Neon scale to zero: 5-minute idle default, tune it per environment

Scale to zero: configure it per environment

The trap

The default (suspend after 5 minutes idle) is great for dev and terrible for a latency-sensitive production endpoint, where every quiet period buys you a cold start on the next request. Agents either leave the default everywhere or disable it everywhere.

The rule

• After 5 minutes of inactivity the compute suspends; the next query reactivates it automatically within a few hundred milliseconds.
• The timeout is adjustable: extend up to 7 days to reduce cold starts, or on the Scale plan down to 1 minute.
• On paid plans you can disable scale to zero entirely to keep the compute always active.
• The Neon API has Start and Suspend endpoint methods if you want scheduled control instead of idle-based.

Checklist

• Production latency-sensitive: disable scale to zero or set a long timeout.
• Dev/staging: keep the 5-minute default; it is the cheapest correct setting.
• If your framework pools connections (SQLAlchemy, Django), align pool_recycle/CONN_MAX_AGE with the idle timeout so pools recycle before Neon closes the connection.
• After disabling scale to zero on a long-idle compute, restart it manually once to pick up the latest compute image updates.

Neon's scale-to-zero docs (verified live 2026-09-26): suspends after 5 minutes of inactivity, reactivates within a few hundred ms; timeout adjustable up to 7 days (down to 1 minute on Scale); can be disabled on paid plans; Start/Suspend endpoint APIs exist for explicit control.