on-write copy of your database — ideal for per-pull-request preview environments, testing migrations, or isolated development.
PlanetScale discontinued its free Hobby plan in April 2024, and paid plans now start higher. Check planetscale.com for the current options before planning around a free tier.
It lets you branch your schema like Git, make non-blocking changes on a dev branch, and merge them to production via a deploy request — without locking tables.