Free Postgres Hosting in 2026 - Every Free Tier Compared

The best free Postgres hosting in 2026 depends on what "free" has to survive. For many small databases with branching, Neon's free plan is the most generous (100 projects, 1 GB each). For a free database that comes with auth, an API and file storage, Supabase and StitchDB both give you 500 MB; StitchDB's free projects aren't paused while you use your account, Supabase's pause after a week without activity. For a quick test, Prisma Postgres, Aiven and Render work too, but read the catch: Render's free database expires after 30 days.

Every free tier has a catch. The useful question is which catch you can live with.

#Free Postgres tiers at a glance

All numbers from the vendors' own pages, as of November 2026.

#Neon

Neon is serverless Postgres with storage separated from compute. The free plan includes 100 projects, 1 GB of storage per project (20 GB total), 100 CU-hours of compute per project, 10 branches per project and 5 GB of egress per project.

The catch: compute scales to zero after 5 minutes of inactivity, and that can't be turned off on the free plan. The next query wakes it within a few hundred milliseconds, which is fine for most apps but noticeable for some. Compute is limited to 100 CU-hours per project a month, so a database that's busy around the clock can run out.

Best for: side projects, preview databases, testing many schemas, and anything that benefits from branching.

#StitchDB

StitchDB is a hosted backend: each project is a dedicated Postgres database with Auth, REST and GraphQL APIs, Realtime, Storage and Edge Functions. The free plan, as of November 2026:

• 2 projects, 500 MB database each
• 1 GB file storage, 25 GB egress, 50,000 monthly active users
• 20 direct connections and a pooler for up to 1,000 clients
• Point-in-time recovery for the last 24 hours, plus pg_dump export any time
• An 8-second statement timeout on API queries

The catch: 500 MB is small, and the free plan has no daily backups (PITR only). When a project gets no requests for a while, its API services stop and start again on the next request; the database itself stays online. Free projects are paused only when the whole account is abandoned for a year, after two e-mail warnings (inactive projects). Servers are in the EU only.

Connecting with psql or any ORM (connect docs):

# session mode, for psql and migrations
psql "postgresql://p_<ref>_owner:<password>@<db-host>:5432/p_<ref>?sslmode=require"

# transaction mode, for serverless functions
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://p_<ref>_owner:<password>@<db-host>:6543/p_<ref>?sslmode=require"

TLS is required; connections without it are refused.

Best for: apps that need more than a database (auth, file uploads, realtime) and a free tier that stays up.

#Supabase

Supabase Free includes a 500 MB database, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress, 50,000 MAU and 2 active projects, with Auth, Storage, Realtime and Edge Functions.

The catch: free projects are paused after one week of inactivity, and automatic backups aren't included.

Best for: prototypes and learning the Supabase stack, especially if you'll upgrade later and want worldwide regions.

#Prisma Postgres

Prisma Postgres Free includes 50 databases, 200,000 operations a month and 2 GB of storage. Paid plans start at $10/month.

The catch: the operations limit counts queries, so a busy app can use it up while staying small in storage.

Best for: Prisma ORM users who want the shortest setup.

#Aiven

Aiven's free PostgreSQL is a single-node service with 1 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM and 1 CPU on its own VM, including backups, in selected cloud regions.

The catch: the service powers off after a period of inactivity (Aiven notifies you first), there's no high availability, and 1 GB fills up fast.

Best for: a classic, always-the-same Postgres instance for learning and small tools.

#Render

Render's free Postgres has 1 GB of storage, one free database per workspace and no backups.

The catch: it expires 30 days after creation. You then have 14 days to upgrade before Render deletes the database and its data.

Best for: a short demo or a test environment you'll throw away.

#How to pick a free tier

Ask four questions:

1. Does the database need to answer instantly after a quiet night? Scale-to-zero (Neon) and API sleep (StitchDB, briefly) add a delay on the first request; pausing (Supabase after a week, Aiven) needs a manual restore or a wake-up.
2. Will the free tier still exist in 60 days? Render's won't. The others don't expire.
3. Do you need more than Postgres? If you'd otherwise add an auth provider and file storage, a backend tier (StitchDB, Supabase) is free in total, not just for the database.
4. What happens at the limit? On StitchDB Free, a project over 500 MB becomes read-only (writes fail with 25006) and nothing is deleted. Check each provider's behavior before you rely on it.

#Getting the most out of 500 MB

Small free tiers last longer than people expect if you're careful:

-- find the biggest tables
select relname, pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size(relid)) as size
from pg_catalog.pg_statio_user_tables
order by pg_total_relation_size(relid) desc
limit 10;

• Store files in object storage, not in bytea columns.
• Drop unused indexes; each one costs space.
• Prune logs and events with a scheduled job instead of keeping everything.
• Use timestamptz and integers, not long text, for keys and dates.

A cleanup job with pg_cron:

select cron.schedule('prune-events', '0 3 * * *',
  $$delete from public.events where created_at < now() - interval '30 days'$$);

#When to stop using free

Move to a paid plan when you have users who'd notice downtime, when you need daily backups, or when the database passes about 70% of the free limit. As of November 2026, StitchDB Pro is $15.99/month (pricing) with 10 GB per project and 7 days of PITR; Supabase Pro starts at $25/month; Neon's paid plans are usage-based with no monthly minimum. Compare more in Serverless Postgres explained and BaaS pricing compared.

#FAQ

#Which free Postgres hosting doesn't pause?

StitchDB's free projects stay online while the account is used; only accounts abandoned for a year are paused. Neon scales compute to zero but wakes automatically on the next query.

#Is there free Postgres with no time limit?

Yes: Neon, StitchDB, Supabase, Prisma Postgres and Aiven have no expiry date as of November 2026. Render's free database expires after 30 days.

#What's the largest free Postgres database?

Among these, Prisma Postgres (2 GB) and Neon (1 GB per project, 20 GB across 100 projects) offer the most storage.

#Can I use free Postgres in production?

For small apps, yes, if you accept the limits: no SLA, small storage, and on some tiers no backups. Add your own pg_dump backups either way.

Get a free Postgres database with auth and storage that stays online: create a StitchDB project.