Databases · pricing
PlanetScale pricing
PlanetScale publishes 4 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
As of 30 August 2026, PlanetScale pricing is free, then $15/month across 4 published tiers. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free, then $15/month
- Model
- Usage-based
- Tiers
- 4
- Free tier
- Yes
PlanetScale plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5) | $5/month | 3 | Entry tier |
| Postgres EBS HA (ARM64 PS-5) | $15/month | 4 | +$10/month, 2 more features |
| Vitess Non-Metal 3-Node | $39/month | 3 | +$24/month, 3 more features |
| Postgres Metal (M-10) | $50/month | 3 | +$11/month, 3 more features |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5)
$5/monthThe entry tier. It covers 512 mib ram, single-node configuration, ebs storage included.
Postgres EBS HA (ARM64 PS-5)
$15/monthOver Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5), this tier adds:
- 3-node high-availability setup
- 1 primary + 2 replicas
Vitess Non-Metal 3-Node
$39/monthOver Postgres EBS HA (ARM64 PS-5), this tier adds:
- Sharding-capable database
- x86-64 architecture
- 3-node configuration
Postgres Metal (M-10)
$50/monthOver Vitess Non-Metal 3-Node, this tier adds:
- 1/8 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM
- 3-node HA configuration
- 10 GiB NVMe storage included
What the product covers
The full PlanetScale feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Database Branching
- Non-blocking Schema Changes
- Insights
- Horizontal Scaling
- Connection Pooling
- Query Caching
- Automatic Backups
- Global Replication
Integrations
- Prisma
- Rails
- Laravel
- Django
- Node.js
- Vercel
Security
- SOC2
- GDPR
- TLS
- Encryption at Rest
Deployment
- Cloud deployment
Platform
- Web support
- Api support
- Cli support
People bring PlanetScale in for mysql-compatible applications requiring horizontal scaling, postgresql deployments with custom cluster configurations, multi-region database deployments on aws or gcp, applications requiring transparent sharding via vitess. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to PlanetScale are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Databases
Across the 3 databases tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $234/month. PlanetScale starts at $15/month, which puts it below the middle of its category.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlanetScale (this page) | Free, then $15/month | usage-based | - | |
| Canary Labs | $3000/year | Per tag band per year | - | vs PlanetScale |
| Presto | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PlanetScale |
| Privacera | On request | quote | - | vs PlanetScale |
| Dremio | Free, then $0.2/hour | Per Dremio Compute Unit consumed | - | vs PlanetScale |
| Solace PubSub+ | Free | quote | - | vs PlanetScale |
| StarRocks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PlanetScale |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the PlanetScale badges page.
Before you pay for PlanetScale
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 4 tiers between $5/month and $50/month, with the jump itemised above. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
PlanetScale runs on cloud-hosted (aws, gcp, azure), and is published by PlanetScale Inc of San Francisco, CA. The full record is on the PlanetScale review, and the rest of the category is under best databases tools.
PlanetScale pricing questions
- How much does PlanetScale cost?
- PlanetScale publishes 4 tiers, from $5/month for Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5) up to $50/month for Postgres Metal (M-10). The entry tier costs nothing.
- Does PlanetScale have a free plan?
- Yes, PlanetScale is recorded as usage-based, so it can be used without paying.
- What is the difference between Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5) and Postgres EBS HA (ARM64 PS-5) on PlanetScale?
- Postgres EBS HA (ARM64 PS-5) costs $15/month against $5/month, and adds 3-node high-availability setup, 1 primary + 2 replicas.
- Is the Postgres Metal (M-10) plan on PlanetScale worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is 1/8 vcpu, 1 gib ram, 3-node ha configuration, 10 gib nvme storage included. It costs $50/month against $5/month for Postgres EBS Single-Node (ARM64 PS-5). Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- Is PlanetScale expensive for a databases tool?
- It starts below the middle of its category. Across the 3 databases tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $234/month; PlanetScale starts at $15/month.
- Which databases tools can I use without paying?
- 5 of the 8 databases tools listed alongside PlanetScale have a free tier: Presto, Dremio, Solace PubSub+, StarRocks, EMQX.
- What am I actually paying for with PlanetScale?
- The record lists 22 features across 5 areas: other, integrations, security, deployment, platform. In practice it is brought in for mysql-compatible applications requiring horizontal scaling, postgresql deployments with custom cluster configurations, multi-region database deployments on aws or gcp.
- Does PlanetScale charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 4 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these PlanetScale prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare PlanetScale against before paying?
- The closest databases tools in this directory are Canary Labs, Presto, Privacera, Dremio. Each has a side-by-side comparison with PlanetScale covering price, platforms and features.