❦ OPINION · Database & backend
Convex vs Neon
Side by side: strengths, tradeoffs, features, pricing, and who each one fits. Same rubric, no editor's thumb on the scale, no winner declared — you decide.
Convex
TypeScript-first reactive backend — database, server functions, realtime, all typesafe end-to-end.
Neon
Serverless Postgres with branching — scales to zero and back without ceremony.
❦ How each one performs
Founder fit by dimension
| Dimension | Convex | Neon |
|---|---|---|
| Setup speed | 8.8 `npx convex dev` to running schema in 3 minutes. | 9.0 Database in 30 seconds; connection string ready to paste. |
| Ease of use | 9.0 Best DX in the category if you're a TypeScript dev. | 8.8 Pure database — clean for engineers comfortable with Postgres. |
| Pricing transparency | 8.0 Tiers are clear; usage-based above adds variance. | 9.0 Scale-to-zero pricing is unusual but explained well. |
| Integrations | 7.5 Auth integrates with Clerk / Auth0 cleanly; ecosystem still growing. | 8.0 Standard Postgres clients; ORM support is universal. |
| Solo-founder fit | 8.5 Free tier carries side projects; Pro covers early MRR. | 8.5 Free tier covers serious development; $19 covers first MRR. |
❦ Feature matrix
Features
| Feature | Convex | Neon |
|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL (real) | no (custom) | ● Yes |
| Auth (built-in) | via Clerk / Auth0 | — No |
| Realtime subscriptions | yes (default) | — No |
| File storage | ● Yes | — No |
| Edge functions | ● Yes | — No |
| Auto-generated REST API | ● Yes | — No |
| End-to-end typesafe | ● Yes | — No |
| Scheduled functions / cron | ● Yes | — No |
| Vector / embeddings | ● Yes | — No |
| Connection pooling | n/a | ● Yes |
| Self-hostable | — No | limited |
| TypeScript-first | ● Yes | — No |
| Branching (DB per PR) | — No | yes (signature feature) |
| Point-in-time recovery | — No | Scale tier |
| Scale-to-zero compute | — No | ● Yes |
| Vector / pgvector | — No | ● Yes |
| Region availability | — No | AWS, Azure (multi-region) |
❦ Every tier, side by side
Pricing
Convex
| Starter | $0 | 1 GB storage, 1M function calls / mo |
| Professional | $25/mo + usage | Higher limits, scheduled jobs, vector search |
| Enterprise | Custom | SLAs, dedicated infra, support |
Neon
| Free | $0 | 0.5 GB storage, 1 project, 10 branches |
| Launch | $19/mo | 10 GB storage, 100 branches, advanced features |
| Scale | $69/mo | Higher limits, point-in-time recovery |
| Business | Custom | Dedicated, SLAs, SOC 2 |
❦ What each one is genuinely good at, and what to know going in
Strengths and tradeoffs
Convex
Strengths
- ●Best typesafe DX in the backend-as-a-service category
- ●Reactive queries — UI updates without manual subscription wiring
- ●Built-in scheduled functions, file storage, vector search
- ●Free tier is generous enough for real prototypes
Tradeoffs
- ●Not Postgres — migration to a standard database is non-trivial
- ●Smaller community and ecosystem than Supabase
- ●Some patterns (complex joins, raw SQL) require workarounds
Neon
Strengths
- ●Database branching — preview DBs per PR, with real data
- ●Scale-to-zero on compute means idle environments cost almost nothing
- ●Pure Postgres — no platform lock-in beyond connection string
- ●Cold-start time is sub-second for most workloads
Tradeoffs
- ●Bring your own auth, storage, realtime — extra wiring compared to Supabase
- ●Ecosystem is smaller — fewer pre-built examples and tutorials
- ●Cold starts on free tier can surprise users on rare paths
❦ Who each one is built for
Fit by founder type
| Founder type | Convex | Neon |
|---|---|---|
| Solo Founder | Strong fit If you're TypeScript-first, this is the fastest DX in backend-as-service. | Strong fit If you bring your own auth, this is the cleanest Postgres play. |
| Small Team | Strong fit Designed for this size — reactive apps without backend engineering team. | Strong fit Branching makes staging environments dramatically cheaper. |
| Agency | Not the right fit Per-project lock-in makes agency multi-tenant work painful. | Workable Per-project DBs are clean; team-multi-tenant pricing needs care. |
❦ Quick reference
Key facts
Convex
- 2021
- San Francisco, CA
- Tens of thousands of projects
- Cursor, Anthropic Console (parts), Lerna
- $56M Series A (2024)
Neon
- 2021
- Remote
- 100,000+ databases
- Databricks (2025, $1B+)
- Vercel (for Vercel Postgres), Replit
❦ When to pick each
Two right answers, two different situations.
Pick Convex when
If you're TypeScript-first, this is the fastest DX in backend-as-service.
Pick Neon when
If you bring your own auth, this is the cleanest Postgres play.