Neon Postgres is one of the best tools I have ever used. Especially its free tier.
Finding free PostgreSQL database hosting can be surprisingly difficult. Previously, I was using ElephantSQL. It was also wonderful, but the company discontinued its service, so I had to find another place to host my database.
That's when I found Neon.
Creating a PostgreSQL database in Neon is very easy. Connecting it to an application is also straightforward. Many free hosting services limit you to one region. But even on the free plan, Neon lets you choose from multiple regions.
Neon's Free Tier
The free plan is just awesome. It currently offers 100 projects, 1 GB of database storage, and 100 CU-hours of compute per project per month. There's also an overall storage limit of 20 GB across free projects.
Neon also supports HIPAA-compliant workloads, making it an option for healthcare applications that handle Protected Health Information (PHI). However, HIPAA support requires the paid Scale plan, additional configuration, and a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
Database Branching
One of Neon's most interesting and useful features is database branching.
You can create up to 10 branches per project on the free plan. This is very useful when deploying applications across multiple environments, such as development, preview, and staging, without affecting your production database.
More Than Just PostgreSQL
Neon originally focused on serverless Postgres. Now it offers multiple services, including S3-compatible Object Storage, Authentication, Functions, and an AI Gateway.
These services are also useful. Even better, branching now works across services such as Object Storage, Authentication, and Functions, making it much easier to maintain isolated environments.
One thing worth mentioning about the free tier is that databases automatically suspend after five minutes of inactivity. This helps save compute resources, but the first request after an idle period may take a little longer.
Final Thoughts
Neon's paid plans are pretty good, too, with usage-based pricing. I use Neon for the PostgreSQL database behind this portfolio website, and I often recommend it to my clients for smaller projects.
If you're looking for PostgreSQL hosting, especially for personal projects, prototypes, or smaller applications, Neon is definitely worth considering.