# Prisma Postgres vs Turso

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/prisma-postgres-vs-turso/

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Prisma Postgres | Turso |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance. | $4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58. |
| Pricing model | 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. | 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. |
| Storage (entry plan) | 500 MB on the free plan across 50 databases. Paid plans raise the database count to 1,000 and beyond. | 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. |
| Engine | PostgreSQL. | 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. |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- Prisma Postgres: $10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance. ([source](https://www.prisma.io/pricing))
- Turso: $4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58. ([source](https://turso.tech/pricing))

### Pricing model

- 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. ([source](https://www.prisma.io/pricing))
- 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. ([source](https://turso.tech/pricing))

### Storage (entry plan)

- Prisma Postgres: 500 MB on the free plan across 50 databases. Paid plans raise the database count to 1,000 and beyond. ([source](https://www.prisma.io/pricing))
- 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. ([source](https://turso.tech/pricing))

### Engine

- Prisma Postgres: PostgreSQL. ([source](https://www.prisma.io/pricing))
- 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. ([source](https://turso.tech/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

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.

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.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: 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.

## Documented by only one

- Managed connection pooling: Prisma Postgres: Supported
- Connection limit: Prisma Postgres: 100 pooled connections on Starter and 10 direct; 10 pooled on Free, 500 on Pro and 1,000 on Business.
- When idle: Prisma Postgres: Scales to zero when idle, and Prisma states an idle app costs nothing.
- Database branching: Turso: Supported
- Point-in-time recovery: Turso: 10 days on Developer. 1 day on the free plan, 30 days on Scaler and 90 days on Pro.
- Backup retention: Prisma Postgres: Daily backups with 7-day retention on Starter and Pro, 30 days on Business. The free plan has none.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Prisma Postgres or Turso?**

Prisma Postgres: $10/month for Starter. Pro is $49 and Business $129, each including a larger request allowance.
Turso: $4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.

**Storage (entry plan): Prisma Postgres or Turso?**

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

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.
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.