- Neon, Supabase and Aiven offer free PostgreSQL databases with no time limit; Render's free database expires after 30 days.
- Free plans are small: 500 MB to 1 GB of storage per database is typical, and compute is shared, capped or suspended when idle.
- Most free databases sleep, pause or power off when unused, so the first request after a quiet period is slower or needs a manual restore.
- AWS, Azure and Google Cloud offer credits and time-limited trials rather than a permanently free managed PostgreSQL server.
- None of the free plans include an uptime SLA; treat them as learning, prototype and side-project databases.
Free PostgreSQL hosting options at a glance
Free PostgreSQL hosting comes in two kinds. Developer platforms (Neon, Supabase, Aiven, Render, Koyeb) give you a small database that is free indefinitely or for a fixed period. The large clouds give you credits or a trial instance that runs out. The table compares the limits that decide whether a free plan is usable for your project.
| Provider | Storage | Compute | Idle or expiry rule | Time limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neon Free | 1 GB per project (20 GB per account); 100 projects | 100 CU-hours per project per month, up to 2 CU | Scales to zero after 5 minutes; wakes on next query | None |
| Supabase Free | 500 MB per project; 2 active projects | Nano (shared CPU, up to 0.5 GB RAM) | Paused after 1 week of inactivity | None |
| Aiven Free | 1 GB | 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, single node | May be powered off after inactivity (notice sent) | None |
| Render Free | 1 GB; one free database per workspace | Free instance | Expires 30 days after creation | 30 days, then 14-day grace period |
| Koyeb free instance | 1 GB of data | 0.25 vCPU, 1 GB RAM; 5 hours of compute a month | Sleeps after 5 minutes of inactivity | None stated |
Free Postgres database plans from developer platforms
Neon: the most room for many small databases
Neon's Free plan has no time limit and needs no credit card. It allows 100 projects, each with 100 CU-hours of compute a month and 1 GB of storage, with a 20 GB total across the account. Compute always scales to zero after 5 minutes idle and this cannot be disabled on Free. You also get branching (10 branches per project) and 6 hours of restore history. It suits several small projects, demos and preview databases. See our Supabase vs Neon comparison if you are choosing between the two.
Supabase: a free backend, but only two projects
Supabase Free includes a dedicated Postgres database (500 MB), plus Auth for 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB of file storage and the auto-generated API. The limits that bite are 2 active projects and pausing after 1 week of inactivity; a paused project must be restored from the dashboard. There are no automatic backups on Free, so Supabase recommends exporting your data regularly.
Aiven: a plain free PostgreSQL server
Aiven's free PostgreSQL plan is a single node with 1 CPU, 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage, with no credit card and no time limit. Aiven reserves the right to power off free services that have no activity (it notifies you first) and to change their cloud or region. You cannot choose the cloud or region, and connection pooling and integrations are not included. Aiven positions it for learning and prototypes rather than production.
Render and Koyeb: free, with tight limits
Render's free Postgres database is fixed at 1 GB, only one can be active per workspace, and it expires 30 days after creation, with a 14-day grace period to upgrade before Render deletes it. Free Render databases have no backups and no managed connection pooling. Koyeb's free database instance has 0.25 vCPU and 1 GB of RAM but only 5 hours of compute a month and 1 GB of data; it sleeps after 5 minutes idle.
Free PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud
AWS. New accounts on the AWS Free Tier receive credits, and the Free plan lets you explore RDS and Aurora for up to 6 months. On RDS the Free plan covers db.t3.micro and db.t4g.micro instances, including PostgreSQL. Aurora PostgreSQL serverless is available on the Free plan with up to 4 ACUs and 1 GiB of storage per cluster. Aurora DSQL, a PostgreSQL-compatible distributed database, has an always-free monthly allowance of 100,000 DPUs and 1 GB of storage.
Azure. The Azure free account gives new customers a credit plus free monthly amounts of more than 20 popular services for 12 months; check in the portal whether your account's free amounts cover Azure Database for PostgreSQL before you create a server.
Google Cloud. Cloud SQL offers a free trial instance for up to 30 days, one per project, configured as an Enterprise Plus instance with 8 vCPUs, 64 GB of memory and 100 GB of storage. Separately, the Google Cloud Free Trial gives new customers credit to spend over 90 days.
These offers are useful for learning the cloud provider's own tooling, but they end. Set a budget alert before you start, because usage beyond the free allowance is billed.
Which free plans are for side projects only
In our assessment, every free PostgreSQL plan here is for learning, prototypes and side projects, not for an application people depend on. None includes an uptime SLA, most have no backups or only short restore history, and idle rules mean the database may be asleep, paused or powered off when a user arrives.
- Fine for a portfolio app or demo: Neon Free and Aiven Free, because they do not expire and wake or restart automatically.
- Fine for a prototype that needs auth and storage: Supabase Free, if you visit it at least weekly or accept restoring it after a pause.
- Short experiments only: Render Free (30-day expiry) and Koyeb's free instance (5 compute hours a month).
- Learning a specific cloud: the AWS Free plan, Azure free account or the Cloud SQL free trial.
When a project starts to matter, move to a paid plan with backups first; the cheapest paid steps are listed in the pricing section below. Our Supabase alternatives guide covers other hosted Postgres platforms.
Pricing
Prices from the provider's official pricing pages, checked 8 October 2026, region Not region-specific: providers' published list prices and credit amounts, in USD, excluding tax. List prices only; discounts, commitments and your actual usage change the bill.
Every free plan above costs 0 USD within its limits. The table shows what the first paid step costs on each platform, and the credit amounts for cloud trials, so you know where the free plan ends.
| Provider | Free | First paid option |
|---|---|---|
| Neon | Free plan, 0 USD | Launch: 0.106 USD per CU-hour plus 0.35 USD per GB-month, no monthly minimum |
| Supabase | Free plan, 0 USD | Pro: from 25 USD per month (includes 10 USD of compute credits) |
| Aiven | Free plan, 0 USD per month | Developer: 5 USD per month (1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage) |
| Koyeb | Free instance, 0 USD | Small instance: 0.04 USD per hour, 29.76 USD per month |
| AWS | 100 USD credit at sign-up, up to 100 USD more earned (200 USD total) | Standard RDS or Aurora rates after credits |
| Azure | Free account with 200 USD credit | Pay-as-you-go rates |
| Google Cloud | 300 USD credit over 90 days; 30-day Cloud SQL trial instance | Standard Cloud SQL rates |
Frequently asked questions
Can I host a PostgreSQL database online for free?
Yes. Neon, Supabase and Aiven offer free PostgreSQL databases with no time limit, and Render and Koyeb offer smaller or time-limited free databases. Expect 500 MB to 1 GB of storage and an idle rule such as scale to zero, pausing or power-off.
What is the best free Postgres hosting?
It depends on the project. Neon gives the most room for many small databases (100 projects). Supabase is the better fit if you also want auth and file storage, within 2 active projects. Aiven is a plain always-free server if you want a conventional single node.
Is there a free PostgreSQL cloud hosting plan on AWS?
AWS offers credits and a Free plan for up to 6 months that covers small RDS for PostgreSQL instances and Aurora PostgreSQL serverless with up to 4 ACUs. Aurora DSQL, which is PostgreSQL-compatible, has a monthly always-free allowance. A permanently free RDS for PostgreSQL server is not offered.
Do free PostgreSQL databases get deleted?
Some do. Render deletes a free database after it expires at 30 days plus a 14-day grace period. Supabase pauses inactive free projects and keeps them restorable for 1 year. Neon and Aiven state no time limit, but Aiven can power off inactive free services.
Are free PostgreSQL servers backed up?
Mostly not in a way you can rely on. Supabase and Render free databases have no backups; Neon Free keeps 6 hours of restore history. Export your data with pg_dump on a schedule if you care about it.
Sources
- Neon pricing
- Neon docs: Plans
- Supabase pricing
- Supabase docs: Compute and disk
- Supabase docs: Backups
- Supabase docs: Upgrading and paused projects
- Aiven: Free PostgreSQL database
- Aiven docs: Service pricing and free tier
- Aiven pricing
- Render docs: Deploy for free
- Koyeb docs: Databases
- AWS Free Tier with Amazon Aurora and RDS
- AWS Free Tier
- Amazon Aurora DSQL pricing
- Azure account options
- Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL: free trial instance
- Google Cloud: Free features and trial offer
Checked 8 October 2026.
How we research cloud database guides: our editorial method. CodeWithSQL earns nothing from the providers mentioned.