A curated directory of databases with genuinely free tiers — cloud hosted or self-hosted. No credit card walls, no bait-and-switch. Built for developers and startups who want to ship without spending.
Every database below has at least one free tier — whether cloud-managed or open-source self-hosted. Click any card for the full deep-dive guide.
The world's most advanced open-source relational database. Full SQL compliance, JSONB support, extensions ecosystem, and rock-solid ACID transactions.
The leading document database for flexible, JSON-like data. Schema-less design, horizontal scaling with sharding, and a powerful aggregation pipeline.
The world's most popular open-source relational database. Battle-tested, widely supported, and the backbone of millions of web applications from WordPress to Shopify.
Blazing-fast in-memory data store used as a database, cache, and message broker. Sub-millisecond latency with support for strings, hashes, lists, sets, and streams.
The open-source Firebase alternative built on PostgreSQL. Includes auth, real-time subscriptions, edge functions, file storage, and auto-generated REST & GraphQL APIs.
Google's app development platform with Realtime Database and Firestore. Real-time sync, serverless infrastructure, and integrated auth, hosting, and analytics.
The most deployed database engine in the world. Zero-configuration, serverless, single-file, and perfect for mobile apps, IoT, embedded systems, and local-first development.
The leading graph database for connected data. Cypher query language, relationship-first modeling, and powerful graph algorithms for recommendations, fraud detection, and knowledge graphs.
Serverless Postgres that scales to zero. Git-like database branching, instant provisioning, and a generous free tier perfect for modern full-stack applications.
Distributed SQL database built for cloud-native resilience. PostgreSQL-compatible, globally distributed, and survives node, zone, and region failures automatically.
Serverless Redis and Kafka designed for edge and serverless workloads. Per-request pricing, global replication, and REST API access from anywhere.
SQLite for the edge. Built on LibSQL (a fork of SQLite), Turso provides globally replicated, embedded-friendly databases with sub-millisecond reads at the edge.
Serverless data platform combining Postgres with built-in Elasticsearch-powered full-text search, file attachments, and a spreadsheet-like UI for data management.
Hosted search API delivering sub-50ms results. Typo tolerance, faceting, geo-search, and AI-powered recommendations. The gold standard for search UX.
Open-source, lightning-fast search engine written in Rust. Typo-tolerant, easy to set up, and a developer-friendly alternative to Algolia and Elasticsearch.
Open-source, typo-tolerant search engine optimized for speed. Keeps the entire index in RAM for sub-50ms results. A fast, easy Algolia alternative.
IBM's enterprise-grade hybrid database supporting SQL, JSON, BSON, and XML. Enterprise features with a generous free cloud tier for learning and prototyping.
Side-by-side comparisons to help you pick the right database for your specific use case.
The two giants of relational databases. Feature set, performance, ecosystem, and when to choose each.
In-memory speed vs document flexibility. Caching, persistence, and the right tool for the right job.
Self-managed document store vs fully managed BaaS. Flexibility, real-time sync, and total cost of ownership.
Open-source PostgreSQL-based vs Google's proprietary platform. Auth, real-time, pricing, and vendor lock-in.
Document flexibility vs relational rigor. Schema design, scaling strategies, and modern use cases.
Comprehensive guides on use cases, architecture, pros & cons, and which companies use each database in production.
Extensions, JSONB, full-text search, partitioning, and why PostgreSQL keeps winning.
Document modeling, aggregation pipeline, Atlas ecosystem, and industry adoption.
Replication, InnoDB internals, performance tuning, and the WordPress backbone.
Data structures, pub/sub, Lua scripting, and why Twitter relies on Redis.
Realtime DB vs Firestore, auth, hosting, and when Firebase is the right call.
Row-level security, edge functions, realtime, and the Postgres advantage.
Local-first, embedded, WAL mode, and why it powers billions of devices.
Cypher queries, graph modeling, recommendations, and fraud detection patterns.
Hosted vs self-hosted, indexing speed, typo tolerance, and cost at scale.
| Database | Type | Best Free Provider | Free Storage | Credit Card? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | Relational | Neon / Supabase | 500 MB | ✓ No |
| MongoDB | Document | MongoDB Atlas | 512 MB | ✓ No |
| MySQL | Relational | freesqldatabase | 5 MB | ✓ No |
| Redis | Key-Value | Upstash | 256 MB | ✓ No |
| Supabase | BaaS + Postgres | Supabase | 500 MB + Auth | ✓ No |
| Firebase | BaaS + NoSQL | Firebase Spark | 1 GB | ✓ No |
| SQLite / Turso | Embedded / Edge | Turso | 9 GB | ✓ No |
| Neo4j | Graph | AuraDB Free | 50k nodes | ✓ No |
| CockroachDB | Distributed SQL | CockroachDB | 10 GB | ✓ No |
| Xata | Postgres + Search | Xata | 15 GB | ✓ No |
| Algolia | Search API | Algolia | 10k records | ✓ No |
| IBM Db2 | Hybrid SQL/NoSQL | IBM Cloud | 200 MB | ✓ No |