Neon vs Supabase

full-guide.md

both are Postgres, so nobody's getting locked into anything weird. the difference is what comes wrapped round it. Supabase is the whole backend in a box: a dedicated Postgres per project with auth, storage, edge functions, realtime and vectors bolted on, and it sits at #1 on our backends board with 9.0/10. Neon started as serverless Postgres that splits storage from compute, so it branches like git and scales to zero, and it's #4 with 8.0. it's part of Databricks now: Neon announced it was joining Databricks in may 2025, and its docs now say it's part of the Databricks platform. the plot twist: Neon's pricing page now lists its own auth, object storage, functions and a realtime beta, so this isn't just database vs backend any more.

the short version

• pick Supabase if you want one dashboard for the database, users, files and live updates.
• pick Neon if Postgres is the thing you care about and you want branches per pull request, scale to zero, or to hand your coding agent a fresh database every time it asks.

where Supabase wins

everything in the box. every project gets its own dedicated Postgres instance, plus auth, file storage, edge functions (server-side TypeScript built on Deno, run close to your users) and realtime with broadcast, presence and Postgres changes. pgvector is there for embeddings. one dashboard, one bill, one set of keys.

predictable compute. paid plans pick an instance size, from micro up to 64 vCPUs and 256 GB RAM, billed hourly, with $10 a month of compute credit included that covers one micro. Pro has a spend cap on by default, so you don't wake up to a bill you didn't sign off.

run it on your laptop. the Supabase CLI plus a Docker-compatible runtime gives you the whole stack locally with supabase start. it's Apache-2.0 open source and self-hosting with Docker is documented.

branches that respect your data. preview branches spin up per pull request through the GitHub integration and get deleted when the PR is merged or closed. they're data-less by default: the schema is built from the migrations in your repo, which is lovely for keeping production data out of preview environments. branching isn't on the free plan.

where Neon wins

branching is the whole point. a Neon branch is a copy-on-write clone of your data, from now or from a point in the past, and it's instant. there's schema-only branching if your data is sensitive. it hooks into the Neon CLI, the API, GitHub Actions and a Vercel integration that makes a branch for every preview deployment. paid plans include 10 branches per project on Launch and 25 on Scale.

it naps. compute scales to zero after 5 minutes idle and wakes in a few hundred milliseconds when you query it, so you pay for active time, not 24/7. on the free plan the nap is mandatory, on paid plans you can switch it off.

the free plan is built for side projects. 100 projects, 100 CU-hours per project, no credit card, sizes up to 2 CU. compare that with Supabase's free plan: 2 active projects, paused after a week of inactivity.

it's built for agents. there's an official Neon MCP server, agent skills, plugins for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, and an agent plan with custom rates for platforms that spin up thousands of databases.

auth that branches too. Neon's managed Better Auth keeps your users and sessions in your own Postgres, so every branch gets its own isolated users and auth config. test the sign-up flow on a branch without touching real accounts.

the catch with Neon's new bits: they're new

realtime only went into public beta on oct 15, 2026. Neon's own post says there's no row-level security yet, it's in four regions, the protocol underneath is still changing, and they're not publishing benchmarks yet. it's free during the beta, but starting a live query can wake your database, so compute and egress are still billed. clever stuff, any SQL query can become a live one, but if realtime is the backbone of your app today, that's a lot of small print.

same bits, different shapes

Neon vs Supabase for vibe coders and agents

if a coding agent is writing your backend, both have an official MCP server, so it can poke the database directly. the real difference: Supabase gives the agent one place to set up auth, storage and the database together, which is fewer moving parts to get wrong. Neon gives it disposable branches, so it can try a migration on a copy and throw it away. if you're letting an agent loose on your schema, that second one is worth a lot.

more: best free ai tools for vibe coders and best ai tools for building a SaaS, both of which lean on a backend from this board.

faq

is Neon better than Supabase?

not on our board. Supabase is #1 of 5 backends at 9.0/10 and Neon is #4 at 8.0. Neon is the better pick if you mostly want Postgres with branching and scale to zero.

is Neon just Postgres?

not any more. Neon's pricing page now lists managed auth, object storage, functions, an ai gateway and realtime (beta) alongside the Postgres.

does Supabase scale to zero?

not on paid plans: you pick an instance size and it's billed hourly. free projects are paused after a week of inactivity instead. Neon scales to zero after 5 minutes idle.

which free tier is better, Neon or Supabase?

for lots of small projects, Neon: 100 projects, 100 CU-hours per project, no credit card. Supabase's free plan allows 2 active projects and pauses them after a week idle, but includes auth for 50,000 monthly active users and 1 GB of file storage.

can i branch my database on both?

yes, differently. Neon branches are copy-on-write clones with your data. Supabase preview branches come from your GitHub pull requests, start without data and build the schema from your migrations. Supabase branching isn't on the free plan.

sources

checked 2026-10-21

• Neon pricing (plans, free plan limits, included branches, auth, storage, functions, realtime): https://neon.com/pricing
• Neon branching docs (copy-on-write, schema-only, Vercel and GitHub Actions): https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching
• Neon scale to zero docs: https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero
• Neon managed Better Auth docs (and the docs footer: part of the Databricks platform): https://neon.com/docs/auth/overview
• Neon and Databricks (may 14, 2025): https://neon.com/blog/neon-and-databricks
• Neon now has realtime (public beta, oct 15, 2026): https://neon.com/blog/neon-now-has-realtime
• Neon MCP server: https://neon.com/docs/ai/neon-mcp-server
• Neon ai agents tools (skills, plugins, agent plan): https://neon.com/docs/ai/ai-agents-tools
• Neon pgvector: https://neon.com/docs/extensions/pgvector
• Supabase pricing (plans, compute sizes, compute credits, spend cap, branching, pausing): https://supabase.com/pricing
• Supabase branching docs: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/deployment/branching
• Supabase realtime docs: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/realtime
• Supabase edge functions docs (built on Deno): https://supabase.com/docs/guides/functions
• Supabase pgvector docs: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/database/extensions/pgvector
• Supabase local development and CLI: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/local-development
• Supabase self-hosting: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/self-hosting
• Supabase MCP server: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/getting-started/mcp
• Supabase licence (Apache-2.0): https://github.com/supabase/supabase
• ranks, scores, verdicts and free tiers: numptr data/tools.json (backends board)

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