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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs Neon

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Neon logo

Neon

Cloud

Serverless Postgres for modern developers

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.; Neon compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
  • They diverge on capability: Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and Neon actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and Neon differ
AttributeHookdeckNeon
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsCloud
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
FoundedUnknown2021

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in Neon

  • Serverless PostgreSQL
  • Database Branching
  • Autoscaling
  • Bottomless Storage
  • Point-in-time Recovery
  • Connection Pooling
  • Read Replicas
  • Instant Cloning

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot Neon
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot Neon
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot Neon
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot Neon

Neon

  • Serverless applicationsnot Hookdeck
  • Development databasesnot Hookdeck
  • Preview environmentsnot Hookdeck
  • Testingnot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

Neon

  • Compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
  • Separation of compute and storage may add complexity to cost prediction compared to all-in-one plans

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

Neon

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100 CU-hours/month
    • 0.5 GB storage
    • 1 project
  • Launch$15/month
    • Pay-as-you-go compute
    • $0.35/GB storage
    • Multiple projects
  • Scale$31/month
    • Higher compute rates
    • 99.95% SLA
    • HIPAA compliance

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose Neon if

  • You need serverless postgresql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud.
  • You also want database branching.
Neon review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or Neon better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and Neon at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or Neon?
Hookdeck starts at Free and Neon at Free.
Does Hookdeck or Neon run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. Neon runs on Cloud.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what Neon is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that Neon cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL, Database Branching, Autoscaling, Bottomless Storage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

Neon: What is Neon and what makes it different?

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL database that separates compute and storage, enabling automatic scaling and instant database branching. After acquisition by Databricks in May 2025, pricing has been significantly reduced.

Source
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

Neon: Does Neon offer a free tier?

Yes, Neon's free tier includes 100 compute units per month and 0.5 GB of storage. This is suitable for development and small projects.

Source
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

Neon: What are the paid plans and pricing for Neon?

Neon offers consumption-based pricing on Launch ($0.106/CU-hour, approximately $15/month) and Scale ($0.222/CU-hour, approximately $31/month) plans with separate storage billing at $0.35/GB-month. No monthly minimum required.

Source
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

Neon: What features does Neon provide?

Neon includes git-like branching for database copies, point-in-time recovery, data anonymization for testing, managed authentication, serverless functions, and object storage that branches with projects.

Source
Neon: What compliance and reliability guarantees does Neon provide?

Neon's Scale tier offers 99.95% uptime SLA, HIPAA compliance, SOC2 certification, and private networking via PrivateLink at no extra cost.

Source
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