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Neon vs Turso

Two managed database options for database. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

NeonManaged databasellms.txtMCPCLIIn v0
TursoManaged databasellms.txtCLI
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Neon if
  • Your traffic is bursty or you run many preview deploys, and idle hours shouldn't cost much

Use it whenYou want every pull request's preview deploy to get its own copy of the database.

Trade-offCold starts after idle periods add latency to the first query, and heavy always-on workloads can cost more than a fixed server.

Choose Turso if
  • SQLite at the edge, or one database per customer.

Use it whenEach customer should get their own isolated database, or reads need to happen close to users worldwide.

Trade-offSQLite semantics — one writer at a time, fewer extensions — suit read-heavy apps better than write-heavy ones.

At a glance

NeonTurso
Used by95 makers' products · 16 open-source projects13 makers' products · 33 open-source projects
Cost at default usagedatabase size 8 GB, data transfer 50 GB, document or row reads 10 million reads, document or row writes 2 million writes$22/mo Launch$5.99/mo Developer
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 20247 from Turso7 from Neon
Downloads3.7M/wk+35% vs npm2.2M/wk+102% vs npm
PricingFree tier; usage-based paid plans. · paid from $0.106 per CU-hourFree tier; paid plans by databases and usage. · paid from $4.99/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceYes · self-hostableYes · self-hostable

Cost as you grow

At 0.5 GB Turso costs less ($0 vs $20); from about 100 GB Neon does ($67 vs $67); from about 500 GB Turso does ($287 vs $457).

$0$10$50$2000.51582050100500
TursoNeonx: database size (GB), other usage scaled with it; held at 730 hours (compute hours per month) · cheapest usable plan at each point, list prices · try your own numbers
The numbers, plan by plan
Database sizeNeonTurso
0.5$20 Launch$0 Free
1$20 Launch$0 Free
5$21 Launch$0 Free
8$22 Launch$5.99 Developer
20$26 Launch$14 Developer
50$37 Launch$37 Developer
100$67 Launch$67 Scaler
500$457 Launch$287 Scaler

From each vendor's pricing page: Neon, Turso.

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Neon to Turso" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Turso → Neon7 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗
Neon → Turso7 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

What makers say

Makers on using it for database, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Neon
Serverless Postgres with branching is a game changer for solo builders. Scale to zero means no idle costs, and the connection pooling just works. Perfect for an early-stage product.
Relay, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Neon has been great for managing our database. The branching workflow and serverless Postgres made development smooth and allowed me to iterate quickly while building UseAgents.
UseAgents, the makerSep 2026 ↗
We use Neon for Superset's Postgres database and database branches when developing schema changes. It is part of the shared backend behind our desktop and mobile apps.
superset, the makerSep 2026 ↗
62 more on the Neon page →
On Turso
We wanted to build application that has single tenant databases for each organization. Turso handles that super nicely. In addition the ability to have embedded replicas is killer feature for building local RAG.
reconfigured, the makerSep 2026 ↗
We love Turso because it combines the simplicity of SQLite with the scalability we need for production. It works seamlessly for edge and serverless applications, which makes it perfect for the kind of projects we build.
EmailCatcher, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Turso is my database! Turso made it really easy to switch from local development to hosted on the cloud.
CoffeeChat Bot, the makerSep 2026 ↗
6 more on the Turso page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Neon
Most loved
  • Postgres scales to zero when idle, so early products and staging databases cost almost nothing until traffic arrives. PHHN
  • Branching copies the production database in seconds, so migrations and preview environments are tested against real data. PHPH 2HNHN 2
  • The serverless HTTP and WebSocket driver fits Cloudflare Workers and Next.js routes without connection-pool trouble. PHHN
Watch-outs
  • Separating compute from storage costs latency and performance compared with Postgres on local NVMe. HNHN 2
  • Parts of the stack, like autoscaling and some tooling, are not supported or openly licensed for self-hosting. HNHN 2
  • With no built-in caching, crawler traffic can burn through the data transfer allowance quickly. HN
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 93 reviews · mentioned most: easy setup, serverless architecture, database branching · complaints: high pricing
Turso
Most loved
  • It keeps SQLite's simplicity while scaling for edge and serverless apps, and moving from local development to hosted is easy. PHHN
  • A database per tenant and embedded replicas make single-tenant designs and local-first or offline apps straightforward. PHPH 2HN
  • The Rust rewrite adds async I/O, concurrent writes, encryption, change data capture and vector search while staying SQLite file-compatible. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
Watch-outs
  • The Rust rewrite is still beta, with panics, data-corrupting bugs and thin test coverage that undermine trust for production. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • The split between libSQL and the new Turso packages is confusing, and libSQL showed memory leaks on large write jobs. HNHN 2HN 3
  • Compatibility with SQLite is incomplete; for example, another process cannot read a WAL database it has open. HNHN 2
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 15 reviews · mentioned most: developer experience, multi-tenant data handling

Who uses each

Neon95 makers' products
AgreeGuardAnymarkAnythingAymo AIBaseHubBrandingStudio.ai®bugstackCentralClairClientJamComigoCrawler.sh+83 more
Turso13 makers' products
AnarlogCoffeeChat BotEmailCatcherHootLearn AIParseflow.ioreconfiguredVoltAgent10xlaunch.aiHaxiomKlipLabPrismaSF Apartment Finder+1 more

What makers pair each with

With Neon
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Hosting
LLM API
With Turso
Frontend Framework
Authentication
Payments
LLM API

Neither quite right?

See the whole database decision →
SupabaseBackend platformPostgres plus auth, storage and realtime in one project.vs Neon →vs Turso →
ConvexBackend platformRealtime, collaborative apps written entirely in TypeScript.
FirebaseBackend platformMobile apps that need offline sync and client-side SDKs.
PlanetScaleManaged databaseApps that expect heavy scale and want zero-downtime schema changes.vs Neon →
MongoDBManaged databaseDocument-shaped data and teams already fluent in Mongo.
PostgreSQLRun it yourselfThe engine behind most of the hosted options above, run on your own server or container for full control and a flat cost.vs Neon →vs Turso →