# MySQL vs PlanetScale

| Attribute | MySQL | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 65.2 (53% (medium)) | 65.7 (70% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 664 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,441 | - |
| adoption.stackoverflow_questions | 230,000 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"MySQL is a relational database management system that organizes data into structured tables and is one of the most widely deployed databases globally. It powers web applications, content management systems, e-commerce platforms, and services built with development stacks like LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) or LEMP. The database is known for ease of use, reliability, and solid performance for read-heavy workloads.","source":"https://www.mysql.com","question":"What is MySQL and what is it primarily used for?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"MySQL is open-source software distributed under the GNU General Public License, making it free to download, use, and modify. Oracle offers a commercial license for organizations with specific legal or support requirements, but the core database engine costs nothing. Managed hosting services and enterprise support may incur fees depending on the provider and service tier.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/about/","question":"Is MySQL open-source and what are the licensing and cost options?","confidence":0.93},{"answer":"MySQL is language-agnostic and supports connections from all major programming languages including PHP, Python, Node.js, Java, C++, Ruby, Go, and .NET. Virtually every web framework has built-in or third-party database drivers that work with MySQL, making it compatible with diverse technology stacks.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/products/connector/","question":"What programming languages and frameworks can connect to MySQL?","confidence":0.94},{"answer":"MySQL runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD, and other Unix-based systems, giving developers flexibility to work in their preferred environment. This cross-platform support makes MySQL deployable across different infrastructure and simplifies consistency between development and production environments.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/downloads/","question":"What operating systems can run MySQL?","confidence":0.96},{"answer":"MySQL can be deployed either as a self-hosted database on your own servers or cloud infrastructure, or accessed as a fully managed database service through providers like Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL, and Azure Database for MySQL. Self-hosting offers maximum control and customization, while managed services handle routine maintenance, backups, patching, and scaling.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/","question":"How is MySQL typically deployed: self-hosted or managed service?","confidence":0.94},{"answer":"MySQL's InnoDB storage engine (the default since version 5.5) provides full ACID compliance, supporting transactions that guarantee data consistency and durability across failures. Older storage engines like MyISAM lack transaction support, but InnoDB has become the standard for production applications requiring reliable data integrity.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/","question":"Does MySQL support transactions and ACID compliance?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"PostgreSQL is a feature-rich open-source relational database; MariaDB is an open-source MySQL fork; SQLite is a lightweight embedded option; commercial databases include Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database. The choice depends on requirements for specific features, scalability needs, compliance mandates, and budget.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/","question":"What are the main open-source and commercial alternatives to MySQL?","confidence":0.92},{"answer":"MySQL powers major platforms including Wikipedia, YouTube, and many large social networks, demonstrating its capability to handle massive workloads and billions of data operations. It is equally effective for startups and smaller applications, making it viable across organizations of all sizes from single-server deployments to global-scale distributed systems.","source":"https://www.mysql.com/","question":"At what scale can MySQL operate and who uses it?","confidence":0.9}]` | `[{"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 | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | MySQL is an open-source SQL database server. MySQL Cluster extends it with real-time transaction processing capabilities for distributed 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 | `{"hosting":"both","isolation":"serializable","sql_model":"full_sql","data_model":"relational","deployment":"self_hosted","serverless":true,"consistency":"strong","replication":"async","sql_support":true,"extensibility":true,"json_document":true,"license_class":"copyleft","vector_search":true,"horizontal_scale":"distributed_native","acid_transactions":"full","automatic_failover":true,"wire_compatibility":"mysql"}` | `{"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"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | - |
| license.spdx | GPL-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"MySQL Community Server","description":"Free open source database","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"MySQL Enterprise Edition","description":"Advanced features, management tools, and technical support","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"MySQL Standard Edition","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"MySQL Classic Edition","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Community edition free; Enterprise/Standard/Classic editions require contacting sales","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.mysql.com","retrievedAt":"2026-07-08T12:01:40.782Z"}` | `{"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 | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":5,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | no | no |
| release.cadence_days | 90 | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"PCI Data Security Standard","level":"Level 1 Service Provider","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.1 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=homebrew&package_name=mysql&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Relational Databases)

| Capability | MySQL | 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 | Async | - |
| **Availability** |  |  |
| Automatic failover / HA | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | 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 | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:58:09.525Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*