# European alternatives to Neon serverless Postgres in 2026

Last updated: 2026-11-10

The nearest European match to Neon is **Scaleway Serverless SQL Database**: Postgres from a French provider that scales down to zero and bills for the compute it provisions and the storage you use. If a database that's always on is fine, **Aiven** from Finland and **Scalingo** or **Clever Cloud** from France run managed Postgres on fixed plans. Neon itself has a Frankfurt region, but your contract is with Databricks, Inc., which is headquartered in San Francisco.

## Serverless and managed Postgres at a glance

| Platform | Company | Scales to zero | Starts at | Main gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scaleway | France | Yes, after 5 minutes idle | Not stated | Branching not documented |
| Aiven | Helsinki, Finland | No, dedicated VMs | Free, then $5 a month | Free and Developer can't pick a cloud or region |
| Scalingo | France | No | €7.20 a month excl. VAT for 512 MB and 10 GB | Fixed plan sizes |
| Clever Cloud | France | No | Not stated | Fixed plan sizes |
| Neon in Frankfurt | Databricks, Inc., San Francisco | Yes, after 5 minutes idle | Free, then usage at $0.106 per CU-hour | Contract with a US company |
| Eurobase | Warsaw, Poland | No Postgres of its own | Free, then €10 a month + VAT | No managed Postgres, SQLite only for apps on V8 isolates |

Prices are from each provider's own page, checked on 10 November 2026.

## What to check before you leave Neon

- **Which Neon features your workflow needs.** Branching, scale to zero and the HTTP Data API are what set Neon apart. The other hosts here don't document Neon-style instant branches, so a database per preview becomes a restore, a fork or a script.
- **Who you sign with.** Neon's terms are an agreement with Databricks, Inc., the parent of Neon, LLC. A Frankfurt region doesn't change that. See [EU region vs EU company](/i/eu-region-vs-eu-company-cloud-act).
- **Cold starts.** Any database that sleeps has to wake up. Scaleway says an idle database usually answers its first request in under five seconds.
- **How your app connects.** Serverless functions open many short connections, so look for a built-in pooler. Some runtimes can't open TCP connections at all and need an HTTP API.
- **Extensions.** If you rely on pgvector, PostGIS or TimescaleDB on Neon, confirm each one on the new host's extension list.

## 1. Scaleway Serverless SQL Database

Scaleway, a French cloud provider, sells a PostgreSQL service that grows and shrinks with the load, all the way to zero. A database that gets no query for 5 minutes goes idle, and compute billing stops while it sleeps. You set a minimum and maximum vCPU, up to 15, and each vCPU comes with 4 GB of RAM. Keeping the minimum at 1 vCPU or more avoids cold starts. Storage includes 7 days of automatic backups, and connection pooling is built in.

- **Best for:** apps with idle periods, dev and test databases, and teams already on Scaleway.
- **Price:** compute is billed for the vCPU and RAM provisioned, and storage by the size of the database. Storage is billed even when the database is idle, and a database set to a minimum of 0 vCPU costs nothing for compute while idle.
- **What it lacks:** documented branching and full PostgreSQL compatibility. Some session features are disabled or behave differently because of the pooler, and logins are IAM principal IDs with IAM secret keys rather than ordinary database users.

## 2. Aiven for PostgreSQL

Aiven Oy has its headquarters in Helsinki. It runs PostgreSQL on dedicated VMs on clouds such as AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, with automatic failover, point-in-time recovery, a 99.99% uptime SLA and more than 50 extensions, pgvector among them.

- **Best for:** production Postgres from a European company, on the cloud and region you already use.
- **Price:** the Free plan costs nothing and Developer is $5 a month; both run 1 CPU with 1 GB of RAM. Hobbyist starts at $12 a month and Startup at $75 a month.
- **What it lacks:** scale to zero, and region choice on Free and Developer, which can't select a specific cloud or region. Those two also leave out connection pooling.

## 3. Scalingo PostgreSQL

Scalingo is a French platform for apps and databases. Its PostgreSQL plans come in Starter, with one node, and Business, with two, and its page lists daily backups, point-in-time recovery, encryption at rest and high availability. Plans are offered in a standard region and in a SecNumCloud region.

- **Best for:** apps that need predictable monthly database costs and may need a SecNumCloud option.
- **Price:** Starter 512M, with 512 MB of RAM and 10 GB of storage, costs €7.20 a month excl. VAT, or €8.64 excl. VAT in the SecNumCloud region. You can try Scalingo free for 30 days.
- **What it lacks:** scale to zero and branching. You pick a size and pay for it while the database runs.

## 4. Clever Cloud PostgreSQL

Clever Cloud hosts Postgres in France and says the data isn't subject to the Cloud Act. It supports PostgreSQL 14 to 18, applies minor updates and security patches for you, keeps daily backups with one-click restore, and can add up to two read-only replicas through support.

- **Best for:** teams that want a French host for both the app and its database, with HDS eligibility.
- **What it lacks:** usage-based compute and scale to zero.

## 5. Neon, kept in an EU region

If the only problem is location, you can stay on Neon. Its AWS regions in Europe are Frankfurt and London, and the region is fixed when you create the project. Its Azure regions are deprecated, so new projects can't go there. Frankfurt also offers Neon's Auth, Data API, Object Storage and Functions; London has only Postgres and the Data API.

- **Best for:** teams who need data stored in the EU but don't need an EU contracting company.
- **Price:** Free covers 100 projects with 100 CU-hours and 1 GB of storage each. Launch is usage-based at $0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month, and Neon puts typical spend at $15 a month.
- **What it lacks:** an EU company behind it. For customers based in Europe, the Databricks agreement names Irish law and Dublin courts, but the provider is still Databricks, Inc.

## 6. Eurobase for the app beside the database

Eurobase doesn't offer managed Postgres, so it isn't a Neon replacement. It hosts the app on European infrastructure run by Scaleway, a French provider, and the app connects to whichever database you choose above.

How you connect depends on the runtime. An app running as a container can use a normal Postgres driver; the [Eurobase + Supabase guide](/docs/supabase) shows this with Prisma, Drizzle, pg and psycopg. An app on V8 isolates reaches the network only through `fetch()` over HTTPS or HTTP, with no outbound TCP, so a driver that speaks the Postgres protocol can't connect from it. If your data fits SQLite, those apps get D1-compatible databases inside the project, as explained in [serverless SQLite in Europe](/i/serverless-sqlite-europe).

- **Best for:** running a Next.js, Nuxt or Node.js app in Europe next to a European Postgres.
- **Price:** a Free plan, then Starter at €10 and Pro at €20 a month + VAT per workspace. There are no usage charges today: work over a limit is refused, apps on V8 isolates and Functions stop until the monthly reset, and containers and static sites keep serving.
- **What it lacks:** a database service of its own for Postgres, MySQL or Redis, plus preview deployments. Neither ISO 27001 nor SOC 2 is held yet; both audits are in progress.

## Moving a database off Neon

1. Create the new database in the region nearest to where your app runs.
2. Check that every extension you use is available there.
3. Copy the data with `pg_dump` and `pg_restore`, or set up logical replication for a short cutover.
4. Swap the connection string in your app's secrets and redeploy.
5. Keep the Neon project read-only for a few days before deleting it.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a European serverless Postgres like Neon?

Scaleway Serverless SQL Database is the closest in behaviour. It scales to zero after 5 minutes without queries and bills compute for the vCPU and RAM it provisions. It doesn't document database branching.

### Does Neon have a region in Europe?

Yes. Neon lists AWS Frankfurt and AWS London. Its Azure regions are deprecated and closed to new projects.

### Is Neon an EU company?

No. Neon, LLC is part of Databricks, and its terms are an agreement with Databricks, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco.

### Is Prisma Postgres a European option?

It offers Paris and Frankfurt regions, but its terms are with Prisma Data, Inc., which gives an address in Wilmington, Delaware. That puts it in the same position as Neon in Frankfurt.

### Can I self-host Neon?

The Neon code is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence. Its README describes running it on a workstation for small experiments and testing, so for production a regular managed Postgres from the list above is the simpler path.

## Sources

- [Neon pricing](https://neon.com/pricing), [Neon regions](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/regions) and [Neon terms](https://neon.com/terms-of-service)
- [Databricks Master Cloud Services Agreement](https://www.databricks.com/legal/mcsa) and [About Databricks](https://www.databricks.com/company/about-us)
- [Neon on GitHub](https://github.com/neondatabase/neon)
- [Scaleway Serverless SQL Database](https://www.scaleway.com/en/serverless-sql-database/), [concepts](https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/serverless-sql-databases/concepts/), [FAQ](https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/serverless-sql-databases/faq/) and [overview](https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/serverless-sql-databases/reference-content/serverless-sql-databases-overview/)
- [Aiven for PostgreSQL](https://aiven.io/postgresql), [Aiven pricing](https://aiven.io/pricing) and [About Aiven](https://aiven.io/about)
- [Scalingo PostgreSQL](https://scalingo.com/databases/postgresql)
- [Clever Cloud PostgreSQL](https://www.clever.cloud/product/postgresql/)
- [Prisma Postgres FAQ](https://www.prisma.io/docs/postgres/more/faq) and [Prisma terms](https://www.prisma.io/terms)
- [Eurobase Workers](/docs/workers), [Eurobase + Supabase](/docs/supabase), [Eurobase pricing](/pricing), [European Supabase alternatives](/i/european-supabase-alternatives) and [EU region vs EU company](/i/eu-region-vs-eu-company-cloud-act)