Xata Has a Free Serverless Database — PostgreSQL With Built-in Search, Analytics, and AI

What if your database had built-in full-text search, vector embeddings, file storage, and analytics — without adding Elasticsearch, Pinecone, S3, and a data warehouse?

What is Xata?

Xata is a serverless database platform built on PostgreSQL and Elasticsearch. It combines a relational database with full-text search, vector search, file attachments, and analytics in one API.

Why Xata

1. PostgreSQL + Search in One

import { XataClient } from './xata';

const xata = new XataClient();

// Full-text search (no Elasticsearch setup needed)
const results = await xata.db.posts.search('react server components', {
  target: ['title', 'content'],
  fuzziness: 1,
  highlight: { enabled: true },
});

2. AI / Vector Search

// Ask questions about your data
const answer = await xata.db.docs.ask('How do I configure authentication?', {
  searchType: 'vector',
  vectorSearch: {
    column: 'embedding',
    contentColumn: 'content',
  },
});
// Returns AI-generated answer based on your data

3. Type-Safe Client (Auto-Generated)

xata codegen

// Auto-generated from your schema
const user = await xata.db.users.create({
  name: 'Alice',        // string - typed
  email: '[e-mail]',     // string - typed
  age: 30,              // number - typed
  avatar: fileBuffer,    // file attachment - typed
});

// Filtering with type safety
const activeUsers = await xata.db.users
  .filter({ age: { $gt: 18 }, 'settings.notifications': true })
  .sort('name', 'asc')
  .getPaginated({ pagination: { size: 20 } });

4. File Attachments

// Upload file directly to a record
await xata.db.products.update('rec_123', {
  image: {
    base64Content: imageBase64,
    mediaType: 'image/png',
    name: 'product.png',
  },
});

// Get file URL with transformations
const url = product.image?.url;
const thumbnail = `${url}?tr=w-200,h-200`;

5. Aggregations

const stats = await xata.db.orders.aggregate({
  totalRevenue: { sum: { column: 'amount' } },
  avgOrderValue: { average: { column: 'amount' } },
  ordersByMonth: {
    dateHistogram: { column: 'created_at', calendarInterval: 'month' },
  },
  topProducts: {
    topValues: { column: 'product_name', size: 10 },
  },
});

6. Branching (Like Git)

# Create a branch for testing
xata branch create feature-new-schema

# Make schema changes on the branch
xata schema edit --branch feature-new-schema

# Merge when ready
xata branch merge feature-new-schema

Free Tier

Feature	Free
Records	750K
Storage	2GB
Search	250K queries/month
AI questions	250/month
File storage	2GB
Branches	15

Xata vs Supabase vs PlanetScale

	Xata	Supabase	PlanetScale
Database	PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL	MySQL
Full-text search	Built-in	Via pg_trgm	No
Vector search	Built-in	Via pgvector	No
File storage	Built-in	Separate bucket	No
Branching	Yes	No	Yes
Type generation	Auto	Via PostgREST types	No
AI queries	Built-in	Via Edge Functions	No

Getting Started

npm install @xata.io/cli -g
xata init
xata codegen

The Bottom Line

Xata is the database that does everything. PostgreSQL for your data, Elasticsearch for your search, vector DB for your AI, and file storage for your uploads — all in one API.

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