Connection pooling

Connection pooling keeps a set of database connections open and reuses them across requests, rather than opening a new connection for every query. This reduces latency and lets your database handle more concurrent requests. This is especially important in serverless and high-traffic environments where connection limits can be exhausted quickly.

Prisma Postgres supports connection pooling through TCP connections. You can also use Prisma Accelerate for connection pooling with additional features like caching.

Connection pooling with TCP

To use a pooled connection, append &pool=true to your Prisma Postgres TCP connection string:

# Direct connection (no pooling)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://USER:PASSWORD@db.prisma.io:5432/?sslmode=require"

# Pooled connection
DATABASE_URL="postgres://USER:PASSWORD@db.prisma.io:5432/?sslmode=require&pool=true"

You can also enable connection pooling when generating your connection string in the Prisma Console by toggling on the pooling option.

This works with any PostgreSQL client, ORM, or database tool you already use.

Connection limits

The number of available connections depends on your plan and whether you use a pooled or direct connection:

Idle connections are closed after 60 minutes. You can compare plans on the Prisma pricing page.

With TCP connections, there are no limits on query duration, transaction duration, or response size.

When to use pooled vs. direct connections

For most production applications, pooled connections are recommended. Use direct connections when you need a persistent connection or are working in a low-concurrency environment like local development.