Supabase vs PlanetScale
A side-by-side, data-driven comparison of Supabase and PlanetScale — pricing, free tiers and capabilities. Prefer the long read? See our in-depth guide.
Different tools for different jobs — Supabase is an all-in-one Postgres backend for building products fast, PlanetScale is a high-scale MySQL database — pick Supabase for velocity, PlanetScale for scaling an established MySQL workload.
At a glance
- Supabase has a free tier; PlanetScale does not.
- Different engines: Supabase is PostgreSQL, PlanetScale is MySQL (Vitess) / PostgreSQL.
- Supabase is open source; PlanetScale is not.
Specs side by side
| Supabase | PlanetScale | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Managed database | Managed database |
| Engine | PostgreSQL | MySQL (Vitess) / PostgreSQL |
| Pricing model | tiered | tiered |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Regions | multi-region | multi-region |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes | No |
Pros & cons
Our editorial assessment — not vendor-stated facts. Last reviewed 2026-07-16.
Supabase
Pros
- Uses real, standard PostgreSQL with direct access (psql, pg_dump, connection strings), reducing vendor lock-in
- Bundles database, auth, storage, realtime, and functions behind one control plane, cutting integration overhead
- Open-source stack with a self-hostable option
- Good developer experience: dashboard SQL editor, instant APIs, and client libraries across multiple languages
Cons
- Costs can climb because egress, compute, storage, and add-ons (PITR, custom domains, branching) are metered separately on top of the base plan
- Row-level security is powerful but has a learning curve, and writing correct policies often takes iteration
- Support is community-only on the free tier; paid plans add ticket/email support, but SLA-backed and dedicated support (including a private Slack channel and 24/7 response) is reserved for the higher-priced Team and Enterprise plans
- Free-tier projects pause after about a week of inactivity and are capped at two active projects, making the free tier unsuitable for always-on production apps
PlanetScale
Pros
- Branch-and-deploy-request workflow makes schema migrations reviewable, reversible, and safe to apply online
- Proven horizontal scalability through Vitess, the system used to run some of the largest MySQL deployments
- Strong, consistent I/O performance from NVMe-backed Metal instances
- Supports both MySQL and Postgres, so teams aren't locked to a single engine
Cons
- No free tier: the free Hobby plan was removed in April 2024 and has not returned, though a low-cost paid single-node option was introduced in late 2025
- Metered storage, egress, and backup charges layered on top of per-cluster compute make total cost harder to predict
- Proprietary proxy, branching, and operator layers create some degree of vendor lock-in
- The Postgres engine is newer and less battle-tested than the long-established Vitess/MySQL product
Bottom line
Pick Supabase for full-stack apps wanting Postgres plus auth, storage and realtime in one place. Pick PlanetScale for high-scale MySQL needing Vitess sharding and safe online schema changes.
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between Supabase and PlanetScale?
- Supabase: A hosted Postgres platform bundling database, auth, storage, edge functions and realtime, positioned as an open-source Firebase alternative. PlanetScale: A managed MySQL platform built on Vitess for horizontal sharding and non-blocking schema changes, aimed at high-scale production workloads (also offers Postgres).
- Does Supabase have a free tier?
- Yes.
- Does PlanetScale have a free tier?
- No.
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