Comparison: Neon vs SQLite

Modified date: Monday, June 30, 2025

Table of Contents

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

General

Feature	Neon	SQLite	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.	SQLite is a C-language library that implements a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine.	in their own words - but I reserved the rights to remove some bold claims like "the best", unless it is widely recognized.
vendor	Databricks	SQLite Team
initial release	2021	2000
latested version	8717	3.5	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	Android, *BSD, iOS, Linux, Mac, Solaris, VxWorks, and Windows	supported OS/CPU platforms
db-engines ranking	no ranking	10	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	no license is needed The core SQLite database software is in the public domain. No license is necessary to use SQLite or to build SQLite into your products.
cloud offering	cloud vendors	None It is mainly in embedded usage.
technical doc	https://neon.com/docs/introduction	https://www.sqlite.org/docs.html
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	SQLite	Definition
int: signess	signed only		if differentiate signed and unsigned int
int: 1-bytes int name	n.a.	int SQLite accepts names like TINYINT, SMALLINT, BIGINT, but only as type names. They’re purely aliases — they have no effect on storage size or strict typing, they will all converted to INTEGER type. Since the actual storage size is value-by-value basis, so the INT type you specified does not have any effect: it will pick up 0,1,2,3,4,6,8 bytes for your value.
int: 2-bytes int name	smallint	int
int: 3-bytes int name	n.a.
int: 4-bytes int name	int	int
int: 8-bytes int name	bigint	int
decimal: storage size	variable
decimal: range	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
text: max bytes	1G

SQL

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
base	PostgreSQL
SQL: standard complaince	high	medium
max SQL length	undefined same as PostgreSQL with "StringInfo" container		maximal SQL statement length
PL: main	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		PL lanaguage other than PL/SQL, like PL/Java, PL/Rust etc
SP: max parameters	100
UDF: max parameters	100
SQL: max parameters	65535		number of parameters in a PREPARED query
SQL: query hints	GUC only		if it allows use query hints to guide the optimizer
SQL: explicit locking	yes: row, page, table level		Locking is usually an internal matter - so does it allow explicit locking? What levels do they support?
Triggers?	yes		If support triggers
Triggers: scope	tables, views, foreign tables		What objects can have triggers
Triggers: type	BEFORE, AFTER, INSTEAD OF		Types of triggers supported
Object-Relational?	yes
Extension Mechanism	C programming, link with engine
vector search	no native		does it support vector search

Storage and System

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
arch: server	C/S	Embedded	Embedded or traditional C/S?
arch: run in browser?	no	yes	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
arch: Multi-master support?	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		if primary + mulitiple read replica supported
replication: sync/async	both		Can commits wait or w/o wait for replicas to acknowledge
replication: WAL shipping	yes		Uses write-ahead log (WAL) shipping for replication
ACID: durability		yes
Materialized View: support?		no

Benchmarking

Feature	Neon	SQLite	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	SQLite	Definition
command line client	psql	sqlite3	it means "sql client" for database supporting SQL. For embedded atabase, the client includes the server together.
admin(GUI)	pgAdmin

Export Regulations

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
Jurisdiction	US	US	Which country controls export
ECCN	None	None or EAR99	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	SQLite Encryption Extension (SEE), SSL	Crypto functionality that triggers control

Internal

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
concurrency control	MVCC
MVCC: implemented?	yes		if implement MVCC for concurrency control
Implementation language	Rust		A DBMS may use mulitple programming languages, for example, supports its stored procedure. The major programming language used to implement the engine.

Internal - Optimizer

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
CBO?	yes		if it employees a cost based optimizer
framework	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		How join order permutations are explored during plan generation.
stats: multi column	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		if it allows use query hints to guide the optimizer
plan guide?	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	SQLite	Definition
resource management	simple: work_mem controls per-operator memory use		How execution memory is allocated and limited.
spilling support	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		The operator scheduling model: pull-gebaseerd (Volcano), push etc.
support intra-parallel query?	yes		meaning a single query can utilize multi hardware threads to run it
adaptive execution (AQP)?	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		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		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		To maintain atomic requirement of ACID, database engine usually fail the statement and abort the transaction.

Internal - Storage Engine

Feature	Neon	SQLite	Definition
ACID: durability mechanism		WAL	How is it implements durability. Database's classic way is write ahead logging (WAL).