A Neon alternative that also ships the rest of the backend
If you chose Neon for branching and scale to zero, Scribase keeps both and adds what you would otherwise wire up yourself: user sign-in, file storage, realtime and an HTTP data API, all on the same Postgres.
Last checked October 8, 2026.
The Neon features you keep
| Feature | On Scribase |
|---|---|
| Copy-on-write branches | A branch gets its own URL and keys and carries the parent rows |
| Scale to zero | Idle environments sleep; the API shows the state and the measured wake time |
| Time travel | Branch from a past time, reset, or restore within the history window |
| Anonymized branches | Masking rules applied to columns when the branch is made |
| Branch expiry | A branch made with a TTL reports and enforces when it expires |
| Schema diff | Compare two branches before you merge |
| Serverless driver | @neondatabase/serverless runs queries over HTTP and WebSocket |
| Protected branches and IP allow lists | Protected branches refuse delete, reset and restore |
| Users sync and bring-your-own JWT | neon_auth.users_sync mirrors users; REST accepts tokens from issuers you list |
| Data API | postgrest-js with only a bearer token works unchanged |
What you get on top
- Auth: email and password, magic links, OAuth providers, passkeys, TOTP, SAML SSO and anonymous users, stored in the same database as your tables.
- Storage: buckets protected by row level security, signed URLs, resumable uploads and image transforms.
- Realtime: broadcast, presence and database change streams filtered by your policies.
- Edge functions, cron (pg_cron), queues (pgmq) and vector search (pgvector) without another vendor.
- One flat price per project instead of compute-hours, storage and data transfer meters.
Keep using the serverless driver
The environment answers GET /serverless with a connection URI and an HTTP endpoint for the driver. Point neonConfig.fetchEndpoint at it and existing queries run as they did.
import { neon, neonConfig } from '@neondatabase/serverless'
// Values from GET /v1/organizations/<org>/projects/<project>/environments/<env>/serverless
neonConfig.fetchEndpoint = () => process.env.SCRIBASE_SQL_HTTP_ENDPOINT!
const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL!)
const rows = await sql`select id, title from posts order by id desc limit 10`What does not work yet
- Phone and SMS one-time codes: the allow list works, the managed SMS sender is not switched on yet.
- Direct Postgres connections from the internet (ports 5432 and 6543, for psql or pg_restore): not open yet. Migrations, the console SQL editor and the HTTP serverless driver work today.
- Read replicas and foreign data wrappers to remote servers: built, not yet proven on the hosted service.
Questions people ask
Is Scribase built on Neon?
No. Hosted projects run on Scribase's own copy-on-write Postgres engine. Scribase is a separate company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Neon.
Does scale to zero mean my project gets paused?
No. An idle environment stops its compute and wakes on the next request. Nobody has to restore it, and the data stays where it is.
Can I connect with psql or an ORM over TCP?
Direct TCP connections from the internet are not open yet. Today you reach the database over the REST and GraphQL APIs, the HTTP serverless driver, migrations through the CLI, and the console SQL editor.
How is it priced?
$25 per project a month, flat, with branches and preview environments included.