# MySQL vs PlanetScale

**Leader by Vioscale score:** PlanetScale

| Attribute | MySQL | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 55.6 (51% (medium)) | 67.3 (70% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 2 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 664 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,407 | - |
| 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}]` | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | MySQL is an open-source SQL database management system that serves as the foundation for many web-based applications and cloud services. Available in both a free community edition and a commercial enterprise edition with advanced features and professional support. | A cloud database platform offering both Vitess (MySQL-compatible with horizontal sharding) and Postgres databases for high-performance, large-scale workloads. |
| features.capabilities | `{"isolation":"serializable","sql_model":"full_sql","deployment":"self_hosted","serverless":true,"consistency":"strong","replication":"async","extensibility":true,"json_document":true,"license_class":"copyleft","horizontal_scale":"distributed_native","acid_transactions":"full","automatic_failover":true,"wire_compatibility":"mysql"}` | `{"sql_model":"full_sql","deployment":"managed","extensibility":true,"license_class":"proprietary","horizontal_scale":"sharded"}` |
| integrations.count | - | 1 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Vantage"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | - |
| license.spdx | GPL-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"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":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Postgres Single Node","summary":"Starting at $5/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Development and low-traffic production workloads","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Postgres Metal","summary":"Starting at $50/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"High-performance local NVMe storage with unlimited IOPS","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Postgres HA (PS-5 example)","summary":"$15/month for PS-5 tier (1/16 vCPU, 512MB RAM, 10GB storage, 3 nodes, 99.99% SLA)","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":15,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"High availability with 1 primary + 2 replicas across 3 availability zones","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"egress":"100 GB/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Vitess","summary":"Custom pricing based on cluster size, VTGate configuration, and storage","description":"MySQL-compatible with horizontal sharding for massive scale","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","description":"All features with upgraded support, migration assistance, and bring-your-own-cloud deployment","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Egress bandwidth","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.06,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Storage (network-attached, beyond 10GB free)"},{"name":"Additional development branch hours"},{"name":"SSO"}],"summary":"From $5/month for Postgres Single Node. Resource-based pricing with pay-as-you-go for storage overage and egress.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://planetscale.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T12:42:46.087Z","startingPrice":{"amount":5,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 90 | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 4.6 | - |
| 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: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:35:15.864Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*