Free Database Hosting: 5 Free Tiers With Their Real Limits

Those catches matter more than the headline storage, because they decide whether your app stays online. Below are the limits each provider states on its own pricing page, checked as of October 2026.

Free database hosting compared

Provider	Database type	Free storage	Main catch
Supabase	Postgres	500 MB database	Free projects pause after 1 week of inactivity; 2 active projects
Neon	Postgres	1 GB per project	100 CU-hours a month per project; scales to zero when inactive
MongoDB Atlas	MongoDB	512 MB (M0)	Shared RAM and vCPU
Firebase Firestore	Document database	1 GiB per project	Daily read, write and delete limits
Oracle Cloud	Autonomous AI Database	Two Always Free databases	Create them in your home region

Supabase: Postgres plus auth and storage

Supabase's free plan includes a dedicated Postgres database of 500 MB, unlimited API requests, 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB of file storage, 5 GB of egress and community support. The two rules to plan around: free projects are paused after 1 week of inactivity, and you're limited to 2 active projects. Automatic backups and point-in-time recovery aren't included free. As of October 2026 the Pro plan starts from US$25 a month, with 8 GB of disk per project.

Neon: serverless Postgres with no card

Neon says its free plan lets you build and learn with no time limits and no credit card required. You get up to 100 projects, 100 CU-hours a month per project, 1 GB of storage per project and compute sizes up to 2 CU (8 GB of RAM), with unlimited team members. Databases scale to zero when inactive, which keeps you inside the free hours but means a short wake-up on the first request.

MongoDB Atlas: a free forever cluster

MongoDB's pricing page lists an M0 cluster at US$0 an hour, free forever, with 512 MB of storage on shared RAM and vCPU. Above that, Flex clusters start at US$0.011 an hour, capped at US$30 a month, with 5 GB of storage, as of October 2026. Atlas includes free basic support, and Charts are included on all clusters.

Firebase Firestore: generous daily limits

Firebase's Spark plan gives no-cost usage within quotas. Google's Free Tier documentation lists Firestore at 1 GiB of storage per project and 50,000 reads, 20,000 writes and 20,000 deletes per day per project, plus 10 GiB a month of outbound transfer. Firebase says no-cost limits are enforced daily and refresh at midnight, so a busy day can stop writes until the reset.

Oracle Cloud: two Always Free databases

Oracle's documentation says every tenancy gets two Always Free Oracle Autonomous AI Databases, which you can use for transaction processing, data warehousing, Oracle APEX development or JSON-based apps. Oracle says it doesn't charge for Always Free resources even after you upgrade to a paid account, which makes it a stable long-term free option if your stack suits Oracle.

What the first paid step costs, as of October 2026

Free tiers are built to lead to a paid plan, so it's worth knowing where the next step sits before you choose. These are the figures on each provider's pricing page, in US dollars.

Provider	First paid step	What it adds
Supabase	Pro from US$25 a month	100K monthly active users, 8 GB disk per project, 250 GB bandwidth, daily backups
Neon	Launch, usage-based at US$0.106 per CU-hour and US$0.35 per GB-month	Sizes up to 16 CU (64 GB RAM)
MongoDB Atlas	M2 at US$9 a month, M5 at US$25 a month	2 GB or 5 GB of storage on shared clusters
Firebase	Blaze, Firebase's paid plan	Usage beyond the Spark plan's no-cost limits

Supabase's Pro plan has a spend cap switched on by default, which is a sensible guard for a small business that doesn't want a surprise bill.

How to choose free database hosting

1. Want Postgres with login, storage and an API ready made: start with Supabase, and keep the project active.
2. Want plain Postgres for many small projects: Neon's 100 free projects suit that.
3. Building with MongoDB already: use an Atlas M0 cluster.
4. Building a mobile or web app on Google's tools: Firestore fits, within its daily limits.
5. Want a free database that doesn't pause or expire and don't mind Oracle: use Oracle's Always Free databases.
6. Whatever you pick, back up your data yourself, because the free tiers above don't all include automatic backups.

Free database hosting versus running your own

You can also install a free database on a free cloud server, but then you own the updates and backups. Managed free tiers trade storage for convenience. For a hobby app or a prototype, that trade is worth it. For a business app with real customers, I'd treat the free tier as a starting point and budget for the first paid plan before launch.

Two popular Postgres hosts are compared in our Supabase vs Neon guide.

My verdict on free database hosting

For most small projects, I'd start with Neon or Supabase for Postgres, and Atlas if you're on MongoDB. Watch the pausing rules, because a paused database looks like a broken app to a customer. For deeper comparisons, see whether Supabase is free, my list of the best Postgres hosting and Supabase vs Firebase.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I host a database for free?

Supabase, Neon, MongoDB Atlas, Firebase Firestore and Oracle Cloud all have free tiers, each with its own storage cap and usage limits.

Does Supabase's free plan pause?

Yes. Supabase says free projects are paused after 1 week of inactivity, and you're limited to 2 active projects.

Is MongoDB Atlas free forever?

The M0 cluster is. MongoDB's pricing page lists it at US$0 an hour, free forever, with 512 MB of storage.

Do I need a credit card for Neon's free plan?

No. Neon says its free plan has no time limits and no credit card required.

Does Supabase's free plan include backups?

No. Supabase lists automatic backups and point-in-time recovery as not included in the free plan.

How much can I store free in Firestore?

Google's Free Tier lists 1 GiB of Firestore storage per project, with daily limits of 50,000 reads, 20,000 writes and 20,000 deletes.