Neon vs Upstash Redis — free-tier comparison
This comparison is calculated from verified service fields. It is not presented as an editorial review and remains excluded from the index until reviewed.
At a glance
Neon: Most storage
Database
100 projects, 100 CU-hours/month per project, 0.5GB storage/project
Paid from Usage-based ($0.106/CU-hour + $0.35/GB-month)
- 100 projects
- 100 CU-hours/month per project
- 0.5GB storage per project
- Real serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero compute
- Instant copy-on-write database branching
- 0.5GB storage on the free plan
Best for
- Serverless and edge apps that need Postgres
- Preview and test databases branched per pull request
Database
One free database with 256 MB data, 500,000 commands/month and 10 GB monthly bandwidth
Paid from Usage-based at $0.20/100K commands; storage and bandwidth charges may apply
- REST and Redis clients
- No card needed for the free tier
- HTTP access suits serverless functions
- No Redis server to administer
- Free databases may be archived after at least 30 days of inactivity; restoration uses a backup
Best for
- API response caches
- Rate limiting
The catch?
Neon
- Scales to zero when idle
- Some constraints remain unconfirmed
Upstash Redis
- Pauses when idle
- Some constraints remain unconfirmed
Detailed comparison
| Neon | Upstash Redis | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier & pricing | ||
| Free tier ↑ better | Perpetual ★ | Perpetual ★ |
| Paid from ↓ better | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Regions ↑ better | Multi-region | — |
| Database | ||
| Storage ↑ better | 0.5 GB ★ | 256 MB |
| Branches ↑ better | Included | — |
FAQ
Neon separates storage and compute; compute scales to zero when idle and wakes on demand, so you pay for compute only while queries run.
It is an instant copy-on-write copy of your database — ideal for per-pull-request preview environments, testing migrations, or isolated development.
No. It is a command-unit price. Paid storage and bandwidth have separate rules, so the bill depends on usage.
Free databases can be archived after inactivity. Upstash documents advance emails and a backup that can be restored into a new database.