# A database

> Where the data lives. Nicolas Dao's picks for this job (Cloudless Labs, Sydney), in order of preference, what he would avoid, and what to use instead.

- Use case 12 of 21 in The Stack, last reviewed 21 October 2026
- Web page: https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/use-cases/database/

Picks, in order of preference:

1. **[Neon (serverless Postgres)](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/neon/index.md)** (My default): Default. Branches, scale to zero, HTTP driver.
2. **[Aurora PostgreSQL](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/aws-aurora/index.md)** (Use when it fits): When the client must stay all-AWS.

Don't:

- ~~Amazon DynamoDB~~: You design every query up front and pay for it in rewrites when the app changes. Postgres with JSONB gives you documents and SQL in one place, and covers every case I've met. Instead: [Neon (serverless Postgres)](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/neon/index.md).
- ~~Cloudflare D1~~: A thin business case and no tooling to migrate thousands of databases. For per-tenant SQLite, use the primitive D1 is built on; for a normal database, use Postgres. Instead: [Cloudflare Durable Objects](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/cloudflare-durable-objects/index.md) or [Neon (serverless Postgres)](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/neon/index.md).

## The picks in brief

- [Neon (serverless Postgres)](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/neon/index.md): My default. My go-to Postgres. Scales to zero, branches like git, and talks HTTP so Lambda needs no VPC or proxy. Pricing: Launch plan $0.106 per compute-unit hour, Scale $0.222; storage $0.35/GB-month; no minimum. Available in Sydney.
- [Aurora PostgreSQL](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/aws-aurora/index.md): Use when it fits. Peace of mind and scale, at a price. My choice when the client must stay all-AWS. Pricing: Serverless v2 kept at 0.5 ACU always-on ≈ $73 a month. RDS Proxy adds at least about $26 a month (provisioned) or about $146 (Serverless v2, minimum 8 ACU).

## Related

- [Edge](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/edge/index.md): every tool in this layer
- [Data](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/data/index.md): every tool in this layer
- [Every use case and tool in one file](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/brief.md)
- [Map of every Markdown file on cloudlesslabs.com, with what each one answers](https://ask.cloudlesslabs.com)