Compare
Appwrite vs Neon
Neon offers serverless Postgres only, whereas Appwrite includes auth, storage, functions and more.
Which to pick
Pick Appwrite if you want…
- All-in-one open-source backend
- Open-source backend services
- Open-source code (appwrite/appwrite on GitHub, BSD-3-Clause license)
- Integrations with React (on Appwrite's list, not Neon's)
Pick Neon if you want…
- Serverless Postgres with full backend suite
- Serverless PostgreSQL
- Integrations with Better Auth, Databricks or pgBouncer (on Neon's list, not Appwrite's)
Appwrite provides a full backend stack but uses its own database rather than serverless Postgres with branching.
Side by side
- What it is
- Appwrite:Appwrite is an open-source backend platform offering auth, databases, storage, functions, messaging, realtime and hosting.
- Neon:Neon provides a serverless Postgres database with built-in auth, object storage, functions and an AI gateway.
- Best for
- Appwrite:All-in-one open-source backend
- Neon:Serverless Postgres with full backend suite
- Who it’s for
- Appwrite:Developers building web, mobile or AI-agent applications who need a unified backend.
- Neon:Developers building apps or agents that need instant, branchable backends.
- Pricing
- Appwrite:Freemium
- Neon:Freemium
- Plans
- Appwrite:Free $0
- Neon:Free $0
- Open source
- Appwrite:Yes, 57,531 GitHub stars
- Neon:—
- Works with
- Appwrite:React
- Neon:Better Auth, Databricks, pgBouncer
Appwrite features
- Auth. User authentication via email, SMS, OAuth, magic links and anonymous sessions.
- Databases. Managed TablesDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL and vector stores with query and scaling tools.
- Storage. File storage with compression, encryption, image transformations and access control.
- Functions. Serverless functions with isolated runtimes, event-driven triggers and cron schedules.
- Messaging. Unified email, SMS and push notification service with templating.
- Realtime. Live event subscription for collaborative and real-time app experiences.
- Sites. Deploy static, SSR or CSR front-ends from Git with instant previews.
- Firewall. Edge security with traffic rules, rate limiting and abuse protection.
Neon features
- Serverless Postgres. Lakebase Postgres scales compute and storage independently and auto-scales in real time.
- Managed Auth. Fully-managed Better Auth integration provides free user authentication per database.
- Branchable Storage. S3-compatible object storage and database branches copy-on-write for isolated environments.
- Functions. Serverless functions run close to the database without timeouts.
- AI Gateway. Single API to access frontier and open-source models at cost-based rates.
- Autoscaling & Scale-to-Zero. Compute auto-adjusts to demand and scales to zero when idle, billed per CU-hour.
- High Availability & Read Replicas. Multi-AZ storage and read replicas are included on all plans.
- Extensions Library. Supports Postgres extensions such as pg_vector, PostGIS, TimescaleDB, etc.
Appwrite vs Neon FAQ
Is Appwrite or Neon free?+
Appwrite has a free plan and paid plans. Neon has a free plan and paid plans.
Is Appwrite or Neon open source?+
Appwrite is open source (appwrite/appwrite on GitHub, BSD-3-Clause license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Neon.
Do Appwrite and Neon integrate with the same tools?+
Their integration lists don't overlap: Appwrite lists React; Neon lists Better Auth, Databricks and pgBouncer.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.