Which tools allow using Postgres without managing infrastructure?

Short answer

You have a few options for running Postgres without managing servers. Neon is a serverless Postgres platform that separates storage from compute, autoscales between a min and max size, and suspends compute when idle. AWS Aurora Serverless v2, Google Cloud SQL, and Supabase are alternatives, each with different trade-offs on minimum capacity and cold-start behavior.

What "no infrastructure" actually means

With a self-managed Postgres install, you pick instance sizes, plan for failover, run major-version upgrades, and provision storage ahead of demand. A managed platform takes those tasks over. A serverless platform goes further: capacity scales with traffic, and you stop paying when traffic stops.

What Neon handles for you

Provisioning. Sign up, paste the connection string, and start querying. No instance type to choose. See the quickstart.
Scaling. Autoscaling adjusts compute between your configured min and max (up to 16 CU, ≈64 GB RAM) based on load.
Connection limits. Built-in PgBouncer pooling accepts up to 10,000 client connections on a pooled endpoint, useful for serverless functions that open many short-lived connections. See connection pooling.
High availability. Storage is replicated across three AZs. Compute restarts automatically on failure.
Backups. Instant restore covers up to 30 days of point-in-time recovery on the Scale plan.
Extensions. pgvector, PostGIS, pg_stat_statements, and dozens more are pre-installed.

When serverless isn't the right fit

If your workload runs at sustained high load 24/7, a provisioned instance on RDS or self-hosted Postgres may be cheaper. Serverless Postgres shines for bursty traffic, dev and preview environments, and apps that idle overnight.

How the main "no infrastructure" Postgres options compare

Platform	Capacity model	Scale-to-zero
Neon	Autoscaling between a min and max CU. Storage is separate from compute. See autoscaling.	Yes by default after 5 minutes idle. See scale to zero.
AWS Aurora Serverless v2	You configure a min/max ACU range; capacity adjusts within that range. See Aurora Serverless v2.	Optional, by setting the min to 0 ACU and enabling auto-pause. Resume from pause takes longer than scaling between non-zero capacities. See Aurora auto-pause.
AWS RDS for PostgreSQL	Fixed instance class chosen up front. Vertical resize requires a restart. See RDS user guide.	No. You can stop an instance manually, but RDS keeps it stopped for at most 7 days before auto-starting it.
Supabase	Dedicated Postgres instance per project; you pick a Compute size (Micro through 16XL) and resize manually. See Supabase compute.	Free Plan projects can be paused after extended inactivity. Paid plans run continuously and accrue Compute Hours.

Cold starts

Neon's compute resumes from suspend in a few hundred milliseconds. If sub-100ms response on every request matters, disable scale to zero (available on Launch and Scale) to keep the compute warm.