Originally published at devtoolpicks.com
Three databases that keep coming up in indie hacker conversations in 2026: Turso, Neon, and Supabase. They are not really competing for the same user. Once you understand what each one actually is, the choice becomes obvious.
This comparison will save you from picking the wrong one and migrating later.
Quick Verdict
| Tool | Engine | Free Tier | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neon | Serverless Postgres | 0.5 GB, scale-to-zero | $5/mo | Solo devs who want standard Postgres |
| Turso | SQLite (libSQL) | 100 databases, 5 GB | $4.99/mo | Multi-tenant apps, edge, SQLite-first |
| Supabase | Postgres + platform | 500 MB, 7-day pause | $25/mo | Full backend platform for MVPs |
What Each One Actually Is
Before comparing features and pricing, the engine difference matters.
Neon is serverless Postgres. Pure, standard PostgreSQL with a serverless billing model that scales to zero when your database is idle. You can use every Postgres extension, every ORM, every tool in the Postgres ecosystem. If you know Postgres, there is nothing new to learn. Neon was acquired by Databricks in May 2025, which reduced pricing 15-25% and added SOC2 and HIPAA eligibility to the Scale plan.
Turso is a managed cloud service built on libSQL, a fork of SQLite. It is not Postgres. SQLite compatibility means your existing SQLite code works, but Postgres tooling does not. The core innovation is running hundreds or thousands of small databases cheaply, each one in a separate isolated file, with multi-region replication and the ability to embed a local replica directly inside your application for zero-latency reads. For the right use case, this architecture is genuinely powerful.
Supabase is a backend platform that includes Postgres, but the database is not the whole product. Supabase gives you auth (magic links, OAuth, JWT), file storage, realtime subscriptions, and edge functions alongside a managed Postgres database. If you think of Supabase as "just a database," you are underusing it and overpaying compared to Neon.
Pricing Compared
Free Tiers
| Feature | Neon | Turso | Supabase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage | 0.5 GB | 5 GB | 500 MB |
| Databases | 1 project | 100 databases | 2 projects |
| Compute | 100 CU-hours/mo | Unlimited | Shared (pauses) |
| Idle behavior | Scale-to-zero | Always on | Pauses after 7 days |
| Credit card required | No | No | No |
Turso has the biggest free tier on paper. 5 GB and 100 databases beats Neon and Supabase on raw numbers. But the 100-database limit matters less unless you are building a multi-tenant app. Neon's free tier is more practical for a typical single-database SaaS: real Postgres, no pausing, scale-to-zero.
Supabase's 7-day inactivity pause is a real friction point. Your free project goes to sleep and takes several seconds to wake up when someone visits. For anything you demo to potential customers, this is an embarrassing first impression.
Paid Plans
Neon: Launch plan starts at $5/month minimum. Usage-based: compute at $0.14/CU-hour, storage at $0.35/GB-month. A typical small SaaS with moderate traffic runs $15-50/month. The Scale plan at $0.26/CU-hour adds read replicas, SOC2 Type 2, and HIPAA eligibility. No fixed monthly fee beyond the minimum.
Turso: Developer plan at $4.99/month unlocks unlimited databases and 9 GB storage. Scaler at $24.92/month adds 24 GB, team features, and 2,500 active databases per month. Pricing is flat-rate rather than usage-based, which makes budgeting easy.
Supabase: Pro plan at $25/month. Includes 8 GB database storage, 100 GB file storage, 50,000 monthly active users on auth, and no inactivity pausing. The fixed monthly price covers everything. Add-ons (compute upgrades, point-in-time restore, extra storage) are priced separately.
Feature Comparison
Database Branching
Neon has Git-style database branching built in. Create a branch of your production database in seconds with full copy-on-write isolation. Test schema migrations, run CI against real data, then apply. This is one of Neon's genuine differentiators.
Turso does not have branching in the same sense. Each database is its own isolated SQLite file, which provides natural isolation between environments, but not a Git-branch metaphor.
Supabase has branching in preview as of 2025. It works but is less mature than Neon's implementation.
Connection Model
Neon is serverless. Compute spins up when a query arrives and down when idle. Cold start latency is typically well under a second. A pooled PgBouncer connection string is provided for high-concurrency environments. For Laravel or other persistent-process frameworks, use the pooled connection string.
Turso is always-on for paid plans. Free databases on the free tier are also kept warm, unlike the old Hobby plan. SQLite embedded replicas run locally inside your application for sub-millisecond reads, which is a different architecture from any server-hosted database.
Supabase runs Postgres continuously on paid plans. No cold starts on Pro. The free plan pauses after 7 days of inactivity.
Ecosystem and Extensions
Neon supports all Postgres extensions available in standard Postgres. pgvector for AI embeddings, PostGIS for geolocation, uuid-ossp, pg_stat_statements, and anything else in the Postgres ecosystem work out of the box.
Turso is SQLite-compatible. Most SQLite extensions work, but the Postgres extension ecosystem is not available. No pgvector on Turso without building your own solution.
Supabase ships with a curated set of Postgres extensions pre-enabled. pgvector is included by default, which makes Supabase popular for AI-powered applications.
Real-World Cost Scenarios
Numbers on a pricing page are not always useful. Here is what each tool costs for three realistic indie hacker situations.
Scenario 1: Side project, 500 active users, low traffic
- Neon: Free tier. 0.5 GB covers most small apps at this scale. $0/month.
- Turso: Free tier. 100 databases, 5 GB, 500M row reads easily covers this. $0/month.
- Supabase: Free tier, but your database pauses after 7 days of inactivity if traffic is light. Plan for the awkward wake-up or upgrade to Pro at $25/month.
Scenario 2: Growing SaaS, 5,000 active users, steady traffic
- Neon: Launch plan. Estimated $15-30/month depending on query volume and storage growth. Scale-to-zero helps during off-hours.
- Turso: Developer plan at $4.99/month if using a single database. If multi-tenant with one DB per user, still $4.99/month up to unlimited databases on 9 GB total. Very cost-effective for this pattern.
- Supabase: Pro plan at $25/month flat. Includes 8 GB storage and all platform features. If you are using auth, storage, and realtime, this is better value than paying Neon plus separate services.
Scenario 3: Multi-tenant SaaS, 200 customers each with isolated data
- Neon: Challenging. Neon gives you one database per project on the free tier, and running 200 separate Postgres instances gets expensive fast. Row-level security on a single database is the practical Neon approach.
- Turso: Built for this. Developer plan at $4.99/month handles unlimited databases. 200 isolated SQLite databases with per-customer isolation is exactly the use case Turso optimizes for.
- Supabase: Row-level security is Supabase's approach to multi-tenancy. It works well but keeps all customers in one database, which means one customer's heavy queries affect others. Supabase is not designed for database-per-tenant at scale.
Performance Considerations
Cold Start Latency
Neon scales to zero, which means the first query after an idle period wakes the compute. Cold start latency is typically under 100ms. For most web apps, this is imperceptible on the first request. For APIs where the first query is on the critical path of a response, consider keeping the connection warm or using the pooled connection string.
Turso paid databases are always-on. No cold start. For embedded replicas running inside your application process, reads are sub-millisecond because the database runs locally.
Supabase Pro is always-on. No cold starts. Free plan wakes from pause in several seconds, which is user-visible.
Write Throughput
SQLite handles concurrent writes differently from Postgres. SQLite uses write locking at the database level, which means only one write can happen at a time. For most SaaS apps with typical write patterns, this is never a bottleneck. But if your app has many concurrent writes (live collaboration, high-frequency events, auction-style bidding), Postgres on Neon or Supabase handles this more gracefully.
Neon and Supabase both use standard Postgres write handling. Row-level locking, multi-version concurrency control, and all the standard Postgres patterns work as expected.
Read Performance
For read-heavy apps on Turso with embedded replicas, read performance is unmatched. The database lives in the same process as your application. No network round trip at all.
Neon and Supabase both make network round trips for every query. Neon's edge network is designed to minimize latency, and read replicas on the Scale plan allow you to distribute reads. Supabase also offers read replicas on paid plans.
Developer Experience
Schema Migrations
All three support standard migration workflows. Neon's branching is the standout feature here: create a branch, run your migration against a copy of production data, verify it works, then apply. No risk to production. No spinning up a separate test database.
Supabase has a migration system built around their CLI and dashboard. It works well but is more opinionated about workflow than Neon.
Turso uses standard SQLite migration tooling. If you use Drizzle ORM or Prisma with SQLite support, migrations work the same way they would locally.
Local Development
Neon gives you a free branch for local development. Your local environment connects to a real cloud database without needing Docker or a local Postgres install. Branch-per-developer or branch-per-PR is a natural pattern.
Turso local development uses the Turso CLI to create local databases that sync with the cloud. The embedded replica feature means you can develop entirely offline and sync when you reconnect.
Supabase has the best local development story of the three. The Supabase CLI spins up a full local stack: Postgres, auth, storage, realtime, and edge functions all running locally via Docker. Local changes can be applied to production via migration scripts. This is genuinely good developer experience for teams using the full Supabase platform.
Prisma and ORM Support
All three work with Prisma. Neon and Supabase use the standard Postgres provider. Turso requires the Prisma SQLite adapter or the libSQL driver.
All three work with Drizzle ORM, which has first-class support for all three in its documentation.
For Laravel developers: Neon and Supabase both work with Eloquent via the standard Postgres PDO driver. Turso has a PHP/Laravel adapter maintained by the community, but it is less battle-tested than the Postgres path.
Use Neon if:
You are building a standard Postgres SaaS and want the cheapest serverless option. You need database branching for your CI/CD workflow. You want Postgres without the cognitive overhead of a full platform. You are migrating from PlanetScale after they removed the free tier.
Neon pairs well with Laravel, Django, Rails, or any framework with first-class Postgres support. For a deeper breakdown of what PlanetScale users should consider, see the best PlanetScale alternatives post.
Use Turso if:
You are building a multi-tenant SaaS where each customer has their own isolated database. You want a database-per-tenant architecture without the cost of running hundreds of Postgres instances. You are building an edge application and need SQLite embedded replicas for zero-latency reads. You are comfortable with SQLite and do not need Postgres extensions.
The key question is whether your app design genuinely benefits from many small isolated databases. If yes, Turso is purpose-built for this. If you have a single database with a users table and row-level security, Postgres on Neon or Supabase is simpler.
Use Supabase if:
You are building an MVP and want auth, file uploads, realtime, and a database in one platform. You want to ship a complete backend in a weekend without setting up Auth0 or Clerk separately. You are building an AI app and want pgvector ready out of the box. You do not mind the $25/month minimum once your project needs production reliability.
Supabase is the right call when the platform features matter, not just the database. If you only use the Postgres part of Supabase, you are paying $25/month for what Neon provides at $5-10/month. The best Supabase alternatives post covers what to consider if you outgrow the platform.
My Pick
For a solo developer building a typical SaaS in 2026, Neon is my pick. Real Postgres, free tier that does not pause, usage-based pricing that stays cheap while your app is small, and database branching that improves your deployment workflow. The Databricks acquisition means it is not a startup-risk bet anymore.
If you are building an MVP and want to avoid setting up auth separately, Supabase is worth the $25/month once you are past the free tier. It replaces several services at once.
Turso is the right choice in a narrow but real set of situations: multi-tenant architecture with database-per-tenant, edge applications, or any use case where SQLite's simplicity and embedded replicas matter more than Postgres compatibility.
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