Comparison

Google Cloud Spanner vs PlanetScale

On the evidence we track, PlanetScale leads this comparison with a composite score of 67/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Google Cloud Spanner full profile →PlanetScale full profile →

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Google Cloud Spanner44

★PlanetScale67

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Google Cloud Spanner	PlanetScaleLeader
Vioscale score	44 / 100low · 39%	67 / 100medium · 70%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✗
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	-	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	5	1
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	-	✓
Pcisecurity.pci	-	✓
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	-	99.99
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · HQ US

Score

Vioscale score

Google Cloud Spanner44 / 100low · 39%

PlanetScale67 / 100medium · 70%

Pricing

Free tier

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale✗

Model

Google Cloud Spannercommercial

PlanetScalecommercial

Price level

Google Cloud Spannerlow

PlanetScalelow

Transparent

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Integrations

Count

Google Cloud Spanner5

PlanetScale1

Security

Disclosure policy

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Gdpr

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Hipaa

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Pci

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Soc2

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Reliability

Sla pct

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale99.99

Status page

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale✓

Market

Availability

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScaleAvailable worldwide · HQ US

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for relational databases. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Relational Databases
Capability	Google Cloud Spanner	PlanetScale
Core
SQL model	Full SQL	Full SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions	Full	-
Highest isolation level	Serializable	-
Consistency
Consistency	Strong	-
Scale
Horizontal scale	Natively distributed	Sharded
Replication
Replication	Consensus (Raft/Paxos)	-
Availability
Automatic failover / HA	✓	-
Deployment
Deployment	Managed	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	-	-

Core

SQL model

Google Cloud SpannerFull SQL

PlanetScaleFull SQL

Transactions

ACID transactions

Google Cloud SpannerFull

PlanetScale-

Highest isolation level

Google Cloud SpannerSerializable

PlanetScale-

Consistency

Google Cloud SpannerStrong

PlanetScale-

Scale

Horizontal scale

Google Cloud SpannerNatively distributed

PlanetScaleSharded

Replication

Google Cloud SpannerConsensus (Raft/Paxos)

PlanetScale-

Availability

Automatic failover / HA

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale-

Deployment

Google Cloud SpannerManaged

PlanetScaleManaged

Serverless / scale-to-zero

Google Cloud Spanner-

PlanetScale-

Compatibility

Wire compatibility

Google Cloud SpannerPostgres protocol

PlanetScale-

Extensibility

Extensions / plugins / UDFs

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale✓

Licensing

Licence class

Google Cloud SpannerProprietary

PlanetScaleProprietary

Data types

JSON / document support

Google Cloud Spanner-

PlanetScale-

Geo / spatial

Google Cloud Spanner-

PlanetScale-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Google Cloud Spanner

Google Cloud's globally distributed, multi-model database supporting relational, graph, key-value, and search capabilities with native PostgreSQL interface and Gemini AI integration.

Independently observed

PlanetScale

Leader

A cloud database platform offering both Vitess (MySQL-compatible with horizontal sharding) and Postgres databases for high-performance, large-scale workloads.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Google Cloud Spanner

Usage-basedFree tier90-day trial

Usage-based pricing: compute capacity (nodes/processing units, hourly), storage (monthly), backups, data replication, network bandwidth. Free 90-day trial instances. Optional 1-year and 3-year committed use discounts. Three editions available: Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus.

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

PlanetScale

Leader

from $5/moHybrid

From $5/month for Postgres Single Node. Resource-based pricing with pay-as-you-go for storage overage and egress.

Postgres Single NodeStarting at $5/month
Postgres MetalStarting at $50/month
Postgres HA (PS-5 example)$15/month for PS-5 tier (1/16 vCPU, 512MB RAM, 10GB storage, 3 nodes, 99.99% SLA)
VitessCustom pricing based on cluster size, VTGate configuration, and storage
EnterpriseContact sales

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Google Cloud Spanner	PlanetScale
WebPlatforms	-	✓
CLIPlatforms	-	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

CLI

Google Cloud Spanner–

PlanetScale✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale✓

Self-hosted

Google Cloud Spanner✓

PlanetScale✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Google Cloud Spanner

5 total

Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform
Gemini CLI
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Agent Development Kit (ADK)
Data Agent Kit

Independently observed

PlanetScale

Leader

1 total

Vantage

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.