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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Neon Has a Free Serverless PostgreSQL — Branch Your Database Like Git

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL with database branching — create instant copies of your database for dev, testing, and previews.

What You Get for Free (Free Tier)

  • 0.5 GB storage — enough for development and small apps
  • Auto-suspend — scales to zero when idle (saves money)
  • Branching — instant copy-on-write database branches
  • Connection pooling — built-in PgBouncer
  • Point-in-time restore — rewind your database to any point
  • Instant provisioning — new database in <1 second
  • Standard PostgreSQL — full pg compatibility, all extensions
  • Vercel integration — one-click connect to your Next.js app

Quick Start

# Install CLI
brew install neon
neon auth
neon projects create --name my-app

# Get connection string
neon connection-string
# postgres://user:pass@ep-xxx.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb
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# Branch your database (instant!)
neon branches create --name feature/new-auth
# Now you have an exact copy — experiment without fear
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Why Developers Switch from Supabase/PlanetScale

  • Branching — no other managed PostgreSQL offers this
  • Auto-suspend — $0 when your app is idle
  • Instant provisioning — <1 second vs minutes on RDS
  • Copy-on-write — branches share storage, not duplicate it

A team tested migrations on production snapshots using manual pg_dump/restore (20 minutes each time). With Neon branching: instant copy, test migration, delete branch. 20 minutes → 3 seconds.

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