Neon vs PlanetScale: Features, Pricing and User Reviews 2026
Neon
Serverless Postgres Database with Branching and Autoscaling
PlanetScale
Fast MySQL & Postgres Database Platform
Neon
Serverless Postgres Database with Branching and Autoscaling
PlanetScale
Fast MySQL & Postgres Database Platform
What are Neon and PlanetScale?
Neon is a cloud database service built on Postgres, the most trusted open source database. It separates storage and computing power into two independent parts, allowing each to scale separately. This design means your database can grow or shrink automatically based on your needs, and it can even scale down to zero when not in use to save money.
The standout feature is database branching. Just like creating a branch in Git to test new code, you can create a branch of your database to test changes without affecting your main data. These branches are created instantly and use minimal extra storage thanks to a copy-on-write system. Neon is perfect for developers who want a powerful database without the complexity of traditional database management.
PlanetScale is a database hosting service that runs on cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud. It supports two database types: Vitess for MySQL workloads and native Postgres for PostgreSQL applications. Both options come with high availability built in, using one primary database and two backup copies spread across different data centers.
The platform stands out with features like database branching, which works similar to Git branches for code. You can test changes safely before applying them to production. It also includes query monitoring tools that show which database operations are slow or using too many resources.
PlanetScale offers different service levels from pay-as-you-go pricing for startups to enterprise plans where they manage databases in your own cloud account.
Features of Neon and PlanetScale
Instant database provisioning in 300ms
Database branching like Git for testing
Autoscaling compute resources
Scale to zero when idle
Point-in-time restore up to 30 days
Read replicas with instant setup
Serverless driver for edge computing
Complete API and CLI tools
100% Postgres compatible
SOC 2 compliant
Open source platform
High availability built-in
High availability with automatic failover across three zones
Database branching for safe schema testing
Real-time query monitoring and performance insights
Zero-downtime schema migrations
Both Vitess MySQL and native Postgres support
Horizontal sharding for massive scale
Automated daily backups with recovery
API and CLI for automation
Multi-region deployment options
Enterprise security and compliance features
Use Cases of Neon and PlanetScale
Pricing of Neon and PlanetScale
Neon offers flexible pricing based on actual compute and storage usage, making it cost-effective for projects of all sizes.
The Free plan costs nothing and includes 20 projects with 100 compute unit hours per project monthly, 0.5 GB storage per project, and compute sizes up to 2 units. This is perfect for side projects and prototypes.
The Launch plan starts at $5 per month minimum with usage-based pricing. You get 100 projects, pay $0.14 per compute unit hour, and $0.35 per GB-month for storage. Compute can scale up to 16 units. It includes 7-day point-in-time restore and 3-day monitoring retention.
The Scale plan also starts at $5 per month minimum but supports over 1,000 projects with higher compute sizes up to 56 units. Pricing is $0.26 per compute unit hour. This plan includes 30-day point-in-time restore, 14-day monitoring, private networking, 99.95% SLA, and SOC 2 compliance.
Enterprise plans are available with custom pricing for organizations with specific requirements, dedicated support, and additional security features.
PlanetScale offers flexible pricing based on the resources you use. Cluster pricing starts at $34 per month for a high-availability setup with three database instances.
The Scaler Pro plan uses pay-as-you-go billing where you pay for your chosen instance size, storage, and any add-ons. Storage costs $0.50 per GB per instance after the first 10 GB. You can save money with annual commitments that offer 2.5% off, or get 12.5% total discount by paying upfront for the year.
The Enterprise plan includes everything in Scaler Pro plus enhanced support options, the ability to deploy in your own AWS or GCP account, and access to database experts through a private Slack channel. Enterprise pricing is customized based on your needs.
PlanetScale is also available through AWS Marketplace and Google Cloud Marketplace for simplified billing.
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