Best Free Database Hosting Platforms in 2026: 6 Free Tiers Compared (And Which One to Pick)

The best free database for most builders in 2026 is Neon if you host on Vercel and want serverless Postgres, and Supabase if you want the whole backend (database, auth, storage, realtime) in one place. Turso has the best free edge SQLite, MongoDB Atlas the best free NoSQL, and Upstash the best free Redis. PlanetScale's free tier is gone, which is a story in itself.

Where to start: the Vercel Marketplace

If your site lives on Vercel, the search ends at the Vercel Marketplace. It lists the storage providers people actually use, and it wires them into your project: you pick a provider, install the integration, and Vercel injects the connection strings as environment variables automatically.[1] The providers on that shelf, Neon, Supabase, Upstash, MongoDB Atlas, and others, are the names that dominate every "free database" discussion.[1][2]

One thing worth knowing before you compare: Vercel's own Postgres and KV products no longer exist. Vercel Postgres was Neon all along, and in late 2024 existing databases were migrated to Neon, while Vercel KV became Upstash Redis.[2][13] So when people say "Vercel's database," they usually mean Neon.

The contenders and their free tiers

Platform	Engine	Free storage	Free compute / traffic	The catch
Neon	Postgres	0.5 GB per project, up to 100 projects	100 compute-hours/project/month	Compute suspends after 5 min idle
Supabase	Postgres	500 MB per project, 2 projects	Unlimited API requests	Pauses after 1 week of inactivity
Turso	SQLite (libSQL)	5 GB total	500M rows read/mo, 10M writes/mo	100 databases max
MongoDB Atlas	MongoDB	512 MB (M0 cluster)	Shared, free forever	One free cluster
Upstash	Redis	256 MB	500K commands/mo, 10 GB bandwidth	Rate limited at the cap
Cloudflare D1	SQLite	5 GB total	5M rows read/day, 100K writes/day	Only usable from Workers

Neon: the best free Postgres for Vercel

Neon's free plan is genuinely generous: 100 projects, each with 0.5 GB of storage, 10 branches, and 100 compute-hours per month.[3] Compute scales to zero after five minutes of inactivity, so an idle prototype burns zero compute, and there's no credit card required.[3]

100 compute-hours runs a small database for roughly 400 hours a month at 0.25 CU, and the built-in connection pooler handles the connection exhaustion that kills serverless apps.[3][13] My advice: if you ship a Next.js app on Vercel and just need Postgres that behaves, start here. It has no inactivity pause like Supabase, which matters when a side project goes quiet for a few weeks.[3]

Supabase: the whole backend for free

Supabase is the pick when the database was never the whole ask. The free plan includes a Postgres database (500 MB), auth for 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB of file storage, realtime, and unlimited API requests.[4] That is a complete backend at $0.

The trade-offs are real. You get two active projects, no automatic backups on the free tier, and projects pause after one week of inactivity; you restore them from the dashboard and nothing is deleted, but a live demo going dark is a bad look.[4][5]

Turso: SQLite with serious headroom

Turso is the dark horse. Its free plan gives 5 GB of storage, 500 million row reads a month, 10 million writes, and up to 100 databases, no credit card.[6] Because it's built on libSQL, a fork of SQLite, your existing SQLite code runs unchanged, and the database-per-user pattern is cheap enough to give every customer their own database.[6]

It is a database only: no auth, no storage, no functions. Pick Turso when SQLite fits your workload and you want it closer to your users than regional Postgres.

MongoDB Atlas: free forever NoSQL

Atlas has kept the same free tier for years: the M0 cluster with 512 MB of storage, free forever, on AWS, Azure, or GCP.[7] It is the easiest way to learn MongoDB or host a small document database. The ceiling is low: 512 MB is tight for anything serious, and M2 costs $9 a month.[7]

Upstash and Cloudflare D1: the specialists

Upstash runs serverless Redis, and its free tier is 256 MB of data with 500K commands a month and 10 GB of bandwidth.[8] It is the standard choice for caching, sessions, and rate limiting, and the Vercel integration is one click.

Cloudflare D1 gives you 5 GB of SQLite storage and 5 million row reads a day on the Workers free plan, with limits resetting daily.[9] The constraint is architectural: D1 is bound to Cloudflare Workers, so it only makes sense if your stack is already on Cloudflare.[12]

The PlanetScale warning

Every list like this needs a cautionary tale, and PlanetScale is it. Its free Hobby plan seeded tens of thousands of side projects, then was retired on April 8, 2024.[10][11] The company said a free tier was costing millions and didn't bring the customers it wanted.[11] Anyone who built on it had to migrate or pay.

The lesson is not to avoid free tiers. It is to keep your data portable, use standard engines, and treat a free database as a starting point, not a marriage. Neon and Supabase run real Postgres, so you can leave any time with a pg_dump.[3][4]

Which free plan is actually best?

Pick by what you're building:

• Neon for Postgres on Vercel, especially with spiky or idle traffic.[13]
• Supabase when you also need auth, storage, or realtime.[4]
• Turso for edge SQLite, vector search, or database-per-tenant apps.[6]
• MongoDB Atlas for document data, or to learn MongoDB.[7]
• Upstash for Redis caching and queues.[8]
• Cloudflare D1 if you live inside Workers.[9]

If I had to name one winner for a typical personal site or MVP on Vercel, it's Neon. The free tier is the most forgiving, scale-to-zero keeps your bill at nothing while the app is asleep, and when you grow, the upgrade is pay-as-you-use, not a $25 jump.[3][13] Supabase is the better answer the day you realize you need authentication too.

Sources

[1] Storage on Vercel Marketplace (docs) [2] Vercel Storage guide (digitalmatters.me) [3] Neon Free plan limits FAQ [4] Supabase pricing [5] Supabase project pausing docs [6] Turso pricing [7] MongoDB Atlas pricing [8] Upstash pricing [9] Cloudflare D1 pricing docs [10] PlanetScale pricing blog [11] The Register: PlanetScale ends free tier [12] Cloudflare D1 free tier analysis (freetier.co) [13] Database options for Vercel (swyftstack)

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the best free database hosting platform?

Neon is the best free database hosting platform for most builders in 2026 because it offers 100 projects with 0.5 GB of storage and 100 compute-hours per project per month, and compute scales to zero when idle. Supabase is the best free option if you also need auth, storage, and realtime.

2. Is Neon really free?

Yes. Neon's Free plan costs $0, requires no credit card, and is not a time-limited trial. It includes 100 projects, 10 branches per project, 0.5 GB of storage per project, and 100 compute-hours per month.

3. Does Supabase have a free plan?

Yes. The Supabase Free plan includes a Postgres database with 500 MB of storage, auth for up to 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB of file storage, and unlimited API requests, with a limit of two active projects.

4. Why did PlanetScale remove its free tier?

PlanetScale retired its free Hobby plan on April 8, 2024, saying the free tier cost millions of dollars and did not attract the customers it wanted. Existing free databases had to migrate or upgrade to a paid plan.

5. What is the best free Postgres database for Vercel?

Neon is the best free Postgres database for Vercel because it is pre-wired into the Vercel Marketplace, injects connection strings automatically, and its pooled connection string handles serverless functions. Supabase is the runner-up.

6. Is there a free MongoDB hosting option?

Yes. MongoDB Atlas offers the M0 shared cluster with 512 MB of storage free forever on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. The next tier, M2, costs about $9 per month.

7. What is the best free Redis hosting?

Upstash is the best free serverless Redis host. Its free tier includes 256 MB of data, 500,000 commands per month, and 10 GB of bandwidth, and it has a one-click Vercel integration.

8. Can I use SQLite for free in production?

Yes. Turso offers a free libSQL (SQLite) platform with 5 GB of storage, 500 million row reads per month, and up to 100 databases. Cloudflare D1 also offers 5 GB of SQLite storage on the Workers free plan.

9. What are the free tier limits of Cloudflare D1?

Cloudflare D1's free tier includes 5 GB of total storage, 5 million rows read per day, and 100,000 rows written per day, with limits resetting daily at 00:00 UTC. D1 is only usable from Cloudflare Workers.

10. Do free database plans pause my database?

Some do. Supabase pauses free projects after one week of inactivity (you can restore them from the dashboard), while Neon scales compute to zero after five minutes of inactivity and wakes it on the next query without pausing.

11. Which free database is best for a Next.js app?

Neon is the best free database for a Next.js app hosted on Vercel because of its scale-to-zero compute, 100 compute-hours per month, and built-in connection pooling. Supabase is better if you also want authentication and storage built in.

12. Is Turso free to use?

Yes. Turso's free plan gives you 5 GB of storage, 500 million row reads per month, 10 million row writes per month, and up to 100 databases, with no credit card required.

13. What happens when I exceed a free database plan limit?

Behavior varies by provider. On Neon, hitting the compute or transfer limit suspends compute until the next billing period. On Supabase, storage over 500 MB blocks writes. On Upstash and D1, traffic is rate limited or queries fail until the cap resets.

14. Can I migrate away from a free database easily?

Usually yes, if you choose a standard engine. Neon and Supabase run real Postgres, so you can export with pg_dump at any time. Turso and D1 use SQLite, which is also easy to dump. Keep your data portable and treat the free tier as a starting point.

15. Which free database is best for a side project in 2026?

Neon is the best free database for a side project in 2026: generous limits, no inactivity pause, and a pay-as-you-use upgrade path when you grow. Supabase is the best choice when you want auth and storage included from day one.