Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud

Open-source search and analytics engine at any scale

Neon

Serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero and branching

Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud vs Neon: Full Comparison (2026)

Pricing, features, scores, and a clear verdict on which one is right for you.

The bottom line

Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud positions itself as "open-source search and analytics engine at any scale" while Neon goes after "serverless postgres with scale-to-zero and branching" — so the right pick depends on which problem you're actually solving. Both use freemium pricing, but Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud charges per gb while Neon charges per project — a meaningful difference for larger teams. Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud (founded 2012) has had more time to build out its ecosystem and integrations, while Neon (2021) tends to move faster on modern UX and newer workflows.

At a glance

	Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud	Neon
Our score	77/100	82/100
Starting price	Free	Free
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Best for	Open-source search and analytics engine at any scale	Serverless Postgres with scale-to-zero and branching

Pricing comparison

Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud

Free tier available

Self-hosted (Open Source)Free

Elastic Cloud Starter$95/mo

Enterprise$null/mo

Pricing verified 2026-04-16

Neon

Free tier available

FreeFree

Launch$19/mo

Scale$69/mo

Pricing verified 2026-04-16

Calculate your cost

How many developers?10

1500

Elasticsearch / Elastic CloudUnknown

Contact sales

NeonUnknown

Contact sales

Try Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud free →Try Neon free →

Feature comparison

core

Feature	Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud	Neon
Full-text search	Yes	No
Aggregations/analytics	Yes	No
Geo search	Yes	No
Vector search (kNN)	Yes	No
Multi-tenancy	Yes	No
PostgreSQL compatible	No	Yes
Scale to zero	No	Yes
Database branching	No	Yes
Autoscaling	No	Yes
Point-in-time restore	No	Yes

advanced

Feature	Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud	Neon
ML models	Enterprise	No
Anomaly detection	Enterprise	No
ELSER (semantic search)	Yes	No
Cross-cluster search	Yes	No
Watcher (alerting)	Yes	No
Read replicas	No	Yes
IP allowlisting	No	Launch+
VPC peering	No	Scale+
Logical replication	No	Yes
pgvector	No	Yes

integrations

Feature	Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud	Neon
Kibana	Yes	No
Logstash	Yes	No
Beats	Yes	No
AWS	Yes	No
GCP	Yes	No
Kubernetes	Yes	No
Vercel	No	Yes
Railway	No	Yes
Prisma	No	Yes
Drizzle	No	Yes
Next.js	No	Yes
Supabase	No	No

Ratings breakdown

Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud

Ease of use

5/10

Value for money

8/10

Features

9/10

Support

6/10

Neon

Ease of use

9/10

Value for money

9/10

Features

8/10

Support

7/10

What the data tells us

Key capabilities you'd miss

Choosing Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud means going without PostgreSQL compatible, Scale to zero, Database branching (which Neon offers). Choosing Neon means losing Full-text search, Aggregations/analytics, Geo search. These are the features that typically drive the final decision — check whether your workflow depends on any of them before committing.

What company size tells you

Neon (51-200 employees) has the engineering bench to ship features across many fronts but may iterate slower on individual requests. Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud (1,000+ employees) typically ships faster on its core product but may lag on peripheral features. Consider which matters more for your roadmap.

Choose Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud if...

You want a free tier to get started
You value powerful features over simplicity
Getting strong value for money is a priority

Try Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud free →

Choose Neon if...

You want a free tier to get started
You value an intuitive, easy-to-use interface
Getting strong value for money is a priority

Try Neon free →

Frequently asked questions

Is Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud or Neon better?

Neon scores 82/100 compared to Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud's 77/100 on VendorVS. However, the best choice depends on your needs — Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud excels at ease of use (5/10) while Neon scores 9/10.

How much does Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud cost compared to Neon?

Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud starts at free (free tier available). Neon starts at free (free tier available). Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud is the more affordable option.

Does Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud or Neon have a free plan?

Yes, both Elasticsearch / Elastic Cloud and Neon offer free tiers, so you can try each before committing to a paid plan.

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