# Databases for startups: which vendors AI models recommend (September 2026)

Source: Memetik Index, https://www.memetik.ai/index/startup-databases
Field: Startup stack. Edition: 2026-09. Run: 2026-09-02.
Method: 5 fixed buyer prompts sent once each to 10 current models (GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Sonar Pro, Sonar Reasoning Pro) via their APIs with web search enabled. 50 answers. Answer share = fraction of answers naming the vendor. Named first = fraction where it was the first tracked vendor named.

**Supabase leads** with 98% answer share (named in 49 of 50 answers) and was named first in 52%. AWS RDS follows at 92%. 17 vendors were named at least once.

## Answer share

| # | Vendor | Answer share | Named first | Mentions | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supabase | 98% | 52% | 49/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 2 | AWS RDS | 92% | 24% | 46/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 3 | Neon | 90% | 22% | 45/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 4 | Google Cloud SQL | 66% | 0% | 33/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 5 | PlanetScale | 64% | 0% | 32/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 6 | MongoDB | 64% | 0% | 32/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 7 | Turso | 32% | 0% | 16/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 8 | Firebase | 24% | 0% | 12/50 | ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 9 | CockroachDB | 20% | 0% | 10/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5 |
| 10 | Northflank | 14% | 2% | 7/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 11 | Crunchy Bridge | 12% | 0% | 6/50 | GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash |
| 12 | DigitalOcean | 12% | 0% | 6/50 | GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude Fable 5, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 13 | Upstash | 12% | 0% | 6/50 | Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini |
| 14 | Cloudflare D1 | 8% | 0% | 4/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude Opus 5, Claude |
| 15 | Prisma | 6% | 0% | 3/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna |
| 16 | Railway | 6% | 0% | 3/50 | GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude |
| 17 | Xata | 2% | 0% | 1/50 | Claude |

## By model

- **GPT-5.6 Sol** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-sol, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 100%, Google Cloud SQL 100%, MongoDB 40%
- **GPT-5.6 Terra** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-terra, 5 answers): AWS RDS 100%, Supabase 80%, Google Cloud SQL 80%, MongoDB 60%, Neon 40%
- **GPT-5.6 Luna** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-luna, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 80%, Google Cloud SQL 80%, MongoDB 60%
- **Claude Opus 5** (Anthropic, claude-opus-5, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 100%, PlanetScale 100%, MongoDB 60%
- **Claude Sonnet 5** (Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, MongoDB 100%, Neon 80%, Google Cloud SQL 80%
- **Claude Fable 5** (Anthropic, claude-fable-5, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, Neon 100%, PlanetScale 100%, MongoDB 80%, CockroachDB 80%
- **Gemini 3.6 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.6-flash, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 100%, Google Cloud SQL 80%, MongoDB 80%
- **Gemini 3.5 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.5-flash, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 100%, PlanetScale 80%, MongoDB 60%
- **Sonar Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-pro, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, Neon 100%, AWS RDS 80%, Google Cloud SQL 60%, PlanetScale 60%
- **Sonar Reasoning Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-reasoning-pro, 5 answers): Supabase 100%, AWS RDS 100%, Neon 100%, PlanetScale 80%, Google Cloud SQL 60%

## Sources the models cited

- northflank.com: 96
- buildmvpfa.st: 53
- makerkit.dev: 46
- whipp.studio: 35
- devtoolsacademy.com: 31
- blog.railway.com: 21
- instaclustr.com: 21
- checkthat.ai: 18
- aws.amazon.com: 16
- reddit.com: 16
- supabase.com: 15
- launchtry.com: 14
- dreamlit.ai: 13
- strongdm.com: 13
- cloud.google.com: 12

## Prompts

1. What is the best managed database for a startup? Name specific products.
2. Which managed database would you recommend to a startup in 2026?
3. Compare the top managed database options right now.
4. I'm a startup and I need a managed database. What should I use and why?
5. Best managed database for a Postgres-based SaaS?

## Tracked but never named

Convex

Raw answers: https://www.memetik.ai/index/startup-databases (every answer published in full). Chart image: https://www.memetik.ai/charts/startup-databases.png. Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit "Memetik Index".