turso
Turso is an in-process SQL database, compatible with SQLite.
The Lens
By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.
Updated Oct 2026
Turso is SQLite rewritten from scratch in Rust: same SQL, file format and C API, plus concurrent writes, change data capture and async I/O that SQLite never had. It runs inside your app like SQLite, with no server to babysit, and the engine is MIT licensed and free.
Install the library (cargo add turso, npm i @tursodatabase/database, uv pip install pyturso) and go. It runs in production at several companies but has not hit 1.0, and the team's own advice is to keep independent backups. Want a self-hosted network server instead? That is libSQL, their older SQLite fork.
Turso Cloud is the paid side. Free covers 100 databases and 500 million row reads a month. Developer is $5.99/month ($4.99 billed yearly), Scaler $29 ($24.92 yearly), Pro $499 ($416.58 yearly), plus overage. Solo and small teams: free or Developer. Medium teams: Scaler. Larger teams: Pro, which is where SSO and HIPAA live.
The catch: Supabase is acquiring Turso, announced October 2, 2026. Turso says the database stays open source, but expect the cloud roadmap to bend toward Supabase and Postgres. SQLite compatibility is not 100% yet either, so read the compat notes before you swap it in.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
free self hosted paid cloudFree: The Turso Database engine is MIT licensed and free to embed in any app, commercial included. Turso Cloud Free is $0/month with no card: 100 databases, 5GB storage, 500 million rows read and 10 million rows written per month, 3GB of syncs, 1 day of point-in-time restore, community support.
Self-hosted: There is nothing to host for the engine itself: it is an in-process library with bindings for Rust, JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, .NET and WebAssembly, plus the tursodb CLI. If you want a self-hosted network server for remote SQLite access, that is the separate libSQL server (also MIT, Docker supported), the older fork the company is moving away from.
Paid: Turso Cloud, billed monthly (yearly-billed monthly equivalent in parentheses). Developer $5.99/month ($4.99): unlimited databases, 9GB storage, 2.5 billion rows read, 25 million rows written, 10GB syncs, 10-day restore, 3-day audit logs, restore deleted databases, DPA, IP and AWS VPC allow lists. Scaler $29/month ($24.92): 24GB, 100 billion reads, 100 million writes, 24GB syncs, 30-day restore, 14-day audit logs, Teams. Pro $499/month ($416.58): 50GB, 250 billion reads, 250 million writes, 100GB syncs, 90-day restore, 30-day audit logs, SSO, BYOK encryption, HIPAA, SOC 2, priority email support. Enterprise is custom pricing and adds BYOC deployment and 24x7 priority support. Overage is billed per unit once enabled (storage runs $0.75/GB on Developer down to $0.45/GB on Pro), so the plan price is a floor.
The engine is MIT and free to embed. Turso Cloud is free up to 500 million row reads a month, then $5.99, $29 or $499 a month billed monthly ($4.99, $24.92 or $416.58 billed yearly), and SSO and compliance only start at Pro.
What to do by team size
- Solo
- free; embed the engine or use the Turso Cloud free tier
- Small team
- free, or Developer at $5.99/month ($4.99 billed yearly) once you outgrow it
- Medium team
- Scaler at $29/month ($24.92 billed yearly) for Teams and 30-day restore
- Large team
- Pro at $499/month ($416.58 billed yearly) for SSO, HIPAA and SOC 2, or Enterprise for BYOC
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