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Supabase vs PlanetScale
Recommendation & Best Fit
Choose Supabase if you prioritize:
- Provides a free tier for individual exploration
- Lower starting entry cost ($25/mo vs $39/mo)
- Open source with self-hosting flexibility and full code transparency
- Higher average user satisfaction rating (4.9/5)
Choose PlanetScale if you prioritize:
- Seamless alignment with Developer Tools standard industry workflows
Feature
Supabase
PlanetScale
Rating
⭐ 4.9/5
⭐ 4.8/5
Free Plan
Starting Price
$25/mo
$39/mo
Monthly Visits
29.0M
8.5M
API Support
Open Source
AI Capabilities
Mobile App
Desktop App
Browser Extension
Integrations
6 apps
5 apps
Team Size
ENTERPRISE
ENTERPRISE
Supabase Pros & Cons
Pros
- Real PostgreSQL with zero proprietary database lock-in
- Generous free plan includes 2 active Postgres projects
- Self-hostable via Docker with 100% open source code
Cons
- Free projects pause after 7 days of inactivity (unpause with one click)
- Row Level Security requires solid understanding of SQL policies
PlanetScale Pros & Cons
Pros
- Safest schema migrations in the industry (never locks tables or blocks production traffic)
- Incredible scale that powers Discord and GitHub
- Built-in connection pooling handles tens of thousands of concurrent connections
Cons
- Foreign key constraints are managed at application layer in Vitess mode
- No free tier currently (starts at $39/mo)
Supabase Key Features
- Dedicated PostgreSQL Database with Full SQL Access
- Row Level Security (RLS) Rules for Fine-Grained Authorization
- Built-In Auth (OAuth, Magic Links, Passkeys)
- pgvector Extension for AI Vector Search
PlanetScale Key Features
- Zero-Downtime Non-Blocking Schema Migrations
- Git-Like Database Branching (Branch, Test, Deploy Request)
- Built on Vitess for Horizontal Sharding & Billions of QPS
- PlanetScale Insights Query Performance Analyzer