Serverless Databases
Managed, scale-to-zero databases compared — Postgres, MySQL, and edge SQLite without running your own servers.
alternatives (6)
★ Neon
Best for: Serverless Postgres
Serverless Postgres with instant branching, scale-to-zero, and a clean developer experience.
- +Branching
- +Scale-to-zero
- +Pure Postgres
- −Postgres only
Supabase
Best for: Full Postgres platform
Managed Postgres with auth, storage, realtime, and edge functions — more than just a database.
- +Postgres + extras
- +Open source
- +Realtime
- −Bundled platform
- −not DB-only
PlanetScale
Best for: Serverless MySQL
Serverless MySQL (Vitess) with branching, non-blocking schema changes, and horizontal scale.
- +Schema branching
- +Vitess scale
- +Safe migrations
- −MySQL not Postgres
Turso
Best for: Edge & embedded SQLite
Distributed SQLite at the edge — libSQL with replication, branching, and embeddable local databases.
- +Edge replication
- +Embedded local DB
- +Low latency
- −SQLite limits vs Postgres
CockroachDB Serverless
Best for: Global distributed SQL
Serverless distributed SQL — Postgres-compatible with global scale, strong consistency, and a free tier.
- +Postgres-compatible
- +Global scale
- +Free tier
- −Distributed SQL learning curve
Cloudflare D1
Best for: Edge SQLite on Workers
Serverless SQLite database at the edge — query from Workers with automatic replication and time travel.
- +Workers-native
- +Edge-local
- +Free tier
- −SQLite limits
- −Cloudflare lock-in
Compare
Tick the ones you want to compare
| Alternative | Engine | Serverless | Branching | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ★Neon | Postgres | Yes | Yes | Serverless Postgres |
| Supabase | Postgres | Partial | Preview branches | Postgres + BaaS |
| PlanetScale | MySQL (Vitess) | Yes | Yes | Serverless MySQL |
| Turso | SQLite (libSQL) | Yes | Yes | Edge SQLite |
| CockroachDB Serverless | Distributed SQL | Yes | No | Global Postgres-compatible |
| Cloudflare D1 | SQLite | Yes | Time travel | Cloudflare Workers apps |
This topic is databases only — not full backends. Neon is the go-to for serverless Postgres with branching. PlanetScale covers MySQL at scale. Turso and Cloudflare D1 put SQLite at the edge. CockroachDB Serverless for globally distributed Postgres-compatible SQL. Supabase bundles Postgres with auth and storage — see Backend as a Service for that comparison.