Pick Neon if
builders 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 pageNeon vs Upstash
Our take
Pick Neon if builders 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. Pick Upstash if app teams who will stay on Redis Free $0 (250 MB, 500k commands, no card) while they cache a first route, then put a card on file when they need Pay as You Go at $0.20/100k commands — or add QStash /
Best for
Neon Postgres metered in CU-hours and GB
Upstash A cache, a message, a durable step, a vector index, or a box you start without a card
Free plan
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
Upstash $0 · /month. 250 MB. 500k commands/mo. 10 GB bandwidth. 1 database
Lowest paid
Neon Launch $0.106
Upstash Pay as You Go $0.10
Next step up
Neon Scale $0.222
Upstash Pay as You Go $0.20
Coding agent
Neon Branching
Upstash
Runs where
Neon
Upstash Hosted
Watch out
Neon Free suspends when CU-hours or 5 GB egress are gone
Upstash Free Redis is 250 MB and 500k commands
Last checked
Neon 2026-10-22 · neon.com/pricing
Upstash 2026-10-22 · upstash.com/pricing/redis
Which one, then?
Pick Upstash if
app teams who will stay on Redis Free $0 (250 MB, 500k commands, no card) while they cache a first route, then put a card on file when they need Pay as You Go at $0.20/100k commands — or add QStash / Workflow / Vector / Box on the same $0 free envelope.
Read the Upstash page