whichdb
vs

Neon vs Supabase

Neon: Serverless Postgres with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero, now part of Databricks. Supabase: Open-source Postgres backend platform: database, auth, storage, realtime and edge functions in one project.

key differences

  • Only Neon has compression, time travel.
  • Neon has a serverless option; Supabase does not.

choose neon for

  • +Per-pull-request preview databases
  • +AI app builders and agents provisioning databases on demand
  • +SaaS with many small, mostly idle tenant databases
  • +Serverless and edge apps on Vercel or Cloudflare

best at · OLTP, Vector search, RAG

choose supabase for

  • +MVPs and startups needing a complete backend quickly
  • +AI-generated apps from Lovable, Bolt and similar builders
  • +Mobile and web apps with auth and file uploads
  • +Realtime collaborative features via Postgres changes

best at · OLTP, Vector search, RAG

NeonServerless Postgres with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero, now part of Databricks.
SupabaseOpen-source Postgres backend platform: database, auth, storage, realtime and edge functions in one project.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Vector, Spatial
Document, Vector, Spatial
Type
Managed service
Backend platform
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Databricks (Neon)
Supabase, Inc.
First release
2022
2020
Latest version
–
v1.26.08 (self-hosted) (Aug 7, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (storage engine)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
30.4
54.3
Rank
#86
#23
GitHub stars
23.3K
114.1K
Stack Overflow questions
5
2.1K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
None
Multi-region
None
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Serverless, Shared storage, Primary replica
Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Azure, Vercel
AWS, Vercel
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
✓
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
✓
✓
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
✓
✓
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
—
Encryption at rest
✓
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
✓
—
Branching
✓
✓
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL, GraphQL
Client languages
JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, Rust, Ruby, PHP, C#
JavaScript, Python, Dart, Swift, Kotlin, C#, Go, Rust
Best for
OLTP, Vector search, RAG, Content
OLTP, Vector search, RAG, Content
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Neon vs Supabase: FAQ

What is the difference between Neon and Supabase?

Neon: Serverless Postgres with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero, now part of Databricks. Supabase: Open-source Postgres backend platform: database, auth, storage, realtime and edge functions in one project. Only Neon has compression, time travel. Neon has a serverless option; Supabase does not.

When should I choose Neon over Supabase?

Choose Neon for per-pull-request preview databases; AI app builders and agents provisioning databases on demand; and SaaS with many small, mostly idle tenant databases. Choose Supabase for MVPs and startups needing a complete backend quickly; AI-generated apps from Lovable, Bolt and similar builders; and mobile and web apps with auth and file uploads.

Is Neon or Supabase more popular?

Supabase ranks #23 on the WhichDB Score (54.3/100) and Neon ranks #86 (30.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Neon and Supabase open source?

Yes. Neon is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (storage engine). Yes. Supabase is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.