Kubernetes scaling limits cause database activation failures

9/10 Critical

Neon's Kubernetes infrastructure hit scaling limits when database creation increased 5x and branch creation increased 50x in May-June 2025. The platform exceeded the 10,000 concurrent database pod limit in testing, with network configuration limiting us-east-1 to ~12,000 active databases. IP exhaustion in Kubernetes subnets caused outages where customers couldn't activate or create databases.

KubernetesAWS EKSAWS CNI
Category
deploy
Workaround
hack
Stage
deploy
Freshness
persistent
Scope
single_lib
Upstream
open
Recurring
Yes
Buyer Type
enterprise
Maintainer
active

Sources

Collection History

Query: “What are the most common pain points with Neon for developers in 2025?”4/6/2026

May incidents were caused by us hitting a scaling limit around the number of active databases in US regions before our solution (Cells) was ready. Every active database on Neon is a running pod in a Kubernetes cluster. Our testing of Kubernetes showed service degradation beyond 10,000 concurrent databases.

Created: 4/6/2026Updated: 4/6/2026