🗄️ Cloud Database
Cloud Database Providers: Complete Comparison
Comprehensive comparison ranked by estimated monthly cost for a typical 1,000-user application with moderate usage patterns (5-10 GB storage, 100-500K reads/day, 10-50K writes/day, bursty traffic).
Cost Ranking Table (1K User App)
| Rank | Provider | Type | Est. Monthly Cost | Free Tier | Entry Paid | Scale to Zero | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudflare D1 | Serverless SQLite | $0-5 | 5 GB storage, 5M rows read/day | $5/mo | Yes | Edge apps, transactional workloads, Workers integration |
| 2 | Turso | Distributed SQLite | $0-5 | 100 DBs, 5 GB storage, 500M rows read/mo | $4.99/mo | Yes | Multi-tenant (DB per tenant), edge replication, vector search |
| 3 | Firebase Firestore | NoSQL Document | $0-10 | 1 GB storage, 50K reads/day, 20K writes/day | Pay per use | N/A (serverless) | Mobile/web apps, realtime sync, Firebase ecosystem |
| 4 | Neon | Serverless Postgres | $5-15 | 0.5 GB storage, 100 compute hrs | $5/mo Launch | Yes | Postgres with bursty traffic, database branching |
| 5 | Railway | Managed Postgres/MySQL/Redis/Mongo | $5-20 | $5 usage credit/mo | $5/mo Hobby | No | Full-stack deployments, Git integration |
| 6 | PlanetScale | MySQL (Vitess) | $5-10 | None | $5/mo single-node | No | MySQL branching, query insights (dev only at $5) |
| 7 | Xata | Serverless Postgres | $10-25 | 15 GB storage, shared compute | $0.012/hr ~$9/mo | Yes | Postgres branching with copy-on-write, minute billing |
| 8 | MongoDB Atlas | NoSQL Document | $0-25 | M0: 512 MB storage | $9/mo M2, $25/mo M5 | No (Flex caps at $30/mo) | Document DB, complex queries, search/vector search |
| 9 | Supabase | Postgres + BaaS | $25-50 | 500 MB DB, 1 GB storage, 50K MAU | $25/mo Pro | No (Pro+) | Full-stack apps needing auth, storage, realtime, edge functions |
| 10 | Amazon RDS | Managed Relational | $15-40 | 750 hrs/mo t2/t3.micro (12 months) | $15-20/mo t4g.micro | No | Enterprise apps, sustained load, full AWS integration |
| 11 | CockroachDB Cloud | Distributed SQL | $0-130 | Basic: 50M RU/mo, 10 GB storage | $130/mo Standard 2vCPU | Partial (Basic) | Multi-region, high availability, geo-distributed workloads |
Provider Deep Dive
Serverless Champions ($0-15/month)
Cloudflare D1 brings serverless SQL to the edge with SQLite semantics. Charges based on rows read/written rather than compute hours. The paid Workers plan ($5/month) includes 25 billion rows read, 50 million rows written, and 5 GB storage—remarkably cost-effective for transactional workloads. No egress fees. Global edge distribution with tight Workers integration.
Turso extends SQLite with distributed edge replication and native vector search. Developer plan ($4.99/month) provides unlimited databases (500 monthly active limit), 9 GB storage, and substantial read/write quotas. Exceptionally affordable for multi-tenant architectures where each tenant gets their own database. Achieves sub-10ms read latency globally through edge replication.
Firebase Firestore uses pure consumption-based pricing for document reads, writes, and storage. Generous free tier (1 GB storage, 50K reads/day, 20K writes/day) often covers small to medium applications entirely. Storage costs $0.15/GB-month in US regions. Tightly integrated with Firebase ecosystem including authentication, hosting, and cloud functions.
Neon pioneered serverless Postgres with instant provisioning, database branching (like Git), and scale-to-zero capabilities. Launch plan starts at $5/month with usage-based billing for compute hours ($0.14 per compute-hour) and storage ($0.35/GB-month). Excels for applications with bursty traffic patterns—you only pay for active compute time.
Budget Postgres & MySQL ($10-30/month)
Xata provides serverless Postgres with granular minute billing. Compute billed at $0.024/hour (~$18/month for 2 vCPU instance running 24/7) and storage at $0.30/GB-month. Copy-on-write branching technology makes it extremely cost-effective for scenarios requiring many database branches—branches only pay for changed data rather than duplicating entire dataset.
PlanetScale offers MySQL hosting built on Vitess with database branching and sophisticated query insights. Starts at $5/month for single-node databases (development suitable) and $30/month for production-ready high-availability three-node clusters. Storage costs $0.50 per GB per instance with minimum of 3 instances for production.
Railway simplifies full-stack deployments with one-click database provisioning for Postgres, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB. Usage-based pricing at $10/GB RAM/month and $20/vCPU/month. Hobby plan offers $5 in monthly credits. Popular for developers wanting Git-integrated deployments with minimal DevOps overhead.
Full-Service Platforms ($25-50/month)
Supabase offers complete backend-as-a-service platform combining Postgres with authentication, file storage, realtime subscriptions, and edge functions. Pro plan costs $25/month base fee (including $10 in compute credits) plus usage-based charges for database size beyond 8 GB, active users over 100K, and bandwidth exceeding 250 GB. Well-suited for full-stack applications needing integrated backend services beyond just a database.
MongoDB Atlas offers fully managed MongoDB with flexible cluster tiers. Free M0 tier provides 512 MB storage on shared infrastructure. Production starts with M10 dedicated cluster at $0.08/hour (~$57/month). Includes powerful features like Atlas Search (relevance-based search), Vector Search for AI applications, and global cluster distribution.
Enterprise & Traditional ($40-130+/month)
Amazon RDS remains the enterprise standard for fully managed relational databases supporting PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and SQL Server. Traditional instance-based pricing where you pay for provisioned compute capacity whether you use it or not. Typically starts around $15-20/month for small instances, scaling to hundreds for production workloads. Strong reliability with Multi-AZ deployments, automated backups, and read replicas. Ideal for sustained high-traffic applications needing full AWS ecosystem integration.
CockroachDB Cloud provides globally distributed, strongly consistent SQL with Postgres compatibility. Basic plan offers 50 million Request Units and 10 GB storage free monthly. Standard plan starts at $0.18/hour for 2 vCPUs (~$130/month for always-on). Designed for multi-region deployments requiring high availability (99.99-99.999% SLA) and horizontal scalability.
Key Insights
Free Tier Champions: Cloudflare D1, Turso, and Firebase Firestore all offer generous free tiers that can comfortably handle 1,000 users with moderate usage patterns. D1's 5 million rows read per day and Turso's 500 million rows read per month typically exceed what 1,000 users would consume.
Scale-to-Zero Winners: Serverless options with scale-to-zero (D1, Turso, Neon, Xata, Firestore) offer the best cost-to-performance ratio, often running entirely on free tiers or for under $10/month.
Pricing Models: Three main philosophies dominate:
- Traditional provisioned (RDS, Railway) - pay for reserved capacity regardless of usage
- Serverless usage-based (Neon, Supabase, Xata, D1, Turso, Firestore) - costs scale with actual compute/operations
- Hybrid models (MongoDB Atlas, PlanetScale, CockroachDB) - combine base instance fees with usage-based charges
Cost Efficiency: For 1,000-user applications, serverless options typically cost $5-30/month, while traditional always-on instances like RDS easily reach $80-200+/month due to always-on provisioning. Traditional instances become more cost-competitive only at sustained higher loads where compute utilization stays consistently high.
Notable Features:
- Neon & Xata - Database branching like Git
- Turso - Unlimited databases, native vector search, 10ms global reads
- Cloudflare D1 - No egress fees, edge distribution
- Supabase - Complete backend with auth, storage, realtime
- MongoDB Atlas - Atlas Search, Vector Search
- CockroachDB - Multi-region by default, 99.99-99.999% SLA
Recommendation
For 1,000-user applications, serverless options with scale-to-zero offer the best cost-to-performance ratio. Start with Cloudflare D1, Turso, or Neon for ultra-low costs. Consider Supabase if you need a complete backend platform. Reserve traditional always-on instances like RDS for sustained high-load enterprise applications.