# Neon vs ScaleGrid

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/neon-vs-scalegrid/

Every value below is read from Neon's and ScaleGrid's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Neon | ScaleGrid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | 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 | Two models: Dedicated Hosting, an all-inclusive plan covering machine, disk and network cost; or Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), management-only pricing where the cloud provider is billed separately. |
| Startup credit program | 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. | Startup Saver: up to 50% discount on ScaleGrid hosting for 12 months. |
| Regions | 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. | Six cloud providers: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Oracle Cloud (OCI) and Akamai. Specific regional availability is not published on the pricing or product pages. |
| Engine | PostgreSQL | MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ and SQL Server. |
| Backup retention | 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. | Up to five backups per deployment on ScaleGrid's dedicated hosting plans. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- Neon: Yes ([source](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/plans))
- ScaleGrid: No ([source](https://scalegrid.io/pricing.html))

### 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 ([source](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/plans))
- ScaleGrid: Two models: Dedicated Hosting, an all-inclusive plan covering machine, disk and network cost; or Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), management-only pricing where the cloud provider is billed separately. ([source](https://scalegrid.io/pricing.html))

### 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. ([source](https://neon.com/startups))
- ScaleGrid: Startup Saver: up to 50% discount on ScaleGrid hosting for 12 months. ([source](https://scalegrid.io/pricing.html))

### Regions

- Neon: 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. ([source](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/regions))
- ScaleGrid: Six cloud providers: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Oracle Cloud (OCI) and Akamai. Specific regional availability is not published on the pricing or product pages. ([source](https://scalegrid.io/mysql.html))

### Engine

- Neon: PostgreSQL ([source](https://neon.com/docs/connect/connection-pooling))
- ScaleGrid: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ and SQL Server. ([source](https://scalegrid.io/pricing.html))

### 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. ([source](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/point-in-time-restore))
- ScaleGrid: Up to five backups per deployment on ScaleGrid's dedicated hosting plans. ([source](https://scalegrid.io/pricing.html))

## Which should you choose?

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 ScaleGrid if Teams that already have a favored database engine and cloud provider but want someone else operating it — the BYOC model bills infrastructure at cost and adds management on top, worth it if the operational burden is the actual problem.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: ScaleGrid — The workload fits a single-engine specialist with its own scale-to-zero or branching model — ScaleGrid's value is operating an engine you already chose, not offering a distinctive one.

## Documented by only one

- 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.
- Egress over allowance: Neon: 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB
- 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.
- Managed connection pooling: Neon: Supported
- Scales to zero: Neon: Supported
- 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
- 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.
- Database branching: Neon: Supported
- Point-in-time recovery: Neon: 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 replicas: Neon: Supported
- SOC 2: Neon: Annual SOC 2 Type II audits by an accredited independent third party.
- ISO 27001: Neon: Annual ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 audits.
- HIPAA: Neon: HIPAA compliance achieved, to support customers handling protected health information (PHI).
- GDPR / data residency: Neon: Follows the GDPR framework; Data Processing Agreements (DPA) offered.
- PCI DSS: Neon: Underlying infrastructure described as certified for PCI-DSS among other standards; scope (Neon's own service vs. cloud infrastructure) not distinguished on this page.
- Encryption at rest: Neon: AES-256, with key rotation policies.
- Role-based access control: Neon: Access to production systems is role-based, requiring SSO and continuous monitoring.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Free tier: Neon or ScaleGrid?**

Neon: Yes
ScaleGrid: No

**Should I choose Neon or ScaleGrid?**

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 ScaleGrid if Teams that already have a favored database engine and cloud provider but want someone else operating it — the BYOC model bills infrastructure at cost and adds management on top, worth it if the operational burden is the actual problem.