StackBest databases & backend-as-a-service for solo founders
Your database is the one piece of infrastructure you cannot easily swap later, and the pricing models vary wildly: some charge a flat monthly fee, some bill per row read, some bill per compute hour. For a solo founder the real questions are simple: what does it cost at zero users, what does it cost at your first 1,000 users, and will the free tier pause or throttle your app while you sleep. This audit covers the eight options indie hackers actually pick between in 2026, with the real numbers and the traps.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid from | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
 Supabase$25/mo | $25/mo | Solo founders who want auth, storage, and Postgres in one product and expect to reach paying users on the $25 plan. | |
 Firebaseusage-based from $0 | usage-based from $0 | Solo founders shipping a mobile-first app who will keep read patterns disciplined and want a true $0 idle cost. | |
 Neonusage-based from $0.106/CU-hour | usage-based from $0.106/CU-hour | Solo founders on Vercel or serverless stacks who want real Postgres with a true zero idle cost and usage-based growth. | |
 Turso$4.99/mo | $4.99/mo | Solo founders building read-heavy or multi-tenant apps who want the lowest possible bill and are comfortable with SQLite. | |
 PlanetScale$5/mo | $5/mo | Solo founders who value operational excellence and predictable node-based pricing over a free tier or bundled services. | |
 Convex$25/developer/mo | $25/developer/mo | Solo TypeScript founders building realtime or collaborative apps who value development speed over data portability. | |
 MongoDB Atlas$8/mo | $8/mo | Solo founders already committed to the document model or building AI features who want a capped-cost dev tier. | |
 PocketBase$0 | $0 | Cost-obsessed founders comfortable with a VPS who want a full backend for the price of a coffee per month. |
Default pick for a solo founder: Supabase Free while validating, then Pro at $25/mo once you have real users, because the bundled auth and storage replace services you would otherwise pay for separately. If your app is idle most of the time or lives on Vercel, Neon's scale-to-zero gets you real Postgres for $0 to $10/mo, and Turso at $4.99/mo wins if you are read-heavy and fine with SQLite.
Skip Firebase unless you are mobile-first and disciplined about read patterns, and skip Convex seat pricing until you are sure you will stay solo. Switch away from your free tier the week a pause, throttle, or missing backup could cost you a paying customer; realistic all-in database spend for a first profitable indie app is $5 to $30/mo.
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