Best PlanetScale Alternatives (2026)

PlanetScale alternatives at a glance

1. 1

   Supabase

   Databases

   Open source Firebase alternative.

   Supabase undercuts Firebase and traditional managed Postgres on entry price, using the free tier and cheap Pro plan to hook indie devs and startups away from rolling their own infra. The jump to $599 for Team is steep though, positioning it less as 'affordable at scale' and more as a wedge to land small teams cheap then monetize hard once they're locked into Postgres, Auth, and Storage.

   Plans: Free $0/mo · Pro $25/mo · Team $599/mo · Enterprise Contact Sales

   From $25/mo Free plan · PlanetScale vs Supabase → Supabase pricing →
2. 2

   Neon

   Databases

   Serverless Postgres.

   Neon isn't competing on a low headline price — it's competing on architecture, pitching serverless Postgres with instant branching to teams who'd otherwise run RDS or self-hosted Postgres. The usage-based model makes it cheap to start but hard to benchmark against flat-rate competitors like Supabase, which puts pressure on Neon to prove the 'typical spend' numbers hold up in practice.

   Plans: Free $0/mo · Launch Contact Sales · Scale Contact Sales

   Custom pricing Free plan · PlanetScale vs Neon → Neon pricing →
3. 3

   MongoDB Atlas

   Databases

   Managed cloud database service.

   MongoDB's undercutting itself at the low end with sub-cent hourly rates to hook indie devs and startups, while quietly pushing everyone toward Dedicated as the 'real' product — that's the tier built to compete with RDS and other managed database plays. Enterprise Advanced exists purely to capture large accounts who'd otherwise walk to Oracle or a self-hosted open-source stack, and hiding the price is a signal they're negotiating deal-by-deal rather than competing on rate card.

   Plans: Free $0/mo · Flex $0/mo · Dedicated $0/mo · Enterprise Advanced Contact Sales

   From $0/mo Free plan · PlanetScale vs MongoDB Atlas → MongoDB Atlas pricing →
4. 4

   Airtable

   Databases

   Spreadsheet-database hybrid for teams.

   Airtable sits at the premium end of the no-code database/workflow category — pricier per seat than a Google Sheets or Notion-style tool, but cheaper than heavyweight platforms like Smartsheet Enterprise or dedicated app-building tools. They're chasing teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and need real relational data structure but don't want to hire developers.

   Plans: Free $0/mo per seat · Team $24/mo per seat · Business $54/mo per seat · Enterprise Scale Contact Sales

   From $24/mo Free plan Free trial · PlanetScale vs Airtable → Airtable pricing →
5. 5

   Aiven

   Databases

   Managed open-source data platforms.

   Aiven sits mid-to-premium compared to raw cloud-native options like RDS or Cloud SQL, trading lower absolute cost for a fully managed, multi-cloud abstraction layer. They're chasing teams who want Postgres (or Kafka, ClickHouse, etc.) without being locked into one hyperscaler, not teams purely hunting rock-bottom price.

   Plans: Free $0/mo · Developer $5/mo · Hobbyist $12/mo · Startup $75/mo · Business $180/mo · Premium $270/mo

   From $5/mo Free plan Free trial · PlanetScale vs Aiven → Aiven pricing →
6. 6

   Appwrite

   Databases

   Open-source backend as a service.

   Plans: Free $0/mo · Pro $25/mo · Enterprise Contact Sales

   From $25/mo Free plan · PlanetScale vs Appwrite → Appwrite pricing →
7. 7

   ClickHouse

   Databases

   Fast open-source OLAP database.

   ClickHouse Cloud sits in the middle-to-premium range for analytical databases — pricier per-unit than running open-source ClickHouse yourself on raw cloud infra, but cheaper than Snowflake or BigQuery for high-throughput analytical workloads at scale. They're going after teams that have outgrown Postgres/MySQL for analytics and are comparing managed OLAP options rather than competing on being the budget pick.

   Plans: Basic Contact Sales · Scale Contact Sales · Enterprise Contact Sales

   Custom pricing Free trial · PlanetScale vs ClickHouse → ClickHouse pricing →
8. 8

   CockroachDB

   Databases

   Distributed SQL that survives anything.

   This isn't a budget play — usage-based vCPU pricing plus a premium Mission Critical tier signals they're chasing teams who need serious distributed-SQL muscle (multi-region, strong consistency) and are willing to pay for it, going head-to-head with Google Spanner and Yugabyte more than commodity Postgres hosting. The lack of a free plan reinforces that they're not fishing for hobbyists.

   Plans: Standard $0/mo · Mission Critical $0/mo

   From $0/mo Free trial · PlanetScale vs CockroachDB → CockroachDB pricing →
9. 9

   Convex

   Databases

   Reactive backend for app developers.

   Convex is cheap at the entry point to hook indie devs and small teams, but that $2,500/mo floor for Business & Enterprise puts them in premium territory once you're a real company — there's almost nothing in between. They're winning developers early and betting that switching costs keep them once usage scales into serious money.

   Plans: Free & Starter $0/mo · Professional $25/mo · Business & Enterprise $2500/mo

   From $25/mo Free plan · PlanetScale vs Convex → Convex pricing →
10. 10

    Firebase

    Databases

    Backend-as-a-service from Google.

    Firebase competes on accessibility, not price predictability — it's cheap to start and can get genuinely expensive at scale, which puts it in the middle of the pack once you're a real business. They're clearly optimizing to win developers early (solo devs, startups, hackathons) and bet that migration costs keep you there once you're big.

    Plans: No-cost (Spark plan) $0/mo · Pay as you go (Blaze plan) Contact Sales

    Custom pricing Free plan · PlanetScale vs Firebase → Firebase pricing →

Comparing on features, not just price? Use our feature comparison template →

None of these fit? See every databases tool we price →

What is the best alternative to PlanetScale?

Supabase is the closest PlanetScale alternative we track for databases. Paid plans start at $25/mo, and there is a free plan to start on. Neon and MongoDB Atlas are also worth a look.

Are there free alternatives to PlanetScale?

Yes — Supabase, Neon, MongoDB Atlas and 5 more offer a free plan, so you can switch without paying up front.

How much do PlanetScale alternatives cost?

Entry prices range from $0/mo (MongoDB Atlas) to $25/mo (Convex). Each product page has the full verified tier breakdown.

Is there a cheaper alternative to PlanetScale?

Yes — PlanetScale starts at $5/mo, while MongoDB Atlas ($0/mo), CockroachDB ($0/mo) start lower.