Amazon RDS vs Neon

Amazon RDS6.6Visit Neon6.3Visit

Higher score Amazon RDS #9 in Relational Databases 6.6/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Amazon RDS

vs

Neon #14 in Relational Databases 6.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Neon

• Amazon RDS fits best

  Managed multi-engine AWS databases

• Neon fits best

  Serverless PostgreSQL development

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon RDS 6.6/10 Visit ↗	Neon 6.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	6.6	6.3
Ranking	#9 in Relational Databases	#14 in Relational Databases
Best for	Managed multi-engine AWS databases	Serverless PostgreSQL development
Pricing model	Paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Phone, Live chat, Email, Community, Docs · 24/7	Community, Docs
Compliance	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon RDS 4/4 · Neon 4/4
Managed service	✓	✓
High availability	✓	✓
Read replicas	✓	✓
JSON data support	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Both	Cloud
Backup retention	Not published	7 days
Maximum connections	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Supports eight database engines in a managed AWS service Includes Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, backups, and point-in-time restore Connects with IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts	Free plan includes branching, replicas, and point-in-time restores Autoscaling and scale-to-zero help align compute with demand Works with Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Prisma, and Drizzle ORM
Cons	No free plan is available Usage-based pricing varies by region, engine, instance, storage, and configuration AWS-focused deployment may not suit teams seeking a standalone database platform	Free projects are limited to 0.5 GB storage each Launch pricing varies with usage rather than a fixed monthly fee The product is focused on PostgreSQL rather than multiple database engines
Our verdict	Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service for deploying, operating, and scaling databases in the AWS environment. It automates infrastructure provisioning, patching, backups, and failure recovery while leaving users to configure… Read the review →	Neon is a fully managed, serverless PostgreSQL platform for developers, teams, and enterprises building web and serverless applications. It separates compute from storage and combines autoscaling and scale-to-zero with database branching,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon RDS — where it wins

  • Supports eight database engines in a managed AWS service
  • Includes Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, backups, and point-in-time restore
  • Connects with IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, RDS Proxy, and Outposts

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is available
  • Usage-based pricing varies by region, engine, instance, storage, and configuration
  • AWS-focused deployment may not suit teams seeking a standalone database platform

• Neon — where it wins

  • Free plan includes branching, replicas, and point-in-time restores
  • Autoscaling and scale-to-zero help align compute with demand
  • Works with Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Prisma, and Drizzle ORM

  Where it doesn't

  • Free projects are limited to 0.5 GB storage each
  • Launch pricing varies with usage rather than a fixed monthly fee
  • The product is focused on PostgreSQL rather than multiple database engines

• Amazon RDS6.6/10 · Paid

  A managed AWS database service for teams needing engine choice and operational automation.

  Visit Amazon RDSFull verdict →
• Neon6.3/10 · Free plan

  A flexible managed PostgreSQL platform for serverless apps and developer teams.

  Visit NeonFull verdict →