What is a CU and a CU-hour?

A CU is approximately 1 vCPU + 4 GB RAM. A CU-hour is one hour running at one CU. Monthly compute cost = average CU × hours × CU-hour price.

Is there a monthly minimum on paid plans?

No. Paid plans are billed purely by usage, with no base fee.

How is database storage billed?

Database storage (root and child branches) is $0.35 per GB-month; history/instant-restore storage is $0.20 per GB-month and is billed separately.

When are extra branches charged?

Once concurrent branches per project exceed 10 (Launch) or 25 (Scale), extras are billed at $0.002 per branch-hour, prorated by hour.

What does the beta label on Object Storage, Functions, and AI Gateway mean?

All three are free to use during beta with rate and usage guardrails. AI Gateway requires Launch or Scale; after GA it bills at the model provider's per-token rate with no markup.

When does Managed Better Auth start costing extra?

At 1M monthly active users on Launch and Scale (60k on Free). Above 1M, Neon contacts you about custom pricing.

Do Free plan quotas roll over to paid plans?

No. On paid plans, usage meters from zero at paid rates; Free quotas do not apply.

Are there special programs for startups, open source, or agents?

Yes. The Startup Program offers up to $100k in credits for early-stage funded startups. The Open Source Program provides credits and funding for building on Neon. The Agent Plan offers custom rates and limits for app-generation platforms running thousands of databases.

Neon AI Pricing in 2026: Plans, Limits and Real Costs

Neon offers three Postgres tiers plus a free plan: Free for development and demos, Launch (typical $15 /mo) for production workloads, and Scale (typical $701 /mo) for high-load apps. For most solo founders shipping a product, Launch is the right starting paid tier.

Verified 2026-08-26 · official pricing page · Neon AI in the directory

Quick pricing verdict

Starting price: $0 on the Free plan (no credit card, no time limit)
Free plan: Yes. Free is $0/month with up to 100 projects, 100 CU-hours per project, 0.5 GB storage per project, and 10 branches per project
Best plan for most people: Launch. Usage-based with a typical spend of $15 /mo on intermittent load, 1 GB; includes up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM), 100 projects, and up to 1M MAU on Managed Better Auth
Plan to avoid first: Scale. It is built for 100 GB / high-load workloads with a typical $701 /mo spend and is overkill until you actually need SLAs or HIPAA
Biggest hidden cost: History (instant restore) storage at $0.20 per GB-month on paid plans, billed separately from database storage at $0.35 per GB-month
Pricing checked: 2026-08-26, against the official page

Neon sells serverless Postgres on Lakebase in three paid tiers plus Free. Paid plans are pure usage-based — there is no monthly minimum or base fee, so a quiet month can cost only a few dollars.

All paid tiers bill by CU-hours (≈ 1 vCPU + 4 GB RAM per CU), GB-month of storage, history storage, snapshots, backups, network egress, and extra branches. The "typical spend" figures shown next to each plan are workload estimates, not flat prices; your actual bill depends on autoscaling and idle behavior.

Plans compared

Plan	Price	Best for	Key limits
Free	$0	Development, demos, previews, and small intermittent databases	100 projects; 100 CU-hours per project; 0.5 GB storage per project; sizes up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM); 10 branches per project; scale to zero after 5 minutes when inactive; up to 6 hours or 1 GB of data changes history; 1 snapshot; up to 60k MAU on Better Auth; 5 GB public transfer; 1-day metrics/logs; community support
Launch	Usage-based — typical spend $15 /mo (Intermittent load, 1 GB)	Small production apps that scale to zero when idle	100 projects; 10 branches per project; $0.106 per CU-hour; $0.35 per GB-month; $0.20 per GB-month history storage; sizes up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM); up to 7-day history; 100 snapshots; 500 GB public transfer then $0.10/GB; 3-day metrics/logs; up to 1M MAU on Better Auth
Scale	Usage-based — typical spend $701 /mo (High load, 100 GB)	High-load production with sustained traffic and large datasets	1,000+ projects; 25 branches per project; $0.222 per CU-hour; $0.35 per GB-month; $0.20 per GB-month history; sizes up to 56 CU (224 GB RAM); up to 30-day history; 100 snapshots; 500 GB public transfer then $0.10/GB; $0.01 per GB private transfer; 14-day metrics/logs; SLAs, HIPAA, private network

Source: Neon AI pricing page, checked 2026-08-26.

What each plan includes

Free

Includes: High availability, read replicas, autoscaling, monitoring, connection pooling, Postgres extensions, Managed Better Auth up to 60k MAU, GDPR and ISO compliance; Object Storage and Functions in beta at no charge
Missing: AI Gateway (Launch/Scale only); HIPAA, SLAs, private network; only 1 snapshot, 1-day metrics/logs, 0.5 GB storage per project
Avoid if: You need predictable production guarantees, sustained availability, or any of: SLAs, HIPAA, AI Gateway access
Verdict: Genuinely useful for development; one of the more generous free Postgres tiers.

Launch

Includes: Everything in Free plus AI Gateway (beta, free now, priced at model-provider rates after GA), 100 projects, up to 16 CU, 7-day history, 100 snapshots, 500 GB public transfer included, billing support, 3-day metrics/logs
Missing: No SLAs, no HIPAA, no private network; only 10 branches per project; 3-day metrics retention
Avoid if: You need HIPAA, formal SLAs, or private networking for your workload
Verdict: The natural production tier for solo founders; usage-based so a small app can stay cheap.

Scale

Includes: SLAs, HIPAA, private network, multiple support options, 25 branches per project, up to 56 CU (224 GB RAM), 30-day history, $0.01 per GB private transfer, 14-day metrics/logs
Missing: Custom rates and limits are negotiated via the separate Agent Plan for thousands of databases
Avoid if: Your workload fits comfortably on Free or Launch — Scale's typical $701 /mo spend assumes 100 GB and high load
Verdict: Right tier only when you actually need SLAs, HIPAA, or sustained heavy load.

Add-ons, overages, and surprise costs

Cost item	Trigger	Published amount	Billing behaviour
Extra branches	Going beyond 10 (Launch) or 25 (Scale) concurrent branches per project	$0.002 per extra branch-hour ($1.50 per branch-month)	Billed hourly as branch-months, prorated
History (instant restore) storage	Any database changes retained within the configured history window (1 day default on paid plans; up to 7 on Launch, up to 30 on Scale)	$0.20 per GB-month	Billed separately from database storage at $0.35 per GB-month
Snapshots	Creating scheduled snapshots (1 included on Free, 100 included on Launch and Scale)	$0.09/GB-month	Per-GB-month storage
Scheduled backups	Daily/Weekly/Monthly backup configuration on Launch and Scale	$0.09/GB-month	Per-GB-month storage
Public network egress	Transfer beyond 500 GB per project on Launch and Scale; Free includes 5 GB	$0.10/GB	Per-GB egress on paid plans
Private network transfer	Bidirectional private networking on Scale	$0.01 per GB	Per-GB transfer
AI Gateway usage	Using AI Gateway after beta ends	Pricing will match model provider (no markup)	Requires Launch or Scale today; per-token billing at provider rates once GA
Managed Better Auth beyond 1M MAU	Surpassing 1M monthly active users on Better Auth (60k on Free)	Not published — team reaches out	Custom negotiation

Source: Platform pricing docs, checked 2026-08-26.

Which plan should you choose?

Solo founder prototyping a new app or running previews/demos: Free — 100 projects with 100 CU-hours each, scale-to-zero means $0 when idle, no credit card required
Solo founder with first paying customers, small production app: Launch — Typical $15 /mo on intermittent load; production features and up to 1M MAU on Better Auth without Scale's overhead
Solo founder with healthcare data or enterprise SLAs: Scale — HIPAA compliance, SLAs, private network, up to 56 CU, 30-day history — required for regulated production
Solo founder running short-lived branch workflows (CI previews, agent branches): Launch with branch expiration — 10 included branches cover most cases; set expirations to avoid $0.002/branch-hour overages

Frequently asked questions

What is a CU and a CU-hour?: A CU is approximately 1 vCPU + 4 GB RAM. A CU-hour is one hour running at one CU. Monthly compute cost = average CU × hours × CU-hour price.
Is there a monthly minimum on paid plans?: No. Paid plans are billed purely by usage, with no base fee.
How is database storage billed?: Database storage (root and child branches) is $0.35 per GB-month; history/instant-restore storage is $0.20 per GB-month and is billed separately.
When are extra branches charged?: Once concurrent branches per project exceed 10 (Launch) or 25 (Scale), extras are billed at $0.002 per branch-hour, prorated by hour.
What does the beta label on Object Storage, Functions, and AI Gateway mean?: All three are free to use during beta with rate and usage guardrails. AI Gateway requires Launch or Scale; after GA it bills at the model provider's per-token rate with no markup.
When does Managed Better Auth start costing extra?: At 1M monthly active users on Launch and Scale (60k on Free). Above 1M, Neon contacts you about custom pricing.
Do Free plan quotas roll over to paid plans?: No. On paid plans, usage meters from zero at paid rates; Free quotas do not apply.
Are there special programs for startups, open source, or agents?: Yes. The Startup Program offers up to $100k in credits for early-stage funded startups. The Open Source Program provides credits and funding for building on Neon. The Agent Plan offers custom rates and limits for app-generation platforms running thousands of databases.

What we read

Every figure on this page was extracted from the vendor's own pricing page at the moment below. The text is reproduced so you can check our reading against what they publish today.

Source captured 2026-08-26 08:23 UTC

A deep dive on the lakebase storage: S3 + WAL for the era of agents Neon Product Solutions Docs Pricing Resources CORE PRIMITIVES Lakebase Postgres Serverless Postgres database Auth Authentication built into your database Functions Serverless compute next to your data Object Storage S3-compatible storage that branches AI Gateway One API for frontier and open-source models FEATURES Lakebase Architecture Storage-compute separation Autoscaling Automatic instance sizing Branching Faster Postgres workflows Search Vector, keyword, and hybrid search Instant Restore Instant recovery when mistakes happen What is Neon Built around Lakebase Postgres, by Databricks USE CASES Full-stack apps Deploy backends via your agent Branching workflows Simplify DB ops to ship faster & safer Bursty workloads Avoid overprovisioning & optimize performance Large databases Restore & replicate your DB in seconds DEPLOY AT SCALE Agents Infra for app-generation agents like Replit & v0 AI Platforms Deploy isolated backends for your end users LEARN Blog Technical posts & product updates Case studies Explore customer stories Changelog Product updates Community Connect on Discord Startups Build with Neon COMPANY About us The company and the mission Careers Join the team Contact sales Contact sales team Security Compliance & privacy Status Service status Discord 23k Log in Sign up Neon pricing Get started for free. Pay per usage as you grow. Neon pricing plans FREE $0 Build and learn free with no time limits and no credit card required. Try Neon LAKEBASE POSTGRES 100 projects 100 CU-hrs monthly per project 0.5 GB of storage per project Sizes up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM) Unlimited team members BACKEND Managed Better Auth Object StorageBETA FunctionsBETA LAUNCH Usage-based Typical spend: $15 /mo Based on: Intermittent load, 1 GB Get started LAKEBASE POSTGRES 100 projects $0.106 per CU-hr $0.35 per GB-month Sizes up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM) 3-day metrics/logs in UI BACKEND Managed Better Auth Object StorageBETA FunctionsBETA AI GatewayBETA SCALE Usage-based Typical spend: $701 /mo Based on: High load, 100 GB Get started LAKEBASE POSTGRES 1,000+ projects $0.222 per CU-hr $0.35 per GB-month Sizes up to 56 CU (224 GB RAM) SLAs, HIPAA, private network BACKEND Managed Better Auth Object StorageBETA FunctionsBETA AI GatewayBETA Special programs AGENT PLAN App generation platforms Custom rates and limits for thousands of databases. Learn more about App generation platforms STARTUP PROGRAM Early-stage startups Launch faster with up to $100k in credits. Learn more about Early-stage startups OPEN SOURCE PROGRAM Open source on Neon Credits and funding for building on Neon. Learn more about Open source on Neon Projects and Branches Projects Branches per project Included Additional branches Read more Lakebase Postgres Compute rates Compute sizes Autoscaling Scale to zero When inactive Database storage Root and child branches History Instant restore storage History window For instant restore (configurable) Snapshots Scheduled Backups Backend Managed Better Auth Object StorageBETA FunctionsBETA AI GatewayBETA Network IP Allow Rules Private Networking Private Link Public network transfer Egress Private network transfer Bidirectional Account & Management Monitoring retention Window for metrics, logs Metrics and Logs export Datadog, OTel Spending notifications Get alerts as your spend grows HIPAA Compliance SOC 2 Report Access Team members Support Plans Free $0/month Get started 100 10 100 CU-hours Per Project Up to 2 CU (8 GB RAM) After 5 minutes when inactive Free 0.5 GB per Project Free with limited window/size Up to 6 hours or 1 GB of data changes 1 snapshot Up to 60k MAUs No charges applied during beta, with usage limits No charges applied during beta, with usage limits 5 GB included 1 day Unlimited Community (Discord) Launch Usage-based Get started 100 10 $0.002 per branch-hour $0.106 per CU-hour Up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM) After 5 minutes can be disabled $0.35 per GB-month $0.20 per GB-month

Pricing change log

What moved since we started tracking this page, newest first. A price that changes silently is the failure mode of every other pricing guide.

2026-08-26First published, extracted from https://neon.com/pricing.