Comparison

MariaDB vs PlanetScale

On the evidence we track, PlanetScale leads this comparison with a composite score of 66/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

MariaDB full profile →PlanetScale full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

MariaDB50

★PlanetScale66

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	MariaDB	PlanetScaleLeader
vioscaleAI score	50 / 100low · 42%	66 / 100medium · 70%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✗
Modelpricing.model	open_source	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	low
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	-	$5
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	17	3
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	-	PCI Data Security Standard
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	-	✓
Pcisecurity.pci	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	4.7	-
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=openinfradev%2Fmariadb&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	-
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	-	99.99
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	0	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	8,358	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	-
Release
Historyrelease.history	20 items	-
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	GPL-2.0	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	C++	-
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	7 items	7 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

MariaDB50 / 100low · 42%

PlanetScale66 / 100medium · 70%

Pricing

Free tier

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✗

Model

MariaDBopen_source

PlanetScalecommercial

Price level

MariaDBfree

PlanetScalelow

Starting price

MariaDB–

PlanetScale$5

Transparent

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✗

Integrations

Count

MariaDB17

PlanetScale3

Security

Certifications

MariaDB–

PlanetScalePCI Data Security Standard

Disclosure policy

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✓

Gdpr

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✓

Hipaa

MariaDB–

PlanetScale✓

Pci

MariaDB–

PlanetScale✓

Scorecard

MariaDB4.7

PlanetScale–

Soc2

MariaDB–

PlanetScale✓

Vulnerabilities

MariaDBCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=openinfradev%2Fmariadb&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

PlanetScale–

Reliability

Sla pct

MariaDB–

PlanetScale99.99

Status page

MariaDB–

PlanetScale✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

MariaDB0

PlanetScale–

Github stars

MariaDB8,358

PlanetScale–

Activity

Commits last 30d

MariaDB100

PlanetScale–

Release

History

MariaDB20 items

PlanetScale–

License

Spdx

MariaDBGPL-2.0

PlanetScale–

Language

Primary

MariaDBC++

PlanetScale–

Market

Availability

MariaDBAvailable worldwide

PlanetScaleAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

MariaDB7 items

PlanetScale7 items

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Relational Databases
Capability	MariaDB	PlanetScale
Core
SQL model	Full SQL	Full SQL
Transactions
ACID transactions	Full	-
Highest isolation level	-	-
Consistency
Consistency	Tunable	-
Scale
Horizontal scale	Natively distributed	Sharded
Replication
Replication	Sync	-
Availability
Automatic failover / HA	✓	✓
Deployment
Deployment	-	Managed
Serverless / scale-to-zero	-	-
Compatibility
Wire compatibility	MySQL protocol	-
Extensibility
Extensions / plugins / UDFs	✓	✓
Licensing
Licence class	Copyleft	Proprietary
Data types
JSON / document support	✓	-
Geo / spatial	Native	-

Core

SQL model

MariaDBFull SQL

PlanetScaleFull SQL

Transactions

ACID transactions

MariaDBFull

PlanetScale-

Highest isolation level

MariaDB-

PlanetScale-

Consistency

MariaDBTunable

PlanetScale-

Scale

Horizontal scale

MariaDBNatively distributed

PlanetScaleSharded

Replication

MariaDBSync

PlanetScale-

Availability

Automatic failover / HA

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✓

Deployment

MariaDB-

PlanetScaleManaged

Serverless / scale-to-zero

MariaDB-

PlanetScale-

Compatibility

Wire compatibility

MariaDBMySQL protocol

PlanetScale-

Extensibility

Extensions / plugins / UDFs

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✓

Licensing

Licence class

MariaDBCopyleft

PlanetScaleProprietary

Data types

JSON / document support

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale-

Geo / spatial

MariaDBNative

PlanetScale-

What each one is

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

MariaDB

A widely deployed open source database that evolved from MySQL while maintaining compatibility, offering advanced SQL capabilities, native vector search, pluggable storage engines, and multi-primary clustering for production workloads.

Independently observed

PlanetScale

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

MariaDB

Open source

as of 2026-09-10verify ↗

PlanetScale

Leader

from $5/moSubscription

From $5/month. Private connection traffic $0.01/GB.

PostgresFrom $5/month
- High availability
- Automatic failover across three availability zones

as of 2026-10-05verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	MariaDB	PlanetScale
WebPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✗
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✗
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

MariaDB✗

PlanetScale✓

Windows

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✗

Linux

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✗

CLI

MariaDB✗

PlanetScale✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

MariaDB✗

PlanetScale✓

Self-hosted

MariaDB✓

PlanetScale✗

Integrations

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

MariaDB

17 total

MariaDB Connector/C
MariaDB Connector/Node.js
MariaDB Connector/ODBC
MariaDB Connector/J
MariaDB Connector/Python
MariaDB Connector/R2DBC
MariaDB Connector/C++
MySqlConnector for ADO.NET
ADO.NET Driver for MySQL
ODBC Driver for MySQL
JDBC Driver for MySQL
Node.js Driver for MySQL
C++ Driver for MySQL
C Driver for MySQL
C API for MySQL
PyMySQL
mysql-python

Independently observed

PlanetScale

Leader

7 total

Vantage
Netlify
Debezium
Cursor
Codex
Terraform
Prometheus

Independently observed

Still deciding?

MariaDB or PlanetScale: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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