PlanetScale
PlanetScale Inc. · 🗄️ Database
PlanetScale is the world's most advanced serverless MySQL platform. Build faster with branching, non-blocking schema changes, and more.
Free-tier constraints
- Offer type
- Discontinued
- When idle
- Unknown
- Credit card
- Required
- Commercial use
- Allowed
- At the limit
- Auto-bills
- Data expiry
- Not published
Free-tier compatibility
- —Static hosting
- —Serverless
- —Long-running processes
- —Docker
- —WebSockets
- —Cron
- —Background workers
- —Persistent disk
- —Custom domains
Overview
PlanetScale is a serverless MySQL platform built on Vitess, the database technology that scales YouTube. Its standout feature is database branching: you branch your schema like Git, make non-blocking schema changes on a development branch, and merge them with a deploy request — no locking, no downtime. Connection pooling and query insights come built in.
The Hobby tier historically offered 5GB storage with about 1 billion row reads and 10 million row writes per month, plus production and development branches. Note: PlanetScale discontinued its free Hobby plan in April 2024, so treat it as a paid database platform rather than a free-tier option.
It targets teams that want MySQL at scale with a safe, Git-like schema workflow and serverless connection handling.
Sources and verification
Checked 2026-08-18Pros
- ✓Serverless MySQL that scales on Vitess
- ✓Git-like database branching with non-blocking schema changes
- ✓Deploy requests make migrations safe and reviewable
- ✓Built-in connection pooling and query insights
- ✓Battle-tested at very large scale
Cons
- ✕The free Hobby tier was discontinued in April 2024
- ✕No current always-free database tier
- ✕The branching workflow has a learning curve
- ✕Some features assume larger, paid usage
Best for
- →Teams that need MySQL at scale
- →Schema changes without downtime
- →Apps with serverless or edge connection needs
Compare with
Getting started
- 1 Create a PlanetScale account and a database
- 2 Create a development branch for schema changes
- 3 Apply schema changes on the branch, then open a deploy request
- 4 Merge the deploy request to apply changes to production safely
- 5 Connect your app with the provided connection string
Related guides
Features
- ✓Serverless MySQL
- ✓Database Branching
- ✓Non-blocking Schema Changes
- ✓Automatic Backups
- ✓Connection Pooling
- ✓Insights & Analytics
FAQ
No. PlanetScale discontinued its free Hobby plan in April 2024; current public pricing starts with paid development databases.
It lets you branch your schema like Git, make non-blocking changes on a dev branch, and merge them to production via a deploy request — without locking tables.
Yes. PlanetScale now has both Vitess/MySQL and Postgres products, but the historic free Hobby database tier is no longer available.
Deploy these projects to PlanetScale
Open-source projects and templates that run on PlanetScale's free tier.