Prisma Postgres

Best Serverless Databases (2026)

Serverless databases automatically scale to handle varying workloads without infrastructure management, with costs based on actual usage rather than fixed capacity, unlike traditional databases where users must provision or maintain servers. Here's a rundown of the products people actually use, organized by category:

Relational / SQL (Postgres, MySQL)

• Neon – A cloud database service built on Postgres, described as "the most trusted open source database." Popular for its branching feature and clean scale-to-zero model.
• PlanetScale – A database hosting service that runs on cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud, supporting Vitess for MySQL workloads and native Postgres for PostgreSQL applications, with high availability built in using one primary database and two backup copies spread across different data centers. Note: in April 2026, PlanetScale dropped support for foreign key constraints, reasoning that enforcing them across sharded servers requires cross-shard transactions that hurt performance, and instead recommends enforcing referential integrity in application code.
• Turso – Takes SQLite and makes it ready for large-scale production use, letting you create as many databases as you need that work like SQLite but with added cloud features, and each database can be replicated globally for faster performance.
• Prisma Postgres – A managed PostgreSQL database that combines database hosting with built-in connection pooling, query caching, usage-based pricing, and support for traditional, serverless, and edge runtimes.
• Databricks Lakebase – A fully managed Postgres database integrated with the Databricks platform, combining PostgreSQL with autoscaling, scale-to-zero compute, database branching, and native Unity Catalog integration, useful for teams already invested in the Databricks ecosystem.
• Amazon Aurora Serverless – AWS's auto-scaling relational database (Postgres/MySQL compatible), commonly cited among the standard serverless SQL options alongside DynamoDB and Cosmos DB.

NoSQL / Document / Key-Value

• Amazon DynamoDB – Frequently ranked as a top serverless NoSQL option, praised for user-friendliness and deep AWS integration.
• MongoDB Atlas – Offers unmatched data distribution and mobility across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud with built-in automation for resource and workload optimization, positioning itself as the global cloud database service for modern applications.
• IBM Cloudant – Commonly listed as a best serverless NoSQL database option.
• Azure Cosmos DB and Google Firestore – Both are standard cloud-native NoSQL choices with automatic scaling, commonly grouped with DynamoDB as leading serverless NoSQL products.
• FaunaDB – Another frequently mentioned serverless-native database designed for globally distributed apps.

Analytics / Data Warehousing

• Google BigQuery – A fully serverless database, meaning users do not need to worry about managing infrastructure or capacity planning, allowing businesses to focus on analysis rather than maintaining or provisioning servers.

Backend-as-a-Service Platforms (bundled database + backend)

• Supabase – Described as not just a database—it's a complete Backend-as-a-Service platform, built on Postgres.
• Convex – A backend platform that gives you everything needed to build modern web and mobile applications, including a real-time database.

Practical Notes on Real-World Use

• The core appeal is separating compute from storage:

The best serverless databases in production are split into two major camps: Serverless Relational (SQL), which are favored for transactional apps and familiar developer workflows, and Serverless NoSQL, prized for high throughput and near-infinite scaling.

The top brands and products that developers actually use are broken down below by category, cloud platform, and exact production strengths.

The Production Leaderboard

Top Serverless Relational (SQL) Databases

Top Serverless NoSQL Databases

Community Advice on Choosing

Real-world usage largely boils down to your structural app requirements and data types:

“I see database options as three main classes: Relational / SQL / normalized: Traditional RDBMS systems that allow for significant query flexibility... NoSQL / denormalized: More recent database options that optimize for read-time queries... Hyper-specific...”

“Turso is the right answer for edge-native applications, multi-tenant architectures with isolated databases per tenant... Neon is the default recommendation for serverless Postgres... Supabase wins when you want a full backend platform.”

To help narrow this down for your stack, tell me:

What programming language or framework (e.g., Next.js, Python, Go) are you using? Is your application relational (requires complex table joins) or document/key-value based? Where are you planning to deploy your app hosting (e.g., Vercel, AWS, Cloudflare)?