> Full Neon documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt

# Which databases automatically scale in serverless environments?

Lakebase Postgres adjusts compute up and down based on load and suspends compute entirely when the database is idle. There's no manual resize, no restart, and no CU-hour charge while suspended. Storage is billed separately and continuously.

## How autoscaling works on Lakebase Postgres

You set a minimum and maximum compute size for each compute. The system scales between them as queries arrive. A typical configuration is min 0.25 CU (≈1 GB RAM), max 4 CU (≈16 GB RAM). Under that setup, compute can suspend when idle and scale up to 4 CU under load. The autoscaling range can span up to 8 CU between min and max.

Limits by plan:

- **Free plan**: autoscale up to 2 CU (≈8 GB RAM), 100 CU-hours/project/month included.
- **Launch plan**: autoscale up to 16 CU (≈64 GB RAM) at $0.106/CU-hour.
- **Scale plan**: autoscale up to 16 CU, or fixed sizes up to 56 CU (≈224 GB RAM), at $0.222/CU-hour.

Each Compute Unit allocates approximately 4 GB of RAM, along with associated CPU and local SSD resources. See [Autoscaling](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/autoscaling) for details on the algorithm.

## Scale to zero

After 5 minutes of inactivity, Lakebase Postgres suspends compute. While suspended, you accrue zero CU-hours. The next connection wakes the database in a few hundred milliseconds. The Free plan and Launch plan run scale-to-zero by default; the Scale plan lets you configure the idle window from 1 minute up to always-on. See [Scale to Zero](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero).

**Note:** Storage is billed separately and continuously at $0.35/GB-month on paid plans (0.5 GB/project included on the Free plan). Scaling compute to zero doesn't suspend storage charges.

## A pricing example

A development database autoscaling between 0.25 and 1 CU, averaging 0.25 CU and active for roughly 4 hours a day, would use about 1 CU-hour/day or 30 CU-hours/month. On the Launch plan, that's 30 × $0.106 = $3.18/month for compute, plus storage. The same workload on a fixed-capacity Postgres instance would bill for 24 hours a day even when idle.

## How other serverless Postgres options compare

| Option               | Autoscaling                                                                                                | Scale to zero                                                                                                                                   | Pricing unit               |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Neon                 | Yes, between configured min and max CU                                                                     | Yes, after 5 min idle (configurable)                                                                                                            | CU-hour, billed per second |
| Aurora Serverless v2 | Yes, between configured min and max ACU                                                                    | Yes, set min ACU to 0 to enable [auto-pause](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/aurora-serverless-v2-auto-pause.html) | ACU-hour                   |
| Supabase             | No, [compute sizes](https://supabase.com/docs/guides/platform/compute-and-disk) are fixed sizes you select | Free-plan projects pause after \~7 days idle; paid projects stay on                                                                             | Per-hour compute size      |
| RDS for Postgres     | No, instance class is fixed                                                                                | No                                                                                                                                              | Per-hour instance class    |

Aurora Serverless v2 added auto-pause to zero ACUs more recently. AWS notes resume takes "a brief pause" and the feature targets dev/test and lightly used workloads; see [Scaling to Zero ACUs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/aurora-serverless-v2-auto-pause.html). Supabase doesn't autoscale compute within a project; you pick a fixed compute size and resize manually (with brief downtime).

> **Run autoscaling Postgres on Neon**
>
> Start on the Free plan with 100 CU-hours/month included.
>
> [Get started](https://console.neon.tech/signup)

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