PlanetScale vs Supabase
PlanetScale is a managed database platform built by the creators of Vitess, offering pay-as-you-go MySQL and Postgres with no free plan, starting around $5 a month. Supabase gives every project a dedicated Postgres database plus auth, storage and auto-generated APIs, with a free plan included. Choose PlanetScale if you want Vitess-backed MySQL or Postgres with fine-grained, resource-based pricing; choose Supabase if you want a free tier and a fuller backend bundled with the database.
Facts checked on against the official sources listed at the end. Usage numbers update daily.
Best for
Teams that want Vitess-backed MySQL or Postgres with pay-as-you-go pricing
No free plan. Paid from $5 a month for a single-node Postgres instance.
Best for
Teams that want a free tier and auth, storage and APIs bundled with Postgres
Free plan. Paid from $25 a month (Pro), plus usage above the included limits.
PlanetScale vs Supabase at a glance
| Compared on | PlanetScale | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Database engines offered | MySQL (via Vitess) and PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL only |
| Free tier availability | None; the Base plan is pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum contract | Yes: 2 active projects, 500 MB database, pauses after 1 week idle |
| Built-in authentication or APIs | Not included; PlanetScale is a database product only | Supabase Auth and auto-generated REST/GraphQL APIs included |
| Sharding at scale | Vitess/Neki sharding for MySQL and Postgres, built for very large workloads | Not a named feature; scaling is through compute and storage upgrades |
| Bring-your-own-cloud option | PlanetScale Managed, available on Enterprise | Not offered; Supabase Cloud runs on Supabase's own infrastructure |
| Non-blocking schema changes | A historical strength of PlanetScale's MySQL offering, via Vitess | Standard Postgres migrations, without a named non-blocking schema change feature |
| Open source | No, Proprietary (Vitess itself, which PlanetScale is built on, is open source under Apache-2.0) | Yes, Apache-2.0 |
| Free plan | No, there is no free plan; the Base plan is pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum contract | Yes: 2 active projects, 500 MB database, 50,000 monthly active users, 1 GB file storage. Projects pause after 1 week of inactivity. |
| Paid plans from | $5 a month for a single-node Postgres instance | $25 a month (Pro), plus usage above the included limits |
| Made by | PlanetScale | Supabase Inc. |
| Launched | Not listed | 2020 |
What's the difference between PlanetScale and Supabase?
PlanetScale offers MySQL and Postgres, Supabase is Postgres only
PlanetScale, built by the creators of Vitess, offers both MySQL (its original, most established offering) and a newer managed Postgres product. Supabase gives every project a dedicated Postgres database only, with no MySQL option.
PlanetScale has no free plan, Supabase does
PlanetScale's Base plan is pay-as-you-go with no free tier and no monthly minimum contract, starting around $5 a month for a small Postgres instance. Supabase has a free plan covering 2 active projects and a 500 MB database, though those projects pause after 1 week of inactivity.
Supabase bundles auth and APIs, PlanetScale is database-only
Supabase includes Supabase Auth and auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs alongside its Postgres database. PlanetScale is a database product only, with no built-in auth or API layer, so an app needs its own separate solution for those.
PlanetScale offers Vitess-based sharding for very large scale, Supabase doesn't name an equivalent
PlanetScale's Enterprise tier offers Vitess/Neki sharding for MySQL and Postgres, built for scaling well beyond a single database instance, a capability rooted in Vitess's origins scaling MySQL at YouTube. Supabase's published scaling path is through larger compute and storage tiers rather than a named sharding system.
PlanetScale vs Supabase pricing
PlanetScale is entirely pay-as-you-go with no free tier, priced by compute, storage and add-ons. Supabase charges a flat plan fee that includes a compute allowance, plus usage above the included limits.
PlanetScale
Base (Postgres single node): from $5 a month for development and low-traffic workloads, pay-as-you-go compute and storage. Base (Postgres Metal): from $50 a month for local NVMe storage and higher performance. Enterprise: custom pricing, including PlanetScale Managed (bring your own cloud).
- Base (Postgres single node)
- From $5 a month
- Base (Postgres Metal)
- From $50 a month
- Enterprise
- Custom pricing
Supabase
Free: 2 active projects, 500 MB database, 50,000 monthly active users; pauses after 1 week idle. Pro: from $25 a month for 8 GB database, 100,000 MAU and no pausing, extra projects from $10 a month.
- Free
- $0
- Pro
- From $25 a month
- Team
- From $599 a month
- Enterprise
- Custom
Prices in USD from the official pricing pages on 29 September 2026. They change often, so confirm on planetscale.com and supabase.com before you commit.
Usage and activity
Supabase has 92 times as many GitHub stars as PlanetScale (111k against 1.2k). Weekly npm downloads: 491k for @planetscale/database and 35M for @supabase/supabase-js. Releases on GitHub in the last 90 days: 2 for PlanetScale and 1 for Supabase.
| Measure | PlanetScale | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 1,207 | 111,180 |
| npm downloads a week | 491k (@planetscale/database) | 35M (@supabase/supabase-js) |
| Latest release | v2.0.0, 1 week ago | v1.26.08, 2 months ago |
| Releases in 90 days | 2 | 1 |
From the public GitHub and npm APIs, updated daily. Stars and downloads show developer interest, not product quality.
Should you choose PlanetScale or Supabase?
Choose PlanetScale if
- You want MySQL specifically, backed by Vitess's proven scaling history
- You want fine-grained, pay-as-you-go pricing with no free-tier project pausing to worry about
- You expect to need sharding at very large scale eventually
- You want a bring-your-own-cloud option on Enterprise
Choose Supabase if
- You want a free tier to start building before paying anything
- You want auth, storage and auto-generated APIs bundled with your Postgres database
- Postgres specifically is what you need, and you don't need a MySQL option
- You want row level security policies written directly in SQL
Switching between PlanetScale and Supabase
Moving from Supabase to PlanetScale's Postgres product is a relatively direct database migration, since both run Postgres, though you'd need to rebuild Supabase's auth and auto-generated APIs on your own. Moving to PlanetScale's MySQL product instead means converting a Postgres schema to MySQL syntax. Moving from PlanetScale to Supabase means the reverse, plus deciding whether to adopt Supabase's bundled auth and API layer.
PlanetScale vs Supabase: common questions
Does PlanetScale have a free plan?
No, there's no free plan; the Base plan is pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum, starting around $5 a month for a small Postgres instance. Supabase has a free plan with 2 active projects.
Does PlanetScale support Postgres?
Yes, alongside its original MySQL offering built on Vitess. Supabase supports only Postgres.
Does PlanetScale include authentication like Supabase?
No, PlanetScale is a database product only, with no built-in auth or API layer. Supabase includes Supabase Auth and auto-generated APIs with every project.
What is Vitess?
A sharding and scaling system originally built at YouTube for scaling MySQL, and the technology PlanetScale is built on and named its Postgres offering's scaling feature after (Neki).
Is PlanetScale open source?
PlanetScale itself is proprietary, though Vitess, the technology it's built on, is open source under Apache-2.0. Supabase's full stack is open source under Apache-2.0.
Other options to consider
All databases tools
Redis
In-memory data store used as a cache, database and message broker, available self-hosted or as Redis Cloud.
MongoDB Atlas
MongoDB's fully managed cloud database service, with a free tier and usage-based paid tiers.
Firebase
Google's backend-as-a-service platform for mobile and web apps: database, auth, hosting and functions.
Neon
Serverless Postgres platform with autoscaling and instant branching, owned by Databricks.
Sources
More sources for each tool are on the PlanetScale and Supabase pages.
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