Neon vs PlanetScale

A detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool.

Neon
Neon
PlanetScale
PlanetScale
Pricingfreemiumpaid
Best ForDevelopers who want Postgres without managing connections or scaling.Teams building on MySQL who need branching workflows and schema migrations without downtime.
Pros
  • +Serverless Postgres — scales to zero when not in use
  • +Database branching for development (like git for databases)
  • +0.5 GB free storage, always-on compute included
  • +Database branching for development — like git for your schema
  • +Non-blocking schema changes with instant rollback
  • +Built-in connection pooling with no configuration needed
Cons
  • −Cold start latency on scale-from-zero
  • −5-minute minimum billing per activity — small requests can rack up unexpected costs
  • −Not ideal for high-concurrency write-heavy workloads
  • −Removed free tier in 2024 — now starts at $39/month
  • −MySQL only — no Postgres support
  • −Foreign key support limited on lower plans
Visit NeonVisit PlanetScale

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