Our take
Pick Appwrite if app teams who will stay on Cloud Free (project freezes at the cap) or self-host OSS at $0 while they create a first Movies document, then add a dedicated database at $10/month (Starter 1 core / 1 GB) when they want reserved compute — and confirm the live Pro card before they treat overage as a fixed seat. Pick Neon if builders who will stay on Free $0 (100 CU-hours/project, 1 GB, 10 branches), then
Best for
Appwrite Auth + data + files you start on Cloud Free or a $10 DB
Neon Postgres metered in CU-hours and GB
Free plan
Appwrite $0 · named on the pricing FAQ. Hitting a resource limit freezes the project (Console stays read-only) until you upgrade, delete extras, or wait for the next cycle. Confirm the live Compare plans table for MAU / storage / bandwidth — do not invent those quotas
Neon $0 · 100 projects. 10 branches/project. 100 CU-hours/project. Autoscaling up to 2 CU. Scale-to-zero after 5 min (cannot disable). 1 GB/project Postgres, 20 GB account. 5 GB egress/project. 6-hour history. 1 snapshot. Auth 60k MAU. 5 GB object storage. Functions: 10 active / 400 waiting Capacity-Hours, 1M invocations. Hitting CU or egress suspends compute until next cycle; storage cap blocks writes
Lowest paid
Appwrite Database — Dedicated $10/mo
Neon Launch $0.106
Next step up
Appwrite
Neon Scale $0.222
Coding agent
Appwrite
Neon Branching
Runs where
Appwrite Local or hosted
Neon
Watch out
Appwrite Free freezes at the cap
Neon Free suspends when CU-hours or 5 GB egress are gone
Last checked
Appwrite 2026-10-22 · appwrite.io/pricing
Neon 2026-10-22 · neon.com/pricing
app teams who will stay on Cloud Free (project freezes at the cap) or self-host OSS at $0 while they create a first Movies document, then add a dedicated database at $10/month (Starter 1 core / 1 GB) when they want reserved compute — and confirm the live Pro card before they treat overage as a fixed seat.
Read the Appwrite pagebuilders who will stay on Free $0 (100 CU-hours/project, 1 GB, 10 branches), then move to Launch (pay-as-you-go, $0.106/CU-hour, $0.35/GB-month) when writes or idle-always-on matter.
Read the Neon page
