Neon vs Supabase vs PlanetScale vs Render vs AWS RDS

Head-to-head comparison of the top 5 managed database services. Trust scores, real pricing, biggest gotchas, and when to choose each.

Criteria	Neon	Supabase	PlanetScale	Render	AWS RDS
Trust Score	7.2/10	8/10	7/10	6.5/10	8.5/10
Free Tier	0.5 GB (cold starts)	500 MB (pauses after 1 week)	None (removed 2024)	256 MB (deleted at 90 days)	12 months db.t3.micro
Paid Starts At	$19/month	$25/month	$39/month	$7/month	$13/month
Best For	Serverless + branching	Full platform	MySQL + schema changes	Simple + cheap	Enterprise production
Biggest Gotcha	500ms cold starts on cheap tiers	Free tier pauses	No free tier, no foreign keys	Free DB deleted at 90 days	Multi-AZ doubles cost
DX Rating	8/10	9/10	8/10	7/10	4/10

When to choose each

Choose Neon if you want serverless Postgres with database branching for CI/CD. Great for development workflows. Need Scale tier ($69/month) for production without cold starts.

Choose Supabase if you want a full platform (auth + database + storage + realtime). Best DX in the category. The $25/month Pro tier is great value for the full stack.

Choose Render Postgres if you want the cheapest simple Postgres ($7/month). Don’t use the free tier for anything you care about — it gets deleted.

Choose AWS RDS if you need enterprise reliability, compliance, and are already on AWS. Budget for Multi-AZ (doubles cost) and RDS Proxy for serverless apps.

Avoid PlanetScale for new projects unless you specifically need MySQL. No free tier, no foreign keys, and uncertain business trajectory.

Cost comparison

Need	Neon	Supabase	PlanetScale	Render	AWS RDS
Hobby	Free*	Free**	$39	Free***	Free****
Small prod	$19	$25	$39	$7	~$13
Medium prod	$69	$25	$99	$20	~$50
Enterprise	Custom	$599	Custom	$95	~$175+

*Cold starts. **Pauses after 1 week. ***Deleted after 90 days. ****12 months only.