Supabase vs PlanetScale: Platform or Database? (2026)

Quick verdict

Short answer

Choose Supabase if you are building an app and want authentication, file storage, realtime messaging, server functions and a REST API around your database without assembling them yourself, and you would like to start on a free plan. Choose PlanetScale if your application already has its own backend (for example a Rails, Laravel, Django or Node.js server) and you want the database run for you on dedicated, replicated clusters, or you need MySQL with Vitess sharding and non-blocking schema changes. They overlap only at the database layer; for a database-to-database view, see Neon vs PlanetScale.

How we know: This comparison is research-based: products, engines, platform features, branching, compatibility limits and plans were checked against Supabase's and PlanetScale's official documentation and pricing pages, and the Supabase licence against its GitHub repository, in October 2026. We have not run performance tests, so no speed or latency claims are made.

Supabase is a backend-as-a-service built on PostgreSQL. Each project gets a dedicated Postgres instance, and Supabase adds Auth (users stored in your database, with Row Level Security for authorisation), Storage, Realtime (Broadcast, Presence and Postgres Changes), Edge Functions on a Deno-compatible runtime, a REST API built on PostgREST and a GraphQL API. Supabase is Apache-2.0 licensed and documents self-hosting with Docker.

PlanetScale is a managed database service. In October 2026 it sells Vitess (MySQL 8 on the Vitess sharding system, with branching and deploy requests), Postgres (PostgreSQL 17 and 18 as high-availability clusters with a primary and two replicas, or as single-node databases) and Neki (horizontal sharding for Postgres, in Platform Preview). It provides no authentication, file storage or functions: your application connects to it with a normal MySQL or PostgreSQL driver. PlanetScale has no free plan; its documentation states that the former Hobby plan is gone and the self-serve plan is now called Base.

Because one is a platform and the other a database, the useful question is how much of the backend you want a vendor to run. For a like-for-like Postgres platform comparison, see Supabase vs Neon.

Side by side

Aspect	Supabase	PlanetScale
Product type	Backend platform (database, auth, storage, realtime, functions, APIs)	Managed database service only
Engines	PostgreSQL	MySQL 8 on Vitess; PostgreSQL 17 and 18; Neki sharded Postgres in preview
How apps connect	Client libraries, auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs, or any Postgres driver	Standard MySQL or PostgreSQL drivers from your own backend
Authentication and storage	Built in (Supabase Auth, Supabase Storage)	Not provided; use your framework or another service
High availability	One dedicated Postgres instance per project; managed backups and point-in-time recovery on the hosted platform	Primary plus two replicas across availability zones on HA clusters
Horizontal sharding	Not offered	Vitess (MySQL); Neki (Postgres, preview)
Schema change workflow	Migrations and preview branches with GitHub integration	Vitess: deploy requests with non-blocking schema changes and reverts
Free plan	Yes, with limits; projects pause after 1 week of inactivity	No
Licence and self-hosting	Apache-2.0; self-hosting documented	Proprietary service; Enterprise can run in your own AWS or GCP account (PlanetScale Managed)
Main trade-off	Saves building a backend, but ties app code to Supabase APIs	Production-grade clusters and sharding, but you build everything above the database

Key differences

Platform versus database

With Supabase, a front-end or mobile app can talk to the database directly through Supabase client libraries: Supabase Auth issues a JSON Web Token, requests carry it, and Row Level Security policies in Postgres decide which rows each user can see. Storage, Realtime and Edge Functions cover file uploads, live updates and custom server logic. For many apps this removes the need for a separate API server.

PlanetScale stops at the database. Your own server code handles users, permissions, file storage and APIs, and connects to PlanetScale over the MySQL or PostgreSQL protocol (with PgBouncer available for Postgres connection pooling). In our assessment that is the right shape for teams with an existing backend framework who want the database operated for them, and the wrong shape for a team hoping to avoid writing a backend.

Engines and compatibility

Supabase runs PostgreSQL with extensions, and its database is ordinary Postgres that any Postgres tool can connect to.

PlanetScale offers a choice. Its Postgres product is described in PlanetScale's documentation as fully PostgreSQL compatible, supporting versions 17 and 18; major upgrades are done by creating a new database and migrating online. Its Vitess product runs MySQL 8 but with documented limits: no stored routines of any kind (procedures, functions, triggers or events), no LOAD DATA INFILE, a unique non-null key required on every table, and foreign keys supported only in unsharded databases. If your MySQL application relies on triggers or stored procedures, check these limits before considering PlanetScale Vitess.

Scaling and availability

Supabase scales a project by moving it to a larger compute size, with the billing documentation describing compute add-ons up to 64 vCPUs and 256 GB RAM. It does not shard a database across nodes.

PlanetScale HA clusters run a primary and two replicas spread across availability zones, and its Metal option uses locally attached NVMe drives. Vitess shards MySQL horizontally, and Neki brings sharding to Postgres in Platform Preview. PlanetScale runs in 12 AWS and 7 Google Cloud regions according to its regions page. If you expect a single database to outgrow one server, PlanetScale has the more developed scale-out story, in our view.

Branching

Supabase branching creates preview environments tied to Git; new branches start without data unless you seed them or choose to include data, and branch compute is billed hourly.

PlanetScale Vitess branches are schema workspaces merged into production through deploy requests, applied as non-blocking schema changes. PlanetScale Postgres branches are isolated databases that start empty or from a backup, with no automated way to merge schema changes between branches according to its documentation. Development branches are billed only while they run.

Lock-in

With Supabase, the data is portable Postgres, but application code written against Supabase Auth, Storage, Realtime and client libraries would need rework to leave; self-hosting the Apache-2.0 stack is an alternative exit. With PlanetScale, application code uses standard drivers, so lock-in is mainly in workflows (deploy requests) and, on Vitess, in having adapted your schema to its compatibility rules.

Pricing and licensing

Supabase. Listed on the Supabase pricing page in October 2026, in USD, billed per organisation. Free: 0 USD per month, 500 MB database, 1 GB file storage, 50,000 monthly active users, 5 GB egress, 500,000 Edge Function invocations, 2 active projects, paused after 1 week of inactivity. Pro: from 25 USD per month including 10 USD of compute credits, 8 GB disk per project, 100 GB file storage, 100,000 MAUs and 250 GB egress. Team: from 599 USD per month. Enterprise: custom. Compute is billed hourly per project (Micro at 0.01344 USD per hour, about 10 USD per month, per the compute documentation), and usage beyond quotas is billed at listed overage rates.

PlanetScale. Listed on the PlanetScale pricing page in October 2026, in USD per month, for AWS us-east-1; prices vary by region and cluster size. No free plan. Postgres: single-node from 5 USD (PS-5), HA three-node clusters from 15 USD (PS-5), Metal from 50 USD (M-10), plus storage, backups and egress. Vitess: from 39 USD (PS-10, one primary and two replicas), plus storage and optional VTGates. Neki: from 30 USD (PS-10 Arm), in Platform Preview. Development branches from 5 USD per month, billed for the time used. Enterprise by contact.

Supabase's price covers database plus platform services under one plan; PlanetScale's covers the database only, so compare it with Supabase plus whatever you would otherwise pay for auth, storage and hosting your own API.

Pricing checked on the vendors' official pages on 7 October 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.

Where each one leads

Supabase strengths

Complete backend in one service: Postgres, Auth, Storage, Realtime, Edge Functions and APIs
Row Level Security lets client apps query the database safely without a custom API layer
Free plan to start, with predictable monthly plans above it
Apache-2.0 licensed and self-hostable

PlanetScale strengths

Choice of MySQL (Vitess) or PostgreSQL from one vendor
HA clusters with a primary and two replicas across availability zones
Horizontal sharding for MySQL, and for Postgres in preview
Vitess deploy requests apply non-blocking schema changes with reverts
AWS and Google Cloud regions, with Metal and bring-your-own-cloud options

Limitations

Supabase limitations

No horizontal sharding; a project scales up to the largest compute size
App code using Supabase Auth, Storage and client libraries is harder to move elsewhere
Free projects pause after 1 week of inactivity
Each project is an always-on instance billed hourly on paid plans

PlanetScale limitations

Database only: no auth, file storage, realtime or functions
No free plan
Vitess does not support stored procedures, functions, triggers or events
Postgres branches do not merge schema changes automatically

When to choose each

Choose Supabase if

You are building a new web or mobile app and do not want to write a separate backend
You want auth, file storage and realtime updates that share one Postgres database
You want to start on a free plan and grow into a paid one
You want the option to self-host later

Choose PlanetScale if

You already have an application server and need only a managed database
You need MySQL compatibility with horizontal sharding
You want replicated, always-on clusters across availability zones from the start
You need Google Cloud regions or a deployment in your own cloud account

When neither is right

You want serverless Postgres that scales to zero and branches with data: see Neon vs PlanetScale and Supabase vs Neon.
You want a NoSQL backend with offline mobile sync: see Supabase vs Firebase.
You are still choosing an engine: see MySQL vs PostgreSQL.
To survey similar platforms, see Supabase alternatives.

Final recommendation

Bottom line

These products answer different questions. If you want the backend done for you, Supabase is the better fit: one service covers the database, users, files, realtime and functions, and you can start free. If you have a backend already and want a database run on replicated, provisioned clusters, or need MySQL sharding, PlanetScale is the more focused choice, at a cost from day one and with Vitess compatibility limits to check first.

Frequently asked questions

Is PlanetScale a backend-as-a-service like Supabase?

No. PlanetScale provides managed databases (Vitess for MySQL, Postgres, and Neki in preview). It does not include authentication, file storage, realtime messaging or serverless functions, which Supabase does.

Does PlanetScale offer PostgreSQL now?

Yes. PlanetScale Postgres supports PostgreSQL 17 and 18 as HA clusters or single-node databases, and Neki, a sharded Postgres product, is in Platform Preview.

Is there a free tier on PlanetScale?

No. PlanetScale's documentation states that it no longer offers the Developer or Hobby plan and that all databases need a paid subscription.

Can I use Supabase as just a database?

Yes. Each project includes a dedicated Postgres database that any Postgres driver can connect to, and you can ignore the other services. If you only need a database, also consider serverless options in Supabase vs Neon.

Sources

Checked October 2026.

How we research comparisons: our editorial method.