Compute scales to zero after 5 minutes idle, so a quiet project stops using hours. Neon is serverless Postgres with database branching and scale-to-zero compute. The Free plan costs $0 and lists 100 projects, 10 branches per project, 100 compute-unit hours a month per project, compute up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM), 1 GB of storage per project and unlimited team members. Compute scales to zero after 5 minutes of inactivity on Free, and the first request after idle pays a cold start. The Launch plan is usage-based at $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month, and the Scale plan is $0.222 per CU-hour with compute up to 56 CU. Opinions on cold starts differ: one r/Database commenter called them very fast, while a Hacker News commenter said the first request after idle often fails to connect for a few seconds, and an r/PostgreSQL poster reported a 12-second first hit. G2 shows 4.8 from 4 reviews.
Free tier quotas
Projects
100
Branches
10 per project
Compute
100 CU-hours a month per project, up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM)
Storage
1 GB per project
Scale to zero
After 5 minutes of inactivity
Restore window
Up to 6 hours or 1 GB of data changes
Snapshots
1
Team members
Unlimited
Object storage
The page text lists 5 GB of object storage
Last sniffed Oct 23, 2026. Always confirm on the official pricing page.
👍 Good boy
+The Free plan allows 100 projects with 10 branches each, which is a lot of room for side projects and preview environments.
+Compute scales to zero after 5 minutes on Free, so an idle project does not burn its 100 CU-hours.
+Paid plans are usage-based and published: Launch at $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month, Scale at $0.222 per CU-hour with compute up to 56 CU.
+An r/nextjs commenter said basic Neon Postgres with the Drizzle ORM is a much better development experience than Supabase.
+An r/PostgreSQL commenter said Neon is the fastest on cold start and burst scalability, though not the cheapest.
+G2 shows 4.8 from 4 reviews, so the early signal is positive.
👎 Watch out
−Cold starts after the 5-minute idle window are the most common complaint. A Hacker News commenter said the first request after idle usually fails to connect and takes a few seconds, and a Neon engineer replied that the instance starts in a few hundred milliseconds (a 2024 thread).
−An r/PostgreSQL poster reported 12 seconds for a simple database hit and said they switched to Supabase.
−Two Reddit threads ask whether the Free plan is reliable enough for production, which shows how often people weigh it for real apps.
−Free storage is 1 GB per project and the restore window is up to 6 hours or 1 GB of data changes, which is shorter than Launch's 7 days.
−Free compute tops out at 2 CU (8 GB RAM) and 100 CU-hours per project.
−G2 has only 4 reviews, so independent evidence is mostly forum threads.
The catch
The Free plan is generous on project count and cheap to leave idle, because compute scales to zero after 5 minutes. The trade is the cold start on the first request after idle. Reports range from very fast to several seconds, so test it with your own region and driver.
Per-project limits matter more than the project count: 100 CU-hours a month, compute up to 2 CU, 1 GB of storage and a restore window of up to 6 hours or 1 GB of data changes. Launch and Scale are usage-based, so cost depends on compute hours and storage rather than a fixed price.
Older forum posts quote smaller free storage (a Neon PM said 500 MiB in 2024), so plan details have changed. I could not confirm card requirement or commercial terms for Free.
What’s included
✓Serverless Postgres
✓Database branching
✓Scale to zero
✓Autoscaling compute
✓Instant restore with a history window
✓Snapshots
✓Unlimited team members
✓Object storage listed on the pricing page
✓Functions and Realtime (beta) listed on the pricing page
Free tier value
Generosity
A
Estimated value
100 projects with 100 CU-hours and 1 GB of Postgres storage each
Feature parity
Launch adds compute up to 16 CU, optional always-on compute and restore history up to 7 days.
Screenshots
HomepagePricing page
Paid plans
Launch, usage-based
$0.106 per CU-hour, $0.35 per GB-month, compute up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM), scale to zero can be disabled, restore history up to 7 days, extra branches at $0.002 per branch-hour.
Scale, usage-based
$0.222 per CU-hour, compute up to 56 CU (224 GB RAM), more than 1,000 projects.
Common questions
Is Neon free?
Yes. The Free plan is $0 with 100 projects, 10 branches per project, 100 CU-hours per project and 1 GB of storage per project.
What is a cold start on Neon?
On Free, compute scales to zero after 5 minutes of inactivity, so the first request after idle waits for compute to start. Reported delays range from fast to several seconds.
How much does Launch cost?
Usage-based: $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month.
Can I disable scale to zero?
On paid plans, yes, per the pricing page.
How is it rated?
G2 shows 4.8 from 4 reviews.
Change history
Checked October 22, 2026
Pricing page read. G2 4.8 from 4 reviews from search excerpts. Reddit and Hacker News comments read as excerpts, some older. Card requirement and commercial terms not confirmed.
