Side-by-side comparison · Databases & Backend
Clerk vs Neon vs Netlify
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Anyone building a web or mobile app who needs user accounts and logins without writing them from scratch.
Pick it if: Developers and Claude Code users who want a dependable Postgres database and nothing else.
Pick it if: Marketers, freelancers and AI builders who want a simple, reliable place to put a website live without learning servers.
Clerk scores highest overall, but Neon gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Ready-made sign-up, login and user accounts you can add to an app in minutes. | A Postgres database that switches off when idle, so side projects cost nothing. | Easy website hosting: drag in a site or connect GitHub and it's live in seconds. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | Pay as you go | From $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.4Winner | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | No | No | No |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | Yes | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | No | No | Yes |
| Understands images | – | No | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | Yes | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | – | No | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | No | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | – | – |
| Capabilities score | 6/ 17 | 7/ 17 | 8/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Hobby Free New apps and side projects. | FreeOur pick Free Side projects and learning. | Free Free Personal sites and trying it out. |
ProOur pick $20/mo billed yearly, or $25 monthly Apps with paying customers. | Launch Pay as you go, no monthly minimum Small production apps. | PersonalOur pick From $9/mo A single business site with real traffic. | |
Business $250/mo billed yearly, or $300 monthly Growing companies that need compliance paperwork. | Scale Pay as you go, higher rates Teams needing an SLA and bigger databases. | Pro From $20/mo Teams and agencies running several sites. | |
Enterprise Custom Large companies with strict security needs. | Enterprise Custom Large companies with uptime and security needs. | ||
| Which plan to pick | Build on Hobby. It's enough until you have customers who care about the Clerk branding or need multi-factor login, then move to Pro. Business only matters when a customer asks for a SOC 2 report. | Free covers more than you'd expect, including several small live apps. Move to Launch when a project needs more than 100 compute hours a month or a longer restore window. Scale is for teams that need an SLA, not for individuals. | Start free and watch how many credits you use. A business site that publishes often or gets steady traffic should move to Personal. Agencies with several people working on sites should go straight to Pro. |
Key features
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Clerk | Neon | Netlify |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Clerk, Neon or Netlify?
Clerk scores highest overall in our ratings (Clerk 4.4/5, Neon 4.2/5 and Netlify 4.0/5). Clerk is best for adding sign-up and login to an app and Google, Apple and passwordless sign-in. Neon is best for postgres for side projects and safe database experiments with branching. Netlify is best for putting a marketing site or landing page live and publishing sites from AI builders like Bolt.
Which is cheaper, Clerk, Neon or Netlify?
Clerk: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Neon: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at Pay as you go. Netlify: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $9/mo.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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