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Comparison entry for Neon Realtime - #701
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| sidebarTitle: "PowerSync vs Neon Realtime" | ||
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| [Neon Realtime](https://neon.com/docs/realtime/overview) lets your app subscribe to a SQL query on Neon Postgres and get updates as the data changes. Neon launched it in public beta in October 2026. It was built by the team behind Electric, who joined Neon in August 2026. |
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The specific launch date ("public beta in October 2026") and the claim that the Electric team joined Neon in August 2026 aren't backed by a cited source in this PR. Add a link to Neon's announcement/blog post for the beta launch and the Electric acquisition so these dates can be verified before publishing.
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| PowerSync clients connect with a JWT, either from your auth provider or issued by your backend. [Sync Streams](/sync/streams/overview) use claims from the token, such as the user ID, to decide which rows each user receives. Your backend authorizes writes when it receives them from the upload queue. See [Authentication](/configuration/auth/overview). | ||
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| Neon Realtime puts read authorization in your backend instead. When the app needs data, your backend authenticates the user, builds the SQL query with the user's parameters, and seals it into a short-lived token. The client uses that token to subscribe and cannot read or change the query inside it. Your backend can use any authentication method. Neon Realtime does not support Postgres row-level security (RLS) yet. Neon says it aims to add RLS before general availability. |
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"Neon says it aims to add RLS before general availability" attributes a forward-looking statement to Neon without a citation. Link to the specific Neon doc or announcement that says this, or remove the attribution if it can't be sourced.
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| | | **PowerSync** | **Neon Realtime** | | ||
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| | Managed cloud | PowerSync Cloud | Runs inside Neon. Available in four AWS regions during the beta. | |
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"four AWS regions during the beta" is a specific, quickly-changing number for a beta product. Confirm it against Neon's current docs (or link the source) since this is exactly the kind of beta detail the page's own note warns can go stale.
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| | Managed cloud | PowerSync Cloud | Runs inside Neon. Available in four AWS regions during the beta. | | ||
| | Self-hosting | Yes. The [Open Edition](/intro/self-hosting) is free to self-host, and an Enterprise Self-Hosted Edition is available. | No. Realtime runs only on Neon's platform. | | ||
| | Client SDKs | Open source (Apache 2.0, except the Kotlin SDK, which is MIT) | Open source (Apache 2.0) | |
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The claim that the Kotlin SDK is MIT-licensed (vs. Apache 2.0 for the others) isn't documented anywhere else in this repo. Verify this against the powersync-kotlin repo's LICENSE before publishing.
| You can't self-host Neon Realtime. If you need to run sync on your own infrastructure, for example for data residency or compliance, PowerSync supports that with the Open Edition or the Enterprise Self-Hosted Edition. | ||
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| You enable Neon Realtime per Neon branch, and it works with Neon branching and scale-to-zero. The Realtime service is free during the beta, but Neon still bills for database compute and data transfer. |
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The billing details ("free during the beta, but Neon still bills for database compute and data transfer") need a source. Link to Neon's pricing or Realtime docs that state this, since beta pricing terms change often.
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AI Disclosure
This PR was created with the help of Claude Opus 5.5. Help constitutes assistance in research, planning, and rough outline of writeup.