Turso vs Neon in 2026
Turso vs Neon is SQLite rebuilt for the cloud against serverless Postgres. Turso's free plan includes 100 databases, 5 GB of storage, 500 million rows read and 10 million rows written a month, and Developer costs $4.99 a month. Neon's free plan includes 100 projects with 100 CU-hours and 1 GB each, and its Launch plan is usage based at $0.106 per CU-hour with no monthly minimum.
Facts and prices checked on against the sources listed below.
Quick verdict
Turso vs Neon at a glance
| Feature |  Turso |  Neon |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | A rewrite of SQLite with concurrent writes and cloud sync | Postgres, separated storage and compute |
| Free tier | 100 databases, 5 GB, 500M rows read and 10M written a month | 100 projects, 100 CU-hours and 1 GB per project, 10 branches |
| Paid plans | Developer $4.99, Scaler $24.92, Pro $416.58 a month | Launch $0.106 and Scale $0.222 per CU-hour, storage $0.35 per GB-month |
| Overage | Developer: $0.75 per GB, $1 per billion rows read, $1 per million written | Usage based, no monthly minimum |
| Local and edge | Embedded replicas inside your app | Not offered; connect over the network |
| Idle behaviour | Not stated on the pricing page | Scales to zero after 5 minutes on Free and Launch |
| Branching | Not covered on the pricing page | Copy-on-write branches, 10 per project on Free |
| Licence and stars | MIT, 25.1k stars (tursodatabase/turso) | Apache-2.0, 23.3k stars (neondatabase/neon) |
Pricing and free tier (checked Nov 2026)
Turso's Free plan includes 100 databases, 5 GB of storage, 500 million rows read and 10 million rows written a month, and 3 GB of syncs. Developer costs $4.99 a month, Scaler $24.92 and Pro $416.58, with Enterprise on request. On Developer, extra storage costs $0.75 per GB, reads $1 per billion rows and writes $1 per million rows.
Neon's Free plan includes 100 projects with 100 CU-hours of compute and 1 GB of storage each (20 GB in total), 10 branches per project and compute up to 2 CU with 8 GB of RAM. Launch costs $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month, with no monthly minimum. Scale costs $0.222 per CU-hour, allows 1,000 projects and 25 branches, and autoscales up to 16 CU. Compute scales to zero after 5 minutes on Free and Launch; on Scale you choose from 1 minute to always on.
SQLite or Postgres
This is the real decision. Turso is a ground-up rewrite of SQLite with concurrent writes, async I/O and built in cloud sync, and it can run embedded in your app, as a remote database, or both. Neon is Postgres, with storage separated from compute so it can branch and scale to zero.
Pick by your app. Postgres gives you extensions, rich types and every tool in the ecosystem. SQLite gives you a small, fast database that is cheap to run by the hundred.
Many databases or one
Turso's pricing is built around many small databases: 100 on the free plan, which fits one database per user or per tenant. Neon also allows 100 projects on its free plan, each with its own compute, and suits teams that want a branch per pull request.
Local reads
Turso's embedded replicas keep a copy of the database inside your application, so reads are local while writes go to the primary. Neon does not offer this; your app connects over the network.
Open source
Turso's database, tursodatabase/turso, is MIT licensed with 25.1k stars on GitHub, and its libSQL fork is MIT too. Neon, neondatabase/neon, is Apache-2.0 with 23.3k stars.
When to pick Turso
- You want a database per user or tenant.
- Your app reads far more than it writes.
- You like SQLite and want it in the cloud.
When to pick Neon
- You want full Postgres and its extensions.
- You want branches for previews and tests.
- Your databases sit idle much of the time.
See also Neon vs Supabase, Neon vs PlanetScale and Neon pricing.
FAQ
Is Turso cheaper than Neon?
For many small, read heavy databases, usually yes: the free plan covers 100 databases and 500 million row reads a month, and Developer is $4.99 a month. For one busy Postgres database, Neon's usage pricing at $0.106 per CU-hour is easier to compare with other Postgres hosts.
Can Turso replace Postgres?
Only if your app fits SQLite. Turso speaks SQLite, not Postgres, so Postgres extensions, types and tools do not carry over. Drizzle and Prisma support both SQLite and Postgres, which makes the choice easier when you start fresh.
What are Neon's free tier limits?
Up to 100 projects, 100 CU-hours of compute and 1 GB of storage per project (20 GB in total), 10 branches per project and compute up to 2 CU. Compute scales to zero after 5 minutes without queries.
What are embedded replicas in Turso?
Turso's embedded replicas keep a copy of the database inside your application, so reads are local and writes go to the primary. They suit apps that read far more than they write.
Sources, checked November 1, 2026
Prices and plans change often. If something here is out of date, tell us through the contact page.