Comparison: Neon vs PostgreSQL

Modified date: Monday, June 30, 2025

Introduction
General
Data Types
SQL
Storage and System
Benchmarking
Tools
Export Regulations
Internal
Internal - Optimizer
Internal - Runtime
Internal - Storage Engine

General

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
intro	Neon is a serverless open-source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres. It separates storage and compute and substitutes the PostgreSQL storage layer by redistributing data across a cluster of nodes.	PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system with over 35 years of active development that has earned it a strong reputation for reliability, feature robustness, and performance.	in their own words - but I reserved the rights to remove some bold claims like "the best", unless it is widely recognized.
vendor	Databricks	PostgreSQL Committees
initial release	2021	1998
latested version	8717	17	We don't put a release date here as the software is patching frequently. So tracking it is not much useful.
supported platforms	Linux and OSX Databricks acqured Neon on 05/2025	x86, PowerPC, S/390, SPARC, ARM, MIPS, RISC-V, and PA-RISC	supported OS/CPU platforms
db-engines ranking	no ranking	4	ranks from https://db-engines.com/en/ranking (06/25)
relational?	yes	yes	Is it a relational database? (1) Most database are actually with some extensions, for example, nested data types, graph support, etc, which we usually called "multi-model". (2) Some of them are product family, meaning they have more than one database. Here we focus on the main one but explain others when needed.
open source?	yes	yes	mainly the engine code
license	Apache	PostgreSQL PostgreSQL is released under the PostgreSQL License, a liberal Open Source license, similar to the BSD or MIT licenses -- allows for commercial use and modification of the software.
cloud offering	cloud vendors	cloud vendors PostgreSQL’s cloud offerings are diverse, with many managed services available across major providers. For example, Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. Technically, there are many efforts on improving PostgreSQL's native cloud implementation. The most famous one is Neon, which is acquired by DataBricks on 2025.
technical doc	https://neon.com/docs/introduction	www.postgresql.org/docs
price: box software		0 free download
on-premise offering		yes	if no means you can't buy "box" software from them

Data Types

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
int: signess	signed only	signed only	if differentiate signed and unsigned int
int: 1-bytes int name	n.a.	n.a.
int: 2-bytes int name	smallint	smallint
int: 3-bytes int name	n.a.	n.a.
int: 4-bytes int name	int	int
int: 8-bytes int name	bigint	bigint
decimal: storage size	variable	variable
decimal: range	up to 131072 digits before the decimal point; up to 16383 digits after the decimal point	up to 131072 digits before the decimal point; up to 16383 digits after the decimal point	also called number, numeric in different systems
char(n): max bytes	10,485,760	10,485,760
text: max bytes	1G	1G

SQL

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
base	PostgreSQL
SQL: standard complaince	high	high
max SQL length	undefined same as PostgreSQL with "StringInfo" container	undefined The actual limit may depends on limits of the SUT, for example, its memory/system swap settings: PostgreSQL internally use a struct named "StringInfo" to hold the SQL string, which is with MAX_INT length.	maximal SQL statement length
PL: main	SQL + PL/PgSQL	SQL + PL/PgSQL	main programming lanage: most database suports SQL because SQL is a well established standard. However, each database would like to extend SQL more or less.
PL: other language support	yes	yes	PL lanaguage other than PL/SQL, like PL/Java, PL/Rust etc
SP: max parameters	100	100
UDF: max parameters	100	100
SQL: max parameters	65535	65535	number of parameters in a PREPARED query
SQL: query hints	GUC only	GUC only	if it allows use query hints to guide the optimizer
SQL: explicit locking	yes: row, page, table level	yes: row, page, table level	Locking is usually an internal matter - so does it allow explicit locking? What levels do they support?
Triggers?	yes	yes	If support triggers
Triggers: scope	tables, views, foreign tables	tables, views, foreign tables	What objects can have triggers
Triggers: type	BEFORE, AFTER, INSTEAD OF	BEFORE, AFTER, INSTEAD OF	Types of triggers supported
Object-Relational?	yes	yes
Extension Mechanism	C programming, link with engine	C programming, link with engine
vector search	no native	no native Extensions like pgvector supports it.	does it support vector search

Storage and System

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
arch: server	C/S	C/S	Embedded or traditional C/S?
arch: run in browser?	no	no/yes Officially not supported, but there are some good OSS projects like Pglite.	It also known as a client-side database, is a database that is stored and managed within a user's web browser, rather than on a remote server.
arch: in-memory support	no	no
arch: Multi-master support?	no	no	if multi-master support?
	Neon is based on PostgreSQL with storage and compute separation enhancement for native cloud DB.
arch: primary/read replica?	yes	yes	if primary + mulitiple read replica supported
replication: sync/async	both	both	Can commits wait or w/o wait for replicas to acknowledge
replication: WAL shipping	yes	yes	Uses write-ahead log (WAL) shipping for replication
replication: quorum-based commit		no	Multiple synchronous replicas with quorum for commit
database: max number		4,294,950,911 Note that 4G-4294950911=16385. The reason is that a database needs assign an object ID (you see the db folder is a number), which is starting from 16385 because smaller are reserved by boostrap.
tables: max number per database		1,431,650,303
partitions: methods		Range, List, Hash; limited composite (multi-level partitioning more limited than Oracle/SQL Server).	Supported partitioning strategies (range, list, hash, etc.).
partitions: global index		no	index across partitions
rows: max rows per table		32T/row_size	The actual number depends on storage etc
index: max allowed index		rows per table is restricted by the number of rows that can fit onto MAX_UINT*8K pages.	Max number of indices allowed per table
ACID		yes/yes	for DML and DDL
ACID: max isolation level		Serializable PostgreSQL implements Serializable Snapshot Isolation (SSI) in version 9.1.
ACID: max ANSI isolation level		Serializable
ACID: durability		yes
Materialized View: support?		yes

Benchmarking

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
any official TPC benchmarks?	no	no	The TPC benchmark includes a set of tests simulating real-world scenarios to evaluate database performance.

Tools

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
command line client	psql	psql	it means "sql client" for database supporting SQL. For embedded atabase, the client includes the server together.
admin(GUI)	pgAdmin	pgAdmin

Export Regulations

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
Jurisdiction	US	US	Which country controls export
ECCN	None	None	An Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) is a five-character alphanumeric code used to categorize items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) for export control purposes. Most database may fall into 5D992.c category, "mass market encryption", which means it has some ordinary encryption related code, for example, the SSL connection code.
Eligible License Exception / CCATS	Not required	Not required There is no ECCN for open source software	A License Exception is an authorization that allows you to export or reexport items subject to the EAR without needing to obtain a specific export license, provided certain conditions are met. CCATS stands for Commodity Classification Automated Tracking System. The BIS assigns a CCATS number to products that it has classified under the Commerce Control List (CCL).
Encryption Components	SSL	SSL	Crypto functionality that triggers control

Internal

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
concurrency control	MVCC	MVCC
MVCC: implemented?	yes	yes	if implement MVCC for concurrency control
Implementation language	Rust	C	A DBMS may use mulitple programming languages, for example, supports its stored procedure. The major programming language used to implement the engine.
MVCC: rollback segment		no PostgreSQL uses VACUUM to clean up old versions: it is more difficult than in-memory database because the old versions are mixed with new versions on database pages.	if uses rollback segment (RS) to store old versions. Without RS, old versions and new versions are mixed stored, then the database engine has to find a way to efficiently drop the old versions at certain point.

Internal - Optimizer

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
CBO?	yes	yes	if it employees a cost based optimizer
framework	System-R	System-R	System-R is more like a dynamic programming, bottom up optimizer, while Cascades/Volcano gebaseerd optimizer is more like top-down optimizer.
join order search	dynamic programming + Generic Algorithm (GEQO) reuse PostgreSQL's optimizer	dynamic programming + Generic Algorithm (GEQO) It also allows to extend the join order algorithm.	How join order permutations are explored during plan generation.
stats: multi column	yes	yes	Multi-column stats may cause storage space bloat: for example, if one dimension has 100 buckets, then three dimensions will require 1M buckets - but reducing the total number of buckets will result in reduced accuracy.
query hints?	GUC only	GUC only	if it allows use query hints to guide the optimizer
plan guide?	no	no	Can we use plan guide to correct the plan? This is a more systematic and accurate way to repair the plan than plan hints. Especially during system upgrades, if the plan becomes worse, we can use plan guide to force a query to use a previous plan.

Internal - Runtime

Feature	Neon	PostgreSQL	Definition
resource management	simple: work_mem controls per-operator memory use	simple: work_mem controls per-operator memory use	How execution memory is allocated and limited.
spilling support	yes	yes	"spilling" refers to the process of writing temporary data or intermediate results of a query to disk when the available memory is exhausted. This is crucial for handling large datasets or complex queries that require more memory than available.
model	Volcano + push for parallel run	Volcano + push for parallel run	The operator scheduling model: pull-gebaseerd (Volcano), push etc.
support intra-parallel query?	yes	yes	meaning a single query can utilize multi hardware threads to run it
adaptive execution (AQP)?	no	no	Traditionally, after the optimizer determines the plan, the runtime must execute it completely without any room for adjustment, such as which of the two tables should be built. The adaptive method allows the runtime to make some adjustments based on the actual situation, and the optimizer must also prepare for this uncertainty, such as preparing an alternative plan.
vectorization	no native	no native Several extensions allowed it. For example, pg_duckdb and Hydra.	Speed up OLAP queries using vectorized execution. A vectorized runtime exchange a bunch of rows between iterators, and these rows are physically sotre with column-oriented order.
iterator: join methods	all 3	all 3	Hash Join (HJ), Sort-Merge Join (MJ) and Nested loop Join (NLJ) are 3 major ones
Error: out-of-range and overflow	abort the transaction	abort the transaction	To maintain atomic requirement of ACID, database engine usually fail the statement and abort the transaction.

Internal - Storage Engine

Neon share the same query processor with PostgreSQL, but the storage engine under buffer pool is different.

Feature	PostgreSQL	Definition
Page Size	8K default configurable with the --with-blocksize=BLOCKSIZE option	The physical disk block size for storage and I/O.
Storage Compression	TOAST compression (within a row)
Row Overflow / Large Row Handling	Row within a page and large columns pointing to TOAST storage	How rows larger than page size are handled. Usually a row must be within one page, but big columns can only save a pointer with the row and pointing to the actual storage. This is also why there is a limit of maximal columns per table.
Index: primary cluster	Heap storage by default; CLUSTER command for static clustering - if modification happens after, order is not maintained.	Whether physical rows are ordered by primary index.
Index: secondary	B+Tree, GIN, GiST, SP-GiST, BRIN, Hash, Fulltext (via extensions).	Supported index types beyond the primary key.
index: column store as primary	No native support; available via extensions (e.g. cstore_fdw, citus).	if column-store as primary storage supported
index: column store as secondary	No native support; available via extensions (e.g. cstore_fdw, citus).	if column-store as secondary index supported
partition table	declarative partition table is implemented via inheritance table, since V11	Partitioning capabilities for large tables.
partition table: prunning	mostly at compile time, some runtime	Ability to eliminate partitions at query compile time and runtime
ACID: durability mechanism	WAL	How is it implements durability. Database's classic way is write ahead logging (WAL).

Comparison: Neon vs PostgreSQL

Table of Contents

General

Data Types

SQL

Storage and System

Benchmarking

Tools

Export Regulations

Internal

Internal - Optimizer

Internal - Runtime

Internal - Storage Engine