# Amazon Aurora vs PlanetScale

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** PlanetScale

| Attribute | Amazon Aurora | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 50.2 (48% (low)) | 65.7 (70% (medium)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Aurora is a serverless, relational database service offering zero infrastructure management and instant scaling. It provides 6x the throughput of standard PostgreSQL and MySQL while maintaining full compatibility with both. It is indexed under Relational Databases.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_sgm","question":"What is Amazon Aurora?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Amazon Aurora offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/","question":"Is Amazon Aurora free?","confidence":0.8},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Amazon Aurora. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/","question":"What platforms does Amazon Aurora support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Amazon Aurora, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_sgm","question":"Can Amazon Aurora be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed HIPAA and GDPR for Amazon Aurora. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Amazon Aurora not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/security/?nc1=f_cc","question":"What security certifications does Amazon Aurora have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"answer":"PlanetScale is a database platform providing MySQL and PostgreSQL databases with horizontal scaling capabilities powered by Vitess clustering technology. It is indexed under Relational Databases.","source":"https://planetscale.com","question":"What is PlanetScale?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PlanetScale is a paid product; published pricing starts at $5 per month. There is no free tier. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://planetscale.com/blog/amazon-aurora-pricing-the-many-surprising-costs-of-running-an-aurora-database","question":"How much does PlanetScale cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PlanetScale supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://planetscale.com/blog/amazon-aurora-pricing-the-many-surprising-costs-of-running-an-aurora-database","question":"What platforms does PlanetScale support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for PlanetScale, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://planetscale.com/blog/amazon-aurora-pricing-the-many-surprising-costs-of-running-an-aurora-database","question":"Can PlanetScale be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for PlanetScale, including Vantage, Netlify, Debezium, Cursor and Codex. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://planetscale.com","question":"What does PlanetScale integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for PlanetScale. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as PlanetScale not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://planetscale.com/blog/amazon-aurora-pricing-the-many-surprising-costs-of-running-an-aurora-database","question":"What security certifications does PlanetScale have?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PlanetScale is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://planetscale.com/blog/amazon-aurora-pricing-the-many-surprising-costs-of-running-an-aurora-database","question":"Where is PlanetScale available?","confidence":0.5}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A hosted relational database service that requires no infrastructure management, automatically scales with demand, and ensures high availability across regions. It supports PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, and offers a distributed variant for larger-scale deployments. | PlanetScale provides managed cloud database services optimized for performance and reliability. It offers sharded versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL that support horizontal scaling, zero-downtime operations including schema changes, automatic failover, and connection pooling. |
| features.capabilities | `{"sql_model":"full_sql","deployment":"serverless","serverless":true,"consistency":"strong","license_class":"proprietary","horizontal_scale":"distributed_native","acid_transactions":"full","automatic_failover":true,"wire_compatibility":"postgres"}` | `{"sql_model":"full_sql","data_model":"relational","deployment":"managed","sql_support":true,"extensibility":true,"license_class":"proprietary","managed_cloud":true,"full_text_search":true,"horizontal_scale":"sharded","automatic_failover":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 3 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Vantage"},{"name":"Netlify","native":true,"category":"deployment","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Debezium","native":false,"category":"data_integration","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Cursor","native":true,"category":"development_tools","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Codex","native":true},{"name":"Terraform","native":true,"category":"infrastructure","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":true,"category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | - | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Postgres","summary":"From $5/month","features":["High availability","Automatic failover across three availability zones"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Fully managed PostgreSQL cluster","contactSales":false}],"addOns":[{"name":"Private connection traffic (PrivateLink/PSC)","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.01,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $5/month. Private connection traffic $0.01/GB.","currency":"USD","sourceUrl":"https://planetscale.com/changelog/updated-pricing-for-postgres-private-traffic","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T12:36:46.926Z","startingPrice":{"amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | freemium | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | - | low |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":5,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | - | no |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.999 | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"PCI Data Security Standard","level":"Level 1 Service Provider","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.pci | yes | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/?nc2=h_dsc_aa_cmp | - |

## Capabilities (Relational Databases)

| Capability | Amazon Aurora | PlanetScale |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| SQL model | Full SQL | Full SQL |
| **Transactions** |  |  |
| ACID transactions | Full | - |
| Highest isolation level | - | - |
| **Consistency** |  |  |
| Consistency | Strong | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Horizontal scale | Natively distributed | Sharded |
| **Replication** |  |  |
| Replication | - | - |
| **Availability** |  |  |
| Automatic failover / HA | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Serverless | Managed |
| Serverless / scale-to-zero | ✓ | - |
| **Compatibility** |  |  |
| Wire compatibility | Postgres protocol | - |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Extensions / plugins / UDFs | - | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| **Data types** |  |  |
| JSON / document support | - | - |
| Geo / spatial | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:10:20.596Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*