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PlanetScale vs PostgreSQL
Short answer: Pick PlanetScale if you want sharded MySQL/Postgres with unlimited IOPS; pick PostgreSQL if you want advanced open-source relational database. PlanetScale starts at $5/month; PostgreSQL is free and open source.
Which to pick
Pick PlanetScale if you want…
- Sharded MySQL/Postgres with unlimited IOPS
- Scalable MySQL/Postgres
Pick PostgreSQL if you want…
- Advanced open-source relational database
- A free, open-source tool
Side by side
- What it is
- PlanetScale:PlanetScale provides managed, horizontally-sharded MySQL, Vitess, and Postgres databases with unlimited IOPS and high-availability.
- PostgreSQL:PostgreSQL is an open-source object-relational database system known for reliability and performance.
- Best for
- PlanetScale:Sharded MySQL/Postgres with unlimited IOPS
- PostgreSQL:Advanced open-source relational database
- Who it’s for
- PlanetScale:Developers and teams needing scalable, high-performance cloud databases.
- PostgreSQL:Developers and organizations needing a robust relational database.
- Pricing
- PlanetScale:Paid
- PostgreSQL:Open source
- Starting price
- PlanetScale:$5/month (Single-node Postgres)
- PostgreSQL:Free
- Free plan or trial
- PlanetScale:—
- PostgreSQL:Free to use
- Plans
- PlanetScale:Single-node Postgres $5 per month · PlanetScale Metal $50 per month
- PostgreSQL:—
- Open source
- PlanetScale:—
- PostgreSQL:Yes, 22,836 GitHub stars
- Works with
- PlanetScale:Fivetran, Airbyte, Hightouch, Datadog, Vantage, Debezium, Prometheus, pganalyze
- PostgreSQL:—
PlanetScale features
- Horizontal sharding. Vitess and Neki enable explicit sharding for MySQL and Postgres across thousands of nodes.
- Branch-per-environment. Each branch runs on its own isolated cluster for safe schema changes.
- Unlimited IOPS on NVMe. PlanetScale Metal uses blazing-fast NVMe drives with unlimited IOPS.
- High-availability clusters. One primary and two replicas across three availability zones with automated failover.
- Built-in connection pooling. PgBouncer for Postgres and similar pooling for MySQL reduce connection overhead.
- Query Insights & observability. Integrated monitoring dashboards for Vitess, Neki, and Postgres workloads.
- Database Traffic Control™. Set flexible budgets on query traffic to prevent runaway queries.
- Security & compliance. SOC 1/2, PCI DSS, HIPAA compliance with IP restrictions and private link options.
PostgreSQL features
- Object-relational engine. Combines relational and object-oriented features for flexible data modeling.
- Reliability. Proven stability with over 35 years of active development.
- Feature robustness. Rich SQL support, extensions, and advanced indexing.
- Performance. Optimized query execution and concurrency handling.
- Extensive documentation. Official docs cover installation, usage, and administration.
- Community support. Mailing lists, events, and user groups help users collaborate.
- Security updates. Regular releases fix vulnerabilities, e.g., 52 CVEs in the latest minor release.
- Versioning policy. Clear support timelines; version 14 ends support on 2026-11-12.
PlanetScale vs PostgreSQL FAQ
What is the difference between PlanetScale and PostgreSQL?+
PlanetScale focuses on MySQL-compatible scaling, whereas PostgreSQL is a relational DB with its own scaling features.
Should I use PlanetScale or PostgreSQL?+
Pick PlanetScale if you want sharded MySQL/Postgres with unlimited IOPS or scalable MySQL/Postgres. Pick PostgreSQL if you want advanced open-source relational database or a free, open-source tool.
Is PlanetScale or PostgreSQL free?+
PlanetScale is paid, from $5/month (Single-node Postgres). PostgreSQL is free and open source.
Which is cheaper, PlanetScale or PostgreSQL?+
PostgreSQL is free, so it costs less. PlanetScale starts at $5/month (Single-node Postgres).
Is PlanetScale or PostgreSQL open source?+
PostgreSQL is open source (postgres/postgres on GitHub). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for PlanetScale.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.