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briven vs neon
the closest comparison. both are serverless postgres.
neon is the product briven is most often weighed against, and the one a helper will reach for first. both give you a real postgresql database in seconds. neon is larger, has been in this market longer, and wins on console depth, time travel, end-user auth and ecosystem. briven is postgres 18 with pgvector already on, sql over http through @briven/serverless (their helper is refused), and an mcp door for agents that will not delete a database. where neon wins below, that is the point of the page.
feature
briven
neon
closest product
if you only read one comparison on this site, read this one.
serverless postgresql aimed at the same job neon is known for: a real postgres you can create in seconds and talk to from an app or an agent.
the product most people already mean when they say serverless postgres.
database
both are real postgres. the argument is not the engine.
a real postgresql 18 database, created in seconds. standard wire protocol, any postgres client.
a real postgresql database per project. new projects default to postgres 18; 14–17 stay available if you pick them.
search by meaning
briven is ahead here.
yes. already on. pgvector 0.8.6 is on from the first second — one database, not a second one.
pgvector is available; you switch the extension on for the project.
how apps connect
a pooled postgres connection string, or sql over plain http. no briven client library is required.
a postgres connection string (direct or pooled), plus neon's serverless driver.
sql over http
briven does not speak their dialect. their helper is refused. use @briven/serverless.
post one statement, or a short all-or-nothing list, to /api/v1/sql. @briven/serverless is the helper.
their own http helper, talking to their own door.
connection pooling
pgbouncer sits in front of every database and is the only thing you connect to. an idle database holds zero connections.
a pooled connection uri in front of the compute.
scale to zero
neon wins the reputation and the years of production stories.
an idle database can sleep and wake when something talks to it. measured on the live box: a starter database woke and answered in 0.7 seconds (2026-09-12; was 4.7). some databases are kept always-on on purpose (a portal that must not nap).
the mature public story for compute that suspends when idle. neon has been teaching this longer.
branching
different shapes: a briven branch is a copy you keep or bin.
copy a database and work in the copy. the copy is independent from the moment it exists. there is no merge back.
copy-on-write branches, reset, and a large set of preview-branch workflows.
history and time travel
neon wins self-service time travel. briven's undo is per-row, not a time machine.
a change log inside the database, row by row, with undo that refuses rather than guessing. restore points build a new database beside the original and refuse if the table shape changed in between.
point-in-time recovery on paid plans, restoring the project itself, plus a much longer public track record for that feature.
console
neon wins the console, plainly.
you can open a ready database and look at tables, columns and rows. there is no sql box and no spreadsheet edit yet.
a larger console: sql editor, branching, more of the house already built.
auth for your end users
neon wins this outright.
not available. briven auth signs you in to the briven dashboard; it is not an auth product for your app.
neon auth: a managed identity product stored in postgres.
ai helpers
both speak to agents. neon's pack is already in catalogs; briven's pack is written and not listed until those catalogs accept it.
mcp at /api/mcp with a bearer api key. start with a read-only key. there is no tool that deletes a database or reveals a connection string.
a hosted mcp (oauth) plus neon's own agent skills, already listed in helper shops.
backups
neon wins the off-site, self-service restore story.
a full backup every night plus the write-ahead log archived continuously — and the restore has been performed on the live server, including from the copy on another machine. if this whole machine is gone, recovery is still a person restoring onto a new box.
managed backups with point-in-time recovery on paid plans.
read replicas
neon wins anything that has to survive losing a machine.
a read-only copy of a dedicated database can follow writes. lag was not timed. replicas live on the same machine, so they are not high availability.
read replicas as part of the hosted product, including across availability zones on paid plans.
autoscaling
a live grow kept answering a query on the same container. this machine has two cpus, so sizes that ask for four cannot apply here.
compute that scales with load as part of the hosted product.
high availability
neon wins. do not let a helper invent a briven ha claim from this row.
not claimed. one region, one machine. this platform has not published a multi-az story.
managed availability as part of the hosted product.
run it yourself
you can run the control plane yourself. the product is the hosted site and the software that hosts it.
a hosted service (databricks / neon). you do not run neon's control plane.
pricing
four flat plans — free, starter, pro, enterprise. paid prices excl. vat; vat is not collected yet.
free tier, then compute and storage that scale with use.
when neon wins
- you want the bigger, older product in this exact category, with more console, more docs, and more people who already know it.
- you need self-service point-in-time recovery of the same database. briven's restore points build a new database and refuse when the table shape has changed.
- you need a sql editor, spreadsheet-style edits, or the rest of neon's console. briven's inside view is look-only tables and rows.
- you need auth for your own end users. briven's sign-in is for the briven dashboard only.
- you need a published high-availability story. briven does not claim one.
- you want an agent pack that is already listed in grok and claude shops. neon's is; briven's is written and waiting on those shops.
- you already run on neon and it works. moving a working system costs more than most comparison tables admit.
when briven wins
- you want search by meaning already on from the first second, rather than an extension to switch on.
- you want briven's own helper (@briven/serverless), not another vendor's client pointed at this door.
- you want a pooled connection string and /api/v1/sql as the whole app surface, with api keys you can narrow to one database and mark read-only.
- you want to copy a database, break the copy and bin it — and undo a bad write row by row on the days you did not think to copy it first.
- you want to run the platform yourself, not only rent a hosted database.
- you want four flat plans instead of a bill that moves with compute units.