How to Cancel Neon Database Subscription in 2026

Last updated: February 2026 • Difficulty: Easy • Cost: $19+/mo (Scale plan)

Downgrade to Free Tier

1. Go to console.neon.tech
2. Click Settings → Billing
3. Click Downgrade to Free
4. Confirm — your projects and data remain accessible within free tier limits

Free Tier Limits

• Storage: 0.5 GB (512 MB)
• Compute: 190 hours/month (~6 hours/day)
• Branches: 10
• Projects: 1
• Auto-suspend: after 5 minutes of inactivity (cold starts on reconnect)

For side projects, development databases, and low-traffic apps, the free tier is genuinely usable. The auto-suspend means your database sleeps when not in use, which adds ~1-2 seconds of cold start latency on first connection.

Back Up Your Data First

Before downgrading, create a backup in case you exceed free tier storage limits:

1. Get your connection string from the Neon Console → your project → Connection Details
2. Run: pg_dump your_connection_string > backup.sql
3. Store the backup file safely

Delete Your Account Entirely

1. Back up all project data (pg_dump)
2. Delete all projects in the Neon Console
3. Go to Settings → Account → Delete Account
4. This is permanent and irreversible

Serverless Postgres Alternatives

• Supabase (Free tier) — 500 MB storage, no compute limits, includes auth/storage/realtime
• PlanetScale (Free tier) — 5 GB storage, MySQL-compatible (not Postgres)
• Railway ($5 credit/mo) — standard Postgres, simple deployment
• Render (Free tier) — free Postgres with 90-day expiration
• Self-hosted on a VPS — $5/mo DigitalOcean/Hetzner droplet with unlimited Postgres