Softwr

Software · head to head

PlanetScale vs Together AI

PlanetScale logo

PlanetScale

Software

The MySQL-compatible serverless database

From
$15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Together AI logo

Together AI

Software

Open-source AI at scale

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Together AI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: PlanetScale eBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead; Together AI fine tuning carries a minimum charge of $4.00 per job regardless of dataset size
  • They diverge on capability: PlanetScale covers Database Branching, Together AI covers Open-source models.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which PlanetScale and Together AI actually diverge.

Attributes where PlanetScale and Together AI differ
AttributePlanetScaleTogether AI
Starting price$15/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionusage-based
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsCloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure)Api, Cloud
Founded20182022

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in PlanetScale

  • Database Branching
  • Non-blocking Schema Changes
  • Insights
  • Horizontal Scaling
  • Connection Pooling
  • Query Caching
  • Automatic Backups
  • Global Replication

Only in Together AI

  • Open-source models
  • Fine-tuning
  • Fast inference
  • Embeddings
  • REST API
  • Python SDK
  • OpenAI compatible
  • Api support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

PlanetScale

  • MySQL database hosting with automatic failover and replicationnot Together AI
  • Vitess-based sharding for horizontal scaling across large datasetsnot Together AI
  • Cloud provider flexibility across AWS, GCP, Azure with 60+ regionsnot Together AI
  • Cost-effective database clusters using ARM64 architecture optionsnot Together AI

Together AI

  • Serverless inference against open source chat, vision, embedding, image and video modelsnot PlanetScale
  • Renting dedicated single tenant H100, H200 or B200 GPU clusters by the hournot PlanetScale
  • Fine tuning open weight models on a per token basisnot PlanetScale

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

PlanetScale

  • EBS High Availability requires 3-node configuration with replication overhead
  • EBS Non-HA single-node option lacks redundancy and automatic failover
  • Pricing varies by cloud provider and region, requiring queries for specific rates
  • ARM64 architecture only available on EBS tier, not Metal deployments

Together AI

  • Fine tuning carries a minimum charge of $4.00 per job regardless of dataset size
  • Reserved GPU commitments beyond 180 days are priced by contacting sales with no published rate
  • Volume and enterprise discounts are quote only with no published threshold
  • Reserved dedicated inference pricing is contact sales while only on demand rates of $5.49 to $8.99 per GPU hour are published

Pricing, plan by plan

PlanetScale

$15/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PlanetScale review.

Together AI

Free
  • FreeFree
    • $5 credits
    • API access
  • Pay-per-use$0.2/per-million-tokens
    • All models
    • Fine-tuning

Which should you pick?

Choose PlanetScale if

  • You need database branching.
  • You work on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure).
  • You also want non-blocking schema changes.
PlanetScale review

Choose Together AI if

  • You need open-source models.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Api, Cloud.
  • You also want fine-tuning.
Together AI review

Questions people ask

Is PlanetScale or Together AI better?
Neither clearly leads. PlanetScale starts at $15/month and Together AI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, PlanetScale or Together AI?
Together AI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $15/month for PlanetScale and Free for Together AI.
Does PlanetScale or Together AI run on more platforms?
PlanetScale runs on Cloud-hosted (AWS, GCP, Azure). Together AI runs on Api, Cloud.
Can I use Together AI for free?
Yes. Together AI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PlanetScale starts at $15/month.
What is PlanetScale best used for?
PlanetScale is most often used for mysql database hosting with automatic failover and replication, vitess-based sharding for horizontal scaling across large datasets, cloud provider flexibility across aws, gcp, azure with 60+ regions, cost-effective database clusters using arm64 architecture options. Of those, mysql database hosting with automatic failover and replication and vitess-based sharding for horizontal scaling across large datasets are not what Together AI is typically brought in for.
What can PlanetScale do that Together AI cannot?
PlanetScale covers Database Branching, Non-blocking Schema Changes, Insights, Horizontal Scaling. Together AI covers Open-source models, Fine-tuning, Fast inference, Embeddings.
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on PlanetScale

More on Together AI

Keep looking

Other head to heads