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Neon vs Turso

SEPT 2026 audit

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

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 32 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 Turso if…

Applications that want a database per tenant or per user — 100 databases on the free plan and unlimited above it make that a shape you can actually build.

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.
  • Turso: It is SQLite, not Postgres: the metered units are rows read and written rather than compute, and the extension ecosystem you may be relying on is not there.

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

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

Visit Neon documentationVisit Turso 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.

CriterionNeonTurso
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierFree tier
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.$4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.
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 ScalePer database, metered on rows rather than compute time: 500 million rows read and 10 million written a month on the free plan, 2.5 billion and 25 million on Developer, with overage at $1 per billion rows read and $1 per million written.
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.9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.
Infrastructure
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 AWS locations in the Platform API's location list: Tokyo (ap-northeast-1), Mumbai (ap-south-1), Ireland (eu-west-1), N. Virginia (us-east-1), Ohio (us-east-2) and Oregon (us-west-2). Read from the documented GET /v1/locations sample response; the same six AWS regions are offered for PrivateLink.
Data
EnginePostgreSQLSQLite, via libSQL — Turso's own fork. Not Postgres or MySQL, so the query surface and the client libraries differ from every other database on this site.
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.Databases are archived after 10 days of inactivity on the free plan; an unarchive call through the CLI or Platform API brings the group back. Turso publishes no archival window for paid plans.
Database branchingSupportedSupported
Point-in-time recovery
History window of 6 hours up to 1 GB-month on Free, up to 7 days on Launch, up to 30 days on Scale
10 days on Developer. 1 day on the free plan, 30 days on Scaler and 90 days on Pro.
Read replicas
Supported
Limited — Embedded replicas run inside your app; managed multi-region Data Edge replica locations are deprecated for new users.
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.Continuous rather than scheduled: backups are taken at every COMMIT and kept for the plan's restore window — 24 hours on Free, 10 days on Developer, 30 on Scaler, 90 on Pro. Turso publishes no separate backup retention setting.
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 on Developer ($4.99/month), the entry paid plan. Priority email support starts at Pro ($416.58/month); Enterprise adds 24x7.
Compliance
SOC 2
Annual SOC 2 Type II audits by an accredited independent third party.
Volume-level encryption at rest is described as part of Turso's SOC 2 standards; the docs point to Turso's trust center for details.
HIPAAHIPAA compliance achieved, to support customers handling protected health information (PHI).Turso states it is HIPAA compliant and will provide a HIPAA compliance BAA letter to Pro plan and Enterprise users on request.
GDPR / data residencyFollows the GDPR framework; Data Processing Agreements (DPA) offered.A database confined to EU locations never leaves the EU; the exception is backups, which are stored in S3 in the us-east-2 region.
Encryption at restAES-256, with key rotation policies.All databases in Turso Cloud are encrypted at rest at the volume level, which Turso describes as part of its SOC 2 standards.
Role-based access control
Access to production systems is role-based, requiring SSO and continuous monitoring.
Organization members hold one of three roles - admin, member or viewer - and only an admin or owner can change a member's role.

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.

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.
Turso
$4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.
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
Turso
Per database, metered on rows rather than compute time: 500 million rows read and 10 million written a month on the free plan, 2.5 billion and 25 million on Developer, with overage at $1 per billion rows read and $1 per million written.
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 — Turso ↗

    “Monthly Rows Read Free 500 Million Developer 2.5 Billion + $1 / Billion Scaler 100 Billion + $0.80 / Billion [...] Monthly Rows Written Free 10 Million Developer 25 Million + $1 / Million”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · 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.
Turso
9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.
Sources (2) →

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.

Turso

Six AWS locations in the Platform API's location list: Tokyo (ap-northeast-1), Mumbai (ap-south-1), Ireland (eu-west-1), N. Virginia (us-east-1), Ohio (us-east-2) and Oregon (us-west-2). Read from the documented GET /v1/locations sample response; the same six AWS regions are offered for PrivateLink.

Sources (2) →
  • Regions — Neon Docs ↗

    “Each Neon project exists in exactly one region. Your database runs in that region. You cannot change the region for an existing project. If you need your data in a different region, you create a new Neon project in that region and migrate your database there.”

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

  • List Locations - Turso Platform API ↗

    “"aws-ap-northeast-1" : "AWS AP NorthEast (Tokyo)" , "aws-ap-south-1" : "AWS AP South (Mumbai)" , "aws-eu-west-1" : "AWS EU West (Ireland)" , "aws-us-east-1" : "AWS US East (Virginia)" , "aws-us-east-2" : "AWS US East (Ohio)" , "aws-us-west-2" : "AWS US West (Oregon)"”

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

Engine

Neon
PostgreSQL
Turso
SQLite, via libSQL — Turso's own fork. Not Postgres or MySQL, so the query surface and the client libraries differ from every other database on this site.
Sources (2) →

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.
Turso
Databases are archived after 10 days of inactivity on the free plan; an unarchive call through the CLI or Platform API brings the group back. Turso publishes no archival window for paid plans.
Sources (2) →

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

Turso

10 days on Developer. 1 day on the free plan, 30 days on Scaler and 90 days on Pro.

Sources (2) →

Read replicas

Neon
Supported
Turso
Limited — Embedded replicas run inside your app; managed multi-region Data Edge replica locations are deprecated for new users.
Sources (2) →
  • Neon Read Replicas — Neon Docs ↗

    “Neon read replicas are independent computes designed to perform read operations on the same data as your primary read-write compute. Neon's read replicas do not replicate or duplicate data. Instead, read requests are served from the same storage”

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

  • Embedded Replicas - Turso Documentation ↗

    “Embedded Replicas keep a local read replica of a Turso Cloud database: reads run locally from the file in microseconds, and writes are sent to the cloud primary and then reflected back to the replica.”

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

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.
Turso
Continuous rather than scheduled: backups are taken at every COMMIT and kept for the plan's restore window — 24 hours on Free, 10 days on Developer, 30 on Scaler, 90 on Pro. Turso publishes no separate backup retention setting.
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.
Turso
Community support on Free and on Developer ($4.99/month), the entry paid plan. Priority email support starts at Pro ($416.58/month); Enterprise adds 24x7.
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

  • Turso Pricing ↗

    “1 day community sign up developer $4.99/month [...] 30 day retention priority email + support get pro enterprise custom pricing [...] 24x7 priority email + support”

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

SOC 2

Neon
Annual SOC 2 Type II audits by an accredited independent third party.
Turso
Volume-level encryption at rest is described as part of Turso's SOC 2 standards; the docs point to Turso's trust center for details.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Neon
HIPAA compliance achieved, to support customers handling protected health information (PHI).
Turso
Turso states it is HIPAA compliant and will provide a HIPAA compliance BAA letter to Pro plan and Enterprise users on request.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

Neon
Follows the GDPR framework; Data Processing Agreements (DPA) offered.
Turso
A database confined to EU locations never leaves the EU; the exception is backups, which are stored in S3 in the us-east-2 region.
Sources (2) →
  • Neon Security ↗

    “Neon follows the GDPR framework, ensuring user rights, data minimization, and lawful processing. We offer Data Processing Agreements (DPA) and support compliant cross-border data transfers.”

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

  • Turso's Trust Center - FAQ ↗

    “By creating a database that only spans locations in the European Union, your data will never leave the European Union. The exception are backups. Backups are stored in S3, in the us-east-2 region.”

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

Encryption at rest

Neon
AES-256, with key rotation policies.
Turso
All databases in Turso Cloud are encrypted at rest at the volume level, which Turso describes as part of its SOC 2 standards.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

Neon
Access to production systems is role-based, requiring SSO and continuous monitoring.
Turso
Organization members hold one of three roles - admin, member or viewer - and only an admin or owner can change a member's role.
Sources (2) →

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.

What the free plan includesNeon: 100 projects with 10 branches each, plus allowances for compute and storage, at no monthly cost.
Egress over allowanceNeon: 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB
Startup credit programNeon: 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.
Managed connection poolingNeon: Supported
Scales to zeroNeon: Supported
Connection limitNeon: 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
Rewind in placeTurso: Not supported — PITR restores forward into a fresh database; the existing database cannot be rewound in place.
Max vector dimensionsTurso: 65536 dimensions maximum per vector, listed under "Vector Limitations" for libSQL native vector search on Turso Cloud
ISO 27001Neon: Annual ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 audits.
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.
Customer-managed keysTurso: BYOK on Pro and Enterprise: each database can be encrypted with a key you supply, and Turso never sees or stores the keys.Neon: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Neon.
Private networking / VPCTurso: AWS PrivateLink VPC endpoints keep traffic to Turso databases inside AWS's private network; offered in six AWS regions.Neon: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Neon.
Dedicated infrastructureTurso: Pro and Enterprise can use their own S3 / S3-Express buckets so data lives in their infrastructure; compute in your own account is roadmap, not shipped.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Neon or Turso?

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.

Turso: $4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.

Storage (entry plan): Neon or Turso?

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.

Turso: 9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.

Should I choose Neon or Turso?

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 Turso if Applications that want a database per tenant or per user — 100 databases on the free plan and unlimited above it make that a shape you can actually build.

Provider pages

NeonServerless Postgres that separates storage from compute, with copy-on-write branching and compute that suspends when idle.TursoManaged SQLite built on libSQL, priced per database with rows read and written as the metered units.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.