Best PlanetScale Alternatives After Hobby Tier Removal

In March 2024, PlanetScale announced they were removing their Hobby tier. For many developers who'd built side projects, prototypes, and small applications on the free plan, this meant finding a new home for their MySQL databases.

The free plan has not come back. PlanetScale now sells MySQL (on Vitess) and PostgreSQL clusters billed by cluster size, and its lowest entry point is a single-node Postgres database at $5/month. Check the PlanetScale pricing page for current rates. If you want a free tier, or a different model entirely, the options below are where to look.

PlanetScale was special because it combined MySQL compatibility with serverless branching. You could create database branches like git branches, making schema changes safer. Finding a true replacement means understanding what you actually need.

What Made PlanetScale Special

Before looking at alternatives, let's acknowledge what PlanetScale offered:

• MySQL-compatible: Used Vitess under the hood, familiar MySQL syntax
• Database branching: Deploy requests for schema changes
• Serverless scaling: Pay for what you use
• Zero-downtime migrations: Non-blocking schema changes
• Automatic connection pooling: Handled serverless connection limits

Not every alternative offers all of these. You'll likely need to prioritize.

The Best Alternatives

1. Neon (PostgreSQL)

Best for: Developers willing to switch from MySQL to PostgreSQL

Neon is probably the closest spiritual successor to PlanetScale. It has the serverless model, the branching feature, and a generous free tier. Databricks acquired Neon in 2025, and Neon still runs as a standalone service.

What you get:

• Database branching (instant, copy-on-write)
• Scale to zero (stop paying when idle)
• 0.5 GB storage per project on the free plan
• 100 CU-hours of compute per project per month free
• PostgreSQL (not MySQL)

Trade-offs:

• PostgreSQL, not MySQL, so migration is required
• Syntax differences (especially around auto-increment, JSON functions)

Pricing: Free plan, then usage-based Launch and Scale plans with no monthly minimum. See Neon pricing.

If you're not deeply invested in MySQL-specific features, Neon is excellent. The branching is as good as PlanetScale's, and PostgreSQL is arguably a better database anyway.

2. Supabase (PostgreSQL)

Best for: Developers who want a full backend platform

Supabase gives you more than just a database. You get auth, storage, edge functions, and auto-generated APIs. If you were using PlanetScale with a separate auth service and API layer, Supabase consolidates everything.

What you get:

• PostgreSQL database
• Built-in authentication
• File storage
• Auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs
• Real-time subscriptions
• 500 MB database on free tier
• Pauses after 1 week of inactivity (free tier)

Trade-offs:

• PostgreSQL, not MySQL
• Not truly serverless (pauses on free tier, fixed compute on paid)
• More than you need if you just want a database

Pricing: Free tier available, Pro starts at $25/month

3. TiDB Cloud Starter (MySQL-compatible)

Best for: Those who need MySQL compatibility

TiDB is a distributed SQL database compatible with MySQL. Its serverless offering, TiDB Cloud Starter (formerly TiDB Serverless), has a free quota and keeps the MySQL syntax you know.

What you get:

• Compatible with MySQL 5.7 and 8.0 syntax
• Serverless (pay per request)
• 25 GiB row storage and 25 GiB columnar storage free per month
• 250 million Request Units free per month
• Distributed architecture

Trade-offs:

• Branching is in public preview, with five branches per organization by default
• Some MySQL features aren't supported (no stored procedures, triggers, or events)
• Less mature ecosystem than PlanetScale

Pricing: Free quota, then pay-as-you-go for storage and Request Units. See TiDB Cloud pricing.

If MySQL compatibility is non-negotiable and you can live with preview-stage branching, TiDB Cloud Starter is worth evaluating.

4. Railway (PostgreSQL or MySQL)

Best for: Simple deployments with predictable pricing

Railway is a platform for deploying apps and databases. It's not specifically a database company, but their MySQL and PostgreSQL offerings are solid for small to medium projects.

What you get:

• Real MySQL or PostgreSQL (not MySQL-compatible)
• Simple deployment
• Hobby plan is $5/month and includes $5 of usage
• Predictable resource-based pricing
• Easy deployment from GitHub

Trade-offs:

• No database branching
• No scale-to-zero
• You're paying for compute 24/7

Pricing: Hobby is $5/month including $5 of usage, then per-second billing for resources used. See Railway pricing.

5. Turso (SQLite)

Best for: Read-heavy workloads and local-first apps

Turso is based on libSQL (a SQLite fork) and provides hosted SQLite that you can query over the network or sync into your app. It's not MySQL, but if your use case fits SQLite, the performance and pricing are compelling.

What you get:

• SQLite-based (embedded database simplicity)
• Embedded replicas (a synced local copy inside your app for low-latency reads)
• 5 GB storage free
• 100 databases free
• 500 million row reads free per month

Trade-offs:

• Not MySQL or PostgreSQL, so you get SQLite semantics
• Single writer limitation (SQLite constraint)
• Limited for write-heavy workloads

Pricing: Free plan, then tiered monthly plans with overage billing. See Turso pricing.

Turso stopped offering edge replicas to new users in January 2025, so global reads now come from embedded replicas rather than Turso-hosted replicas in each region.

If your workload is read-heavy and you can adapt to SQLite, Turso's free tier is exceptionally generous.

6. CockroachDB (PostgreSQL-compatible)

Best for: Global distribution and high availability

CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database that's PostgreSQL-compatible. Since September 2026, new organizations sign up to Cockroach Continuum, which has usage-based Standard and Mission Critical editions. There is no ongoing free tier for new sign-ups.

What you get:

• PostgreSQL compatible
• Distributed and highly available
• 30-day trial with $400 in credit
• Usage-based billing per vCPU-hour after the trial
• Global tables for multi-region

Trade-offs:

• PostgreSQL, not MySQL
• Can be expensive at scale
• More complex than a simple database
• No free tier once the trial ends

Pricing: Usage-based, with on-demand or committed-spend contracts. See CockroachDB pricing. For the engine-level comparison, see CockroachDB vs PostgreSQL.

7. Self-Hosted Options

If you're comfortable with ops, running your own MySQL is always an option:

DigitalOcean Managed Databases: Starting at $15.15/month for a single-node MySQL cluster AWS RDS: New AWS accounts get up to $200 in credits instead of the old 12-month free tier, then per-hour instance pricing Render: Managed PostgreSQL only (no MySQL)

Self-managed means no branching, no serverless, and you handle backups. But you get full MySQL with no compromises.

Migration Considerations

MySQL to PostgreSQL

If you're considering Neon, Supabase, CockroachDB, or PlanetScale's own Postgres offering, you'll need to migrate from MySQL to PostgreSQL.

Key differences:

• AUTO_INCREMENT → SERIAL or GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY
• Double quotes for identifiers, single quotes for strings
• No LIMIT offset, count. Use LIMIT count OFFSET offset
• Boolean is a real type, not TINYINT
• Different JSON function syntax

Tools like pgloader can help automate schema and data conversion.

Keeping MySQL

If MySQL compatibility is essential, your options are more limited:

• TiDB Cloud Starter: Best MySQL-compatible serverless option
• Railway/DigitalOcean/AWS: Real MySQL, but not serverless
• Self-hosted: Full control, full responsibility

For a wider look at MySQL-compatible options, see MySQL alternatives.

Recommendation Summary

Need	Best Option
Closest to PlanetScale (branching + serverless)	Neon
Must stay on MySQL	TiDB Cloud Starter
Want full backend (auth, storage, APIs)	Supabase
Just need cheap, simple hosting	Railway
Read-heavy or local-first apps	Turso
Global distribution, high availability	CockroachDB

My Take

The PlanetScale free tier removal was disappointing, but the alternatives are solid. If you're starting fresh, Neon is probably the best choice, the branching feature matches PlanetScale's, and PostgreSQL is a great database.

If you have an existing MySQL application and can't migrate, TiDB Cloud Starter is your best bet for a free tier. It's not perfect, but it's MySQL-compatible and serverless.

For most side projects, the free tiers of Neon, Supabase, or TiDB are sufficient. You'll only need to pay when your project succeeds, which is exactly how it should be.