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Neon vs Prisma Postgres

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Neon and Prisma Postgres built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 28 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Neon if…

Workloads that are idle most of the time, and teams who want a real database per pull request. Compute suspends after five minutes and storage is billed separately, so a staging branch costs almost nothing while nobody is using it.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose Prisma Postgres if…

Prisma ORM users who want the database and the client from one vendor, with a pooled connection limit stated per plan rather than left to be discovered.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Neon: You need predictable monthly billing. Usage pricing with no minimum fee cuts both ways, and a runaway query on an autoscaling compute is billed at the rate it ran.
  • Prisma Postgres: Four separate meters — requests, memory, vCPU and bandwidth — sit on top of the plan fee, so the monthly number is a floor rather than a bill.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Neon alternatives · Prisma Postgres alternatives

11 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Neon documentationVisit Prisma Postgres documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionNeonPrisma Postgres
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierAlways free
What the free plan includes100 projects with 10 branches each, plus allowances for compute and storage, at no monthly cost.1 million requests, 360 GB-hours of memory and 4 active vCPU-hours a month, with 500 MB of storage, free forever and no credit card.
Credit card to startNoNo
Entry paid planNo fixed monthly fee. Launch is usage-based — Neon's own worked example puts typical spend at $15/month for intermittent load on 1 GB — so there is no entry price to compare, only a rate card. Recorded without a magnitude because a vendor's spend estimate is not a price.$10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance.
Pricing modelUsage-based with no minimum monthly fee on paid plans: $0.106/CU-hour compute and $0.35/GB-month storage on Launch, $0.222/CU-hour on ScaleA plan fee plus usage: requests, memory GB-hours, active vCPU-hours and outbound bandwidth are each metered — $1 per million requests beyond the allowance, $0.006 per GB-hour, $0.064 per vCPU-hour, $0.025 per GB out.
Startup credit programVia the Databricks Startup Program: up to $1,000 in Neon credits for self-funded startups (<$1M raised), or up to $200K in Neon and Databricks credits for VC-backed startups (≥$1M raised) or accelerator participants. Credits valid 12 months from acceptance.Prisma for Startups: database bill covered up to $10,000 for one year, plus 1:1 guidance. Venture-funded track requires pre-seed/seed/Series-A funding raised in the last 12 months and founded in the last 5 years; bootstrapped track requires ≥5k MRR for 6 months and 2 full-time team members.
Limits
Storage (entry plan)No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project.500 MB on the free plan across 50 databases. Paid plans raise the database count to 1,000 and beyond.
Execution
Managed connection poolingSupportedSupported
Data
EnginePostgreSQLPostgreSQL.
Connection limit
Scales with compute size: 104 direct connections at 0.25 CU (1 GB RAM), 419 at 1 CU, 2517 at 6 CU; up to 10,000 through the pooler
100 pooled connections on Starter and 10 direct; 10 pooled on Free, 500 on Pro and 1,000 on Business.
When idleCompute suspends after 5 minutes idle on Free and Launch, and can be disabled on Launch; configurable from 1 minute to always-on on Scale. The database is not deleted or paused — the next query restarts the compute.Scales to zero when idle, and Prisma states an idle app costs nothing.
Backup retention1 day of history on paid plans by default and 6 hours on Free, configurable up to 7 days on Launch or 30 days on Scale. Neon notes that widening the window raises storage cost, so the ceiling is a paid choice rather than an included allowance.Daily backups with 7-day retention on Starter and Pro, 30 days on Business. The free plan has none.
Support
Support on entry paid planSupport plans are mapped to pricing plans: community support on Free, billing support on Launch, standard support on Scale.Community support on Free and Starter; standard support on Pro; premium on Business.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Kind of free offer

Neon
Free tier
Prisma Postgres
Always free
Sources (2) →
  • Neon plans — Neon Docs ↗

    “On the Free plan, there is no monthly cost. You get usage allowances for projects, branches, compute, storage, and more, for $0/month.”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Prisma ↗

    “Free $0 / month Free forever. No credit card required. Prisma Compute 1M requests / month 360 GB-hours memory / month 4 active vCPU-hours / month [...] 500 MB storage 50 databases”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

What the free plan includes

Neon
100 projects with 10 branches each, plus allowances for compute and storage, at no monthly cost.
Prisma Postgres
1 million requests, 360 GB-hours of memory and 4 active vCPU-hours a month, with 500 MB of storage, free forever and no credit card.
Sources (2) →
  • Neon Plans ↗

    “You get usage allowances for projects, branches, compute, storage, and more, for $0/month. [...] Included per plan: Free: 100 projects”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Prisma ↗

    “Free $0 / month Free forever. No credit card required. Prisma Compute 1M requests / month 360 GB-hours memory / month 4 active vCPU-hours / month [...] 500 MB storage 50 databases”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

Entry paid plan

Neon
No fixed monthly fee. Launch is usage-based — Neon's own worked example puts typical spend at $15/month for intermittent load on 1 GB — so there is no entry price to compare, only a rate card. Recorded without a magnitude because a vendor's spend estimate is not a price.
Prisma Postgres
$10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Neon
Usage-based with no minimum monthly fee on paid plans: $0.106/CU-hour compute and $0.35/GB-month storage on Launch, $0.222/CU-hour on Scale
Prisma Postgres
A plan fee plus usage: requests, memory GB-hours, active vCPU-hours and outbound bandwidth are each metered — $1 per million requests beyond the allowance, $0.006 per GB-hour, $0.064 per vCPU-hour, $0.025 per GB out.
Sources (2) →
  • Neon plans — Neon Docs ↗

    “On Launch and Scale plans, you pay only for what you use; there's no minimum monthly fee. Usage for compute, storage, extra branches, and other features is billed at the published rates”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Prisma ↗

    “5M requests / month, then $1 per million $0.006 per GB-hour memory $0.064 per active vCPU-hours $0.025 per GB outbound bandwidth”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Startup credit program

Neon
Via the Databricks Startup Program: up to $1,000 in Neon credits for self-funded startups (<$1M raised), or up to $200K in Neon and Databricks credits for VC-backed startups (≥$1M raised) or accelerator participants. Credits valid 12 months from acceptance.
Prisma Postgres
Prisma for Startups: database bill covered up to $10,000 for one year, plus 1:1 guidance. Venture-funded track requires pre-seed/seed/Series-A funding raised in the last 12 months and founded in the last 5 years; bootstrapped track requires ≥5k MRR for 6 months and 2 full-time team members.
Sources (2) →
  • Neon Startup Program ↗

    “Self-Funded: Early-stage, self-funded startups. Less than $1M in funding [...] Up to $1,000 in Neon credits. Venture-Backed: VC-backed startups with at least $1M in funding [...] Up to $200K in Neon and Databricks credits. Credits are valid for 12 months from the date of acceptance.”

    Read 2026-09-11 · official site · Report a correction

  • Prisma for Startups ↗

    “Get exclusive 1:1 guidance from Prisma’s database experts, and have your database bill covered for a year, up to $10,000. [...] Raised venture funding in the last 12 months. Founded in the last 5 years.”

    Read 2026-09-11 · official site · Report a correction

Storage (entry plan)

Neon
No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project.
Prisma Postgres
500 MB on the free plan across 50 databases. Paid plans raise the database count to 1,000 and beyond.
Sources (2) →

Engine

Neon
PostgreSQL
Prisma Postgres
PostgreSQL.
Sources (2) →

Connection limit

Neon

Scales with compute size: 104 direct connections at 0.25 CU (1 GB RAM), 419 at 1 CU, 2517 at 6 CU; up to 10,000 through the pooler

Prisma Postgres

100 pooled connections on Starter and 10 direct; 10 pooled on Free, 500 on Pro and 1,000 on Business.

Sources (2) →
  • Connection pooling — Neon Docs ↗

    “Neon uses PgBouncer to provide connection pooling, enabling up to 10,000 concurrent connections. [...] In Neon, this limit is defined by max_connections, which varies by compute size: Compute size (CU) RAM max_connections 0.25 1 GB 104 0.50 2 GB 209 1 4 GB 419”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Prisma ↗

    “Managed connection pool Connection limit (pooled) Free 10 Starter 100 Pro 500 Business 1,000 Connection limit (direct) Free 10 Starter 10 Pro 50 Business 100”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

When idle

Neon
Compute suspends after 5 minutes idle on Free and Launch, and can be disabled on Launch; configurable from 1 minute to always-on on Scale. The database is not deleted or paused — the next query restarts the compute.
Prisma Postgres
Scales to zero when idle, and Prisma states an idle app costs nothing.
Sources (2) →

Backup retention

Neon
1 day of history on paid plans by default and 6 hours on Free, configurable up to 7 days on Launch or 30 days on Scale. Neon notes that widening the window raises storage cost, so the ceiling is a paid choice rather than an included allowance.
Prisma Postgres
Daily backups with 7-day retention on Starter and Pro, 30 days on Business. The free plan has none.
Sources (2) →

Support on entry paid plan

Neon
Support plans are mapped to pricing plans: community support on Free, billing support on Launch, standard support on Scale.
Prisma Postgres
Community support on Free and Starter; standard support on Pro; premium on Business.
Sources (2) →
  • Support — Neon Docs ↗

    “neon's support plans are mapped to neon pricing plans, as outlined in the following table. neon pricing plan support plan options free plan community support launch plan billing support scale plan standard support”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Prisma Pricing ↗

    “platform support free community starter community pro standard business premium”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

When the free offer endsPrisma Postgres: Never — the free tier has no time limit.
Egress over allowanceNeon: 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB
Scales to zeroNeon: Supported
RegionsNeon: 8 AWS regions: N. Virginia, Ohio, Oregon, Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Sydney, São Paulo. A project's region is fixed at creation and cannot be changed.
Database branchingNeon: Supported
Point-in-time recoveryNeon: History window of 6 hours up to 1 GB-month on Free, up to 7 days on Launch, up to 30 days on Scale
Read replicasNeon: Supported
SOC 2Neon: Annual SOC 2 Type II audits by an accredited independent third party.Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
ISO 27001Neon: Annual ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 audits.Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
HIPAANeon: HIPAA compliance achieved, to support customers handling protected health information (PHI).Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
GDPR / data residencyNeon: Follows the GDPR framework; Data Processing Agreements (DPA) offered.Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
PCI DSSNeon: The page attributes PCI-DSS to the AWS and Azure infrastructure Neon runs on. Neon's own compliance list on the same page names CCPA, GDPR, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2 and HIPAA, and not PCI DSS.Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
Encryption at restNeon: AES-256, with key rotation policies.Prisma Postgres: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Prisma Postgres.
Role-based access controlNeon: Access to production systems is role-based, requiring SSO and continuous monitoring.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Neon or Prisma Postgres?

Neon: No fixed monthly fee. Launch is usage-based — Neon's own worked example puts typical spend at $15/month for intermittent load on 1 GB — so there is no entry price to compare, only a rate card. Recorded without a magnitude because a vendor's spend estimate is not a price.

Prisma Postgres: $10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance.

Storage (entry plan): Neon or Prisma Postgres?

Neon: No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project.

Prisma Postgres: 500 MB on the free plan across 50 databases. Paid plans raise the database count to 1,000 and beyond.

Should I choose Neon or Prisma Postgres?

Pick Neon if Workloads that are idle most of the time, and teams who want a real database per pull request. Compute suspends after five minutes and storage is billed separately, so a staging branch costs almost nothing while nobody is using it.

Pick Prisma Postgres if Prisma ORM users who want the database and the client from one vendor, with a pooled connection limit stated per plan rather than left to be discovered.

Provider pages

NeonServerless Postgres that separates storage from compute, with copy-on-write branching and compute that suspends when idle.Prisma PostgresServerless Postgres from the Prisma ORM team, billed on requests and compute with a pooled connection limit per plan.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.