Neon SSL Required Error (Connection Is Insecure)

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Use the full connection string

   1. Console, Connect, copy the string including ?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Set SSL in your driver

   Copy steps
   1. node-postgres: pass ssl: true or { rejectUnauthorized: true } in the Pool config
   2. Go pgx / lib/pq: use sslmode=verify-full
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

'connection is insecure (try using sslmode=require&channel_binding=require)' or SSL connection errors on connect.

Why it happens

• Connection string copied without its query parameters
• Driver does not enable TLS by default (node-postgres needs an ssl option)

This guide also covers

• neon ssl required
• neon connection is insecure
• neon sslmode require

The same problem in other apps

All not loading, error messages & connection guides →

• Supabase Max Client Connections Reached (Supabase)
• PlanetScale Prisma Connection Errors (PlanetScale)
• Railway SSL Certificate Stuck or Not Working (526, 525, Too Many Redirects) (Railway)

Other Neon errors

• Neon Connection Timeout After Scale to Zero (Cold Start)
• Neon "Remaining Connection Slots Are Reserved" (Too Many Connections)
• Neon Compute Time Quota Exceeded (Free Plan Limit Reached)
• Neon Free Plan Storage Limit Reached (Writes Blocked)
• Neon Cannot Create Branch: Branch Limit Reached
• Neon Prisma or Drizzle Migration Fails (Pooled Connection)
• Neon "The Endpoint ID Is Not Specified" / Password Authentication Failed
• Neon "Active Endpoints Limit Exceeded" / Compute Suspended