Turso vs Upstash
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Turso and Upstash.
Quick Verdict
4.1/5
Turso
0 reviews
4.2/5
Upstash
0 reviews
Upstash is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.1). Turso offers SQLite-based databases at the edge for multi-tenant SaaS. Create thousands of database instances, each at a different edge location. Per-tenant isolation at SQLite pricing. Free tier includes 500,000 commands per month with 250 MB data (10,000 commands/sec is the throughput ceiling).
Turso Edge SQLite — create thousands of DB instances | Upstash Serverless Redis, Kafka, QStash — per-request pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.1 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Multi-tenant SaaS and AI agent workloads needing per-tenant SQLite databases replicated close to users | Serverless and edge developers needing caching, rate limiting, queues and agent state without running Redis |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | — |
| RAM | — | — |
| Storage | 5 GB✓ | 0 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 0 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | — |
| Data-center count | 30 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierapi accessopen source | free tierapi access |
| Visit Turso → | Visit Upstash → | |
Turso
Pros
- + True per-tenant database isolation at SQLite pricing — 100 databases free, unlimited from $5.99/mo
- + Published pricing, overage rates, and even per-tier commit latency — rare transparency
- + Edge replication across 30+ locations with placement you control per database
- + Eleven-nines durability via S3-backed commits; MIT-licensed engine you can self-host
- + SQLite file-format and SQL compatibility keeps local dev and production aligned
Cons
- - No public uptime SLA on self-serve plans — the guarantee is durability, not availability
- - Rows-read metering punishes unindexed queries; costs can surprise the careless
- - EU databases still back up to S3 us-east-2 unless you bring your own buckets (Pro+)
- - SQLite dialect limits rule out query-heavy relational workloads
- - Big price jump from Scaler ($29/mo) to Pro ($499/mo) for priority support and compliance
Upstash
Pros
- + Genuine free tier: 500K commands/month, 250 MB, no credit card — one of four providers offering that in 2026
- + Per-request pricing fits serverless perfectly: idle costs nothing, HTTP access avoids connection pooling
- + Transparent pricing with published crossover math; per-database budgets rate-limit instead of overbilling
- + Global replication across 14 AWS regions (EU, US, APAC, SA, ZA) with reads from the nearest replica
- + Broad platform beyond Redis: Vector, Search, QStash, Workflow, Box and S3-compatible Blob, each with a free tier
Cons
- - Redis-compatible, not full Redis — validate command semantics before migrating
- - 10,000 commands/sec per database ceiling; sharding across DBs is on you beyond that
- - No public SLA with credits found; availability is a status page, not a contract
- - Backups appear tied to the Prod Pack add-on (+$200/mo per database); base plans leave recovery to you
- - Per-replica command counting doubles write costs on global databases; incident retry storms inflate bills
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