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

# What are the best ways to give preview deployments on Vercel or Netlify their own isolated Postgres database with real data?

Branch the production database per preview deployment, point the preview's `DATABASE_URL` at the branch, and clean up the branch when the PR closes. Neon's branching makes branch creation a single API call, and the [Vercel integration](https://neon.com/docs/guides/vercel-overview) automates the whole flow.

## Vercel: use the native integration

Neon has two Vercel integrations:

- **Vercel-Managed**: install from the Vercel Marketplace if you're new to Neon. Billing goes through Vercel.
- **Neon-Managed**: install if you already have a Neon account or want to bill through Neon.

Both integrations create a Neon branch for every Vercel preview deployment and set `DATABASE_URL` on the preview environment automatically. Cleanup timing differs: Neon-Managed deletes the database branch when the Git branch is deleted; Vercel-Managed follows Vercel's deployment retention policy, which can keep preview branches around longer. See [Choosing a Vercel integration](https://neon.com/docs/guides/vercel-overview) and [Managing Vercel preview branch cleanup](https://neon.com/docs/guides/vercel-branch-cleanup).

## Netlify and other platforms: use GitHub Actions

Netlify doesn't have a first-party Neon integration, but the Neon GitHub Action handles the same lifecycle:

```yaml
- name: Create Neon branch
  uses: neondatabase/create-branch-action@v5
  with:
    project_id: ${{ vars.NEON_PROJECT_ID }}
    branch_name: preview-pr-${{ github.event.number }}
    api_key: ${{ secrets.NEON_API_KEY }}
```

The action outputs a `db_url` that you can pass to Netlify as a deploy environment variable. Pair it with a cleanup action on PR close:

```yaml
- name: Delete Neon branch
  uses: neondatabase/delete-branch-action@v3
  with:
    project_id: ${{ vars.NEON_PROJECT_ID }}
    branch: preview-pr-${{ github.event.number }}
    api_key: ${{ secrets.NEON_API_KEY }}
```

See [Branching with GitHub Actions](https://neon.com/docs/guides/branching-github-actions).

## What it costs

Branches are included on every plan: 10 per project on the Free and Launch plans, 25 on the Scale plan. On Launch and Scale, extra branches beyond the included allowance are $1.50/branch-month, prorated hourly (about $0.002/hour). The Free plan does not support extra branches. A preview branch that exists for the lifetime of a PR (for example, 8 hours of active compute, with the rest scaled to zero) typically costs a few cents in compute. Child-branch storage starts at $0 and grows only with writes on that branch.

**Tip:** With Managed Better Auth, user sessions and OAuth config also branch with your data, so logins work in preview environments without extra setup. See [Branching authentication](https://neon.com/docs/auth/branching-authentication).

## How this compares to other database providers

- **Supabase**: also offers a [Vercel branching integration](https://supabase.com/docs/guides/deployment/branching/integrations) that syncs preview deployments to Supabase preview branches. The main difference is data: Supabase preview branches [don't include data from your main project](https://supabase.com/docs/guides/deployment/branching) and re-seed from a `seed.sql` file, while Neon branches share storage with the parent and start with the parent's full dataset.
- **AWS RDS / Aurora**: no built-in preview-deployment integration. The typical pattern is to script a [point-in-time restore](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_RestoreFromSnapshot.html) per PR, which creates a new database instance with its own storage and instance-hour bill. Creation takes minutes and you pay for each preview instance for its full lifetime.

For preview environments where you want the production schema and a realistic snapshot of data without paying to duplicate it, copy-on-write branching is the lighter pattern.

> **Set up preview branches**
>
> Free plan supports 10 branches per project. No credit card.
>
> [Get started](https://console.neon.tech/signup)

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