Neon vs PlanetScale
A comparison of Neon and PlanetScale built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Neon if
- Workloads that are idle most of the time, and teams who want a real database per pull request. Compute suspends after five minutes and storage is billed separately, so a staging branch costs almost nothing while nobody is using it.
- Pick PlanetScale if
- Production workloads that want replicas across availability zones as the default shape rather than an upgrade, and teams who need MySQL-compatible sharding that the Postgres-only services do not offer.
4 sourced criteria separate them:
- Pricing model
- Neon: Usage-based with no minimum monthly fee on paid plans: $0.106/CU-hour compute and $0.35/GB-month storage on Launch, $0.222/CU-hour on Scale
- PlanetScale: Priced by node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas
- Egress over allowance
- Neon: 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB
- PlanetScale: 100 GB of egress included, then $0.06/GB
- Storage (entry plan)
- Neon: No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project.
- PlanetScale: First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases
- Engine
- Neon: PostgreSQL
- PlanetScale: PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding
At a glance.
| Criterion | Neon | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Usage-based with no minimum monthly fee on paid plans: $0.106/CU-hour compute and $0.35/GB-month storage on Launch, $0.222/CU-hour on Scale | Priced by node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas |
| Egress over allowance | 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB | 100 GB of egress included, then $0.06/GB |
| Limits | ||
| Storage (entry plan) | No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project. | First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases |
| Data | ||
| Engine | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding |
| Database branching | Supported | Supported |
| Read replicas | Supported | Supported |
Where they differ.
Pricing model
- Neon
- Usage-based with no minimum monthly fee on paid plans: $0.106/CU-hour compute and $0.35/GB-month storage on Launch, $0.222/CU-hour on Scale
- PlanetScale
- Priced by node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Neon plans — Neon Docs ↗
“On Launch and Scale plans, you pay only for what you use; there's no minimum monthly fee. Usage for compute, storage, extra branches, and other features is billed at the published rates”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“A primary and two included replica nodes ideal for high-availability workloads. 99.99% SLA.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
Egress over allowance
- Neon
- 5 GB per project included on Free; 500 GB per project included on Launch and Scale, then $0.10/GB
- PlanetScale
- 100 GB of egress included, then $0.06/GB
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Neon plans — Neon Docs ↗
“Public network transfer 5 GB per project included 500 GB per project included, then $0.10/GB 500 GB per project included, then $0.10/GB”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“100 GB of egress bandwidth is included. Additional usage: $0.06 / GB.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
Storage (entry plan)
- Neon
- No included allowance on the Launch plan; storage is metered at $0.35/GB-month. The Free plan includes 0.5 GB per project.
- PlanetScale
- First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Neon plans — Neon Docs ↗
“Storage 0.5 GB/project $0.35/GB-month $0.35/GB-month”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“Storage amount — Included for Metal databases. For network-attached storage databases, the first 10 GB is free, with per-GB pricing beyond that.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
Engine
- Neon
- PostgreSQL
- PlanetScale
- PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Connection pooling — Neon Docs ↗
“Each Postgres connection creates a new process in the operating system, consuming memory and CPU resources. Postgres limits the number of connections based on available RAM.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“MySQL-compatible with horizontal sharding for massive scale. Runs on network-attached storage or PlanetScale Metal.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official site
Which should you choose?
Choose Neon if…
Workloads that are idle most of the time, and teams who want a real database per pull request. Compute suspends after five minutes and storage is billed separately, so a staging branch costs almost nothing while nobody is using it.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose PlanetScale if…
Production workloads that want replicas across availability zones as the default shape rather than an upgrade, and teams who need MySQL-compatible sharding that the Postgres-only services do not offer.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Neon: You need predictable monthly billing. Usage pricing with no minimum fee cuts both ways, and a runaway query on an autoscaling compute is billed at the rate it ran.
- PlanetScale: You are prototyping. Pricing starts at a node rather than at zero, and there is no free tier documented on the pricing page.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.