🗄️ Free Database as a Service Tools 2026
15 database as a service tools you can use for free — no credit card required. Includes fully free tools and freemium tiers with generous limits.
- 1
bit.io provides serverless PostgreSQL databases with git-like sharing and forking. Connect from any Postgres client or library. Public and private databases for data collaboration.
Best for: Data scientists and analysts who want to share and collaborate on PostgreSQL datasets like code repositories
- 2
Hasura auto-generates a real-time GraphQL API on your PostgreSQL or MySQL database in minutes. Authorization built-in, action/event support, and direct database connection. Connect your own Postgres or use Neon.
Best for: Developers who want to instantly expose their PostgreSQL database as a GraphQL API
- 3
PlanetScale is built on Vitess, the database scaling technology developed at YouTube and used to serve billions of queries. Horizontal sharding, schema migrations via Pull Requests, and serverless scaling.
Best for: Database engineers wanting to understand or self-host the Vitess technology underlying PlanetScale
- 4
Turso offers SQLite-based databases at the edge for multi-tenant SaaS. Create thousands of database instances, each at a different edge location. Per-tenant isolation at SQLite pricing.
Best for: SaaS developers who need per-tenant database isolation at the edge for low-latency globally
- 5
Tigris is a serverless NoSQL database with built-in search and S3-compatible object storage. Global distribution, no connection pools needed, and developer-first design. Used on Fly.io.
Best for: Fly.io users and serverless developers who want database, search, and object storage from a single platform
- 6
Neon is serverless PostgreSQL with database branching, scale-to-zero, and connection pooling. Scales to zero when not in use — no idle charges.
Best for: Developers using Next.js or serverless frameworks who want Postgres with branching at zero idle cost
- 7
PocketBase is an open source backend consisting of a single executable file with embedded SQLite database, realtime subscriptions, auth, file storage, and an admin dashboard.
Best for: Developers who want the simplest possible backend for small apps and prototypes in a single binary
- 8
CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database built to survive datacenter failures. Postgres-compatible, strong consistency, and automatic scaling across regions. Serverless and dedicated options.
Best for: Applications requiring high availability across multiple regions where database availability is mission-critical
- 9
PlanetScale is serverless MySQL-compatible database with git-like branching, non-blocking schema changes, and auto-scaling. Used by companies serving billions of queries.
Best for: Teams running MySQL at scale who need schema migrations without downtime
- 10
YugabyteDB is a cloud-native distributed PostgreSQL-compatible database designed for global, highly available applications. Active-active geo-distribution, ACID transactions, and auto-sharding.
Best for: Global SaaS applications needing an active-active distributed PostgreSQL database across multiple regions
- 11
Oracle MySQL HeatWave runs OLTP MySQL plus in-memory OLAP analytics in the same database engine. Serverless OLAP queries without ETL pipelines. Available on OCI, AWS, and Azure.
Best for: MySQL teams who need analytics on transactional data without building separate data pipelines
- 12
Serverless Redis, Kafka, and QStash with per-request pricing. Zero management, global replication, and REST API for edge functions. Free tier includes 10,000 daily commands.
Best for: Serverless and edge function developers needing caching, queuing, and rate limiting without managing Redis
- 13
Appwrite is an open source BaaS with database, authentication, storage, functions, and messaging. Self-hostable on Docker. Appwrite Cloud provides managed hosting.
Best for: Developers wanting an open source self-hostable Firebase alternative for mobile and web apps
- 14
Amazon EC2 is the original IaaS cloud, offering 750+ instance types across compute, memory, storage, and GPU. On-demand, reserved, and spot pricing. 99 availability zones globally.
Best for: Enterprise teams with AWS expertise who need the broadest instance selection and global availability
- 15
Supabase is a backend-as-a-service platform providing PostgreSQL databases, real-time subscriptions, authentication, and storage. Built for developers who want PostgreSQL's power without vendor lock-in.
Best for: Teams building web/mobile apps who prefer PostgreSQL's relational model and want to avoid vendor lock-in.
What counts as a free database as a service tool
Two flavors of free make it onto this page. The first is genuinely free — perpetual, no card required, with usage caps that real teams can fit inside. The second is freemium: a paid product with a free tier that's either time-limited, feature-limited, or capacity-limited. Both have their place, but they fail differently. Free tiers tend to disappear or get throttled when the vendor changes strategy; freemium tiers are usually stable but designed to push you toward upgrade. We label which is which on every card.
The 15 database as a servicetools below are filtered to pricing_model ∈ (free, freemium) and then sorted by community rating and review count — same ranking signal we use everywhere else, just applied to a narrower slice. Every tool here has been used in production by real teams, not just demoed during a Hacker News launch.
Two things to check before committing:the free-tier limits (we list them on each tool's detail page so you know exactly what's included) and the upgrade path. A free tier that hard-caps at 1 GB of storage and 100 monthly active users is different from one that meters by request count or seat. Click through to the tool page to see the full plan table, real pricing for the upgrade tier, and the last community reviews — those usually surface the surprise restrictions vendor docs gloss over.
How we maintain this list
This page refreshes hourly as new ratings, reviews, and pricing changes land in our catalog. The free/freemiumordering is recomputed automatically on every rebuild — we don't freeze rankings or grandfather in providers whose ratings have decayed. Last refreshed: 14 May 2026 (UTC).
Our full ranking methodology, including how we weight ratings vs. review count and how we handle disputed entries, is documented on the methodology page. If you spot a missing provider, an outdated price, or a placement that doesn't match your experience, submit a correction — we read every report and update within 48 hours.
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new AI tools, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.