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Turso vs PlanetScale

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Turso and PlanetScale built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 28 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Turso if…

Applications that want a database per tenant or per user — 100 databases on the free plan and unlimited above it make that a shape you can actually build.

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…

  • Turso: It is SQLite, not Postgres: the metered units are rows read and written rather than compute, and the extension ecosystem you may be relying on is not there.
  • PlanetScale: You are prototyping. Pricing starts at a node rather than at zero, and there is no free tier documented on the pricing page.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Turso alternatives · PlanetScale alternatives

16 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Turso documentationVisit PlanetScale documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionTursoPlanetScale
Pricing
Free tier
Yes
No — $5/month is the cheapest SKU on PlanetScale's whole price list; the document prices no free plan.
Entry paid plan
$4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.
$5/month for a single-node Postgres database on network-attached storage; PlanetScale Metal with local NVMe starts at $50/month
Pricing modelPer database, metered on rows rather than compute time: 500 million rows read and 10 million written a month on the free plan, 2.5 billion and 25 million on Developer, with overage at $1 per billion rows read and $1 per million written.Priced by cluster shape rather than per query, and on two different bases: Vitess by cluster size, VTGate configuration and storage; Neki by shard size and count, router configuration, replicas, storage, backup storage and network usage.
Limits
Storage (entry plan)9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases
Infrastructure
Regions
Six AWS locations in the Platform API's location list: Tokyo (ap-northeast-1), Mumbai (ap-south-1), Ireland (eu-west-1), N. Virginia (us-east-1), Ohio (us-east-2) and Oregon (us-west-2). Read from the documented GET /v1/locations sample response; the same six AWS regions are offered for PrivateLink.
19 regions — 12 on AWS (Tokyo, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Montreal, Frankfurt, Dublin, London, São Paulo, N. Virginia, Ohio, Oregon) and 7 on GCP. A branch's region is fixed at creation and changing it means migrating.
Data
EngineSQLite, via libSQL — Turso's own fork. Not Postgres or MySQL, so the query surface and the client libraries differ from every other database on this site.PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding
Database branchingSupportedSupported
Point-in-time recovery10 days on Developer. 1 day on the free plan, 30 days on Scaler and 90 days on Pro.Point-in-time recovery through write-ahead log archiving. WAL is kept for as long as the oldest backup, so the default schedule gives a 2-day window and a longer retention extends it.
Read replicas
Limited — Embedded replicas run inside your app; managed multi-region Data Edge replica locations are deprecated for new users.
Supported — Two replicas come with the High Availability shape, across three availability zones.
Backup retentionContinuous rather than scheduled: backups are taken at every COMMIT and kept for the plan's restore window — 24 hours on Free, 10 days on Developer, 30 on Scaler, 90 on Pro. Turso publishes no separate backup retention setting.Automatic backups every 12 hours on production and development branches, retained 2 days by default. Custom schedules and manual backups can set a longer period, and are charged for it.
Support
Support on entry paid planCommunity support on Free and on Developer ($4.99/month), the entry paid plan. Priority email support starts at Pro ($416.58/month); Enterprise adds 24x7.Enterprise lists Slack-based support with a private shared channel, and business support with enhanced response times from support engineers. The self-serve plans have no support level named on the page.
Compliance
SOC 2
Volume-level encryption at rest is described as part of Turso's SOC 2 standards; the docs point to Turso's trust center for details.
SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 + HIPAA reports, available on all plans on request via PlanetScale's Trust Center.
HIPAATurso states it is HIPAA compliant and will provide a HIPAA compliance BAA letter to Pro plan and Enterprise users on request.HIPAA-eligible via a Business Associate Agreement for qualifying customers; PlanetScale notes HHS does not recognize a formal HIPAA certification, so compliance is a shared responsibility rather than a badge.
GDPR / data residency
A database confined to EU locations never leaves the EU; the exception is backups, which are stored in S3 in the us-east-2 region.
Complies with GDPR; data locality follows the AWS/GCP region a database is created in, and EU-region databases keep data in-region unless a read-only replica is added elsewhere.
Encryption at restAll databases in Turso Cloud are encrypted at rest at the volume level, which Turso describes as part of its SOC 2 standards.AES encryption at rest on the storage media serving database branches and backups.
Private networking / VPCAWS PrivateLink VPC endpoints keep traffic to Turso databases inside AWS's private network; offered in six AWS regions.AWS PrivateLink or GCP Private Service Connect on all plans; PlanetScale Managed on AWS additionally offers fully private network isolation.
Dedicated infrastructure
Pro and Enterprise can use their own S3 / S3-Express buckets so data lives in their infrastructure; compute in your own account is roadmap, not shipped.
Two single-tenant options: Enterprise single-tenant, deployed into an AWS/GCP account owned by PlanetScale, or PlanetScale Managed, deployed inside the customer's own AWS or GCP account.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Free tier

Turso
Yes
PlanetScale
No — $5/month is the cheapest SKU on PlanetScale's whole price list; the document prices no free plan.
Sources (2) →

Entry paid plan

Turso
$4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.
PlanetScale
$5/month for a single-node Postgres database on network-attached storage; PlanetScale Metal with local NVMe starts at $50/month
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Turso ↗

    “Developer $ 4.99 /month Get Developer Scaler $ 24.92 /month Get Scaler Pro $ 416.58 /month”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — PlanetScale ↗

    “PlanetScale Postgres [...] Single node — Starting at $5/month for development and low-traffic workloads Metal — Starting at $50/month with local NVMe storage for high-performance needs High Availability — 1 primary + 2 replicas across 3 availability zones”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction

Pricing model

Turso
Per database, metered on rows rather than compute time: 500 million rows read and 10 million written a month on the free plan, 2.5 billion and 25 million on Developer, with overage at $1 per billion rows read and $1 per million written.
PlanetScale
Priced by cluster shape rather than per query, and on two different bases: Vitess by cluster size, VTGate configuration and storage; Neki by shard size and count, router configuration, replicas, storage, backup storage and network usage.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Turso ↗

    “Monthly Rows Read Free 500 Million Developer 2.5 Billion + $1 / Billion Scaler 100 Billion + $0.80 / Billion [...] Monthly Rows Written Free 10 Million Developer 25 Million + $1 / Million”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — PlanetScale ↗

    “Vitess MySQL-compatible databases with horizontal sharding. Pricing based on cluster size, VTGate configuration, and storage. Metal also available. Neki Postgres databases with horizontal sharding. Pricing is based on shard size and count, router configuration, replicas, storage, backup storage, and network usage.”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

Storage (entry plan)

Turso
9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.
PlanetScale
First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases
Sources (2) →

Regions

Turso

Six AWS locations in the Platform API's location list: Tokyo (ap-northeast-1), Mumbai (ap-south-1), Ireland (eu-west-1), N. Virginia (us-east-1), Ohio (us-east-2) and Oregon (us-west-2). Read from the documented GET /v1/locations sample response; the same six AWS regions are offered for PrivateLink.

PlanetScale

19 regions — 12 on AWS (Tokyo, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Montreal, Frankfurt, Dublin, London, São Paulo, N. Virginia, Ohio, Oregon) and 7 on GCP. A branch's region is fixed at creation and changing it means migrating.

Sources (2) →
  • List Locations - Turso Platform API ↗

    “"aws-ap-northeast-1" : "AWS AP NorthEast (Tokyo)" , "aws-ap-south-1" : "AWS AP South (Mumbai)" , "aws-eu-west-1" : "AWS EU West (Ireland)" , "aws-us-east-1" : "AWS US East (Virginia)" , "aws-us-east-2" : "AWS US East (Ohio)" , "aws-us-west-2" : "AWS US West (Oregon)"”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Selecting a region — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “Currently, the following regions are supported, with their respective PlanetScale slugs: AWS ap-northeast-1 (Tokyo) [...] AWS us-west-2 (Oregon) [...] GCP us-central1 (Council Bluffs, Iowa) [...] GCP europe-west4 (Eemshaven, Netherlands) [...] Once you select a region for your default branch, it cannot be changed directly, but you can migrate to a new region if needed.”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction

Engine

Turso
SQLite, via libSQL — Turso's own fork. Not Postgres or MySQL, so the query surface and the client libraries differ from every other database on this site.
PlanetScale
PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding
Sources (2) →

Point-in-time recovery

Turso
10 days on Developer. 1 day on the free plan, 30 days on Scaler and 90 days on Pro.
PlanetScale
Point-in-time recovery through write-ahead log archiving. WAL is kept for as long as the oldest backup, so the default schedule gives a 2-day window and a longer retention extends it.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Turso ↗

    “Point-In-Time Restore Free 1 day Developer 10 days Scaler 30 days Pro 90 days”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Back up and restore — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “PlanetScale Postgres databases include comprehensive backup and restore capabilities to protect your data. The backup system provides both automated scheduled backups and manual on-demand backups, as well as point-in-time recovery (PITR) support through Write-Ahead Log (WAL) archiving. [...] WAL logs are retained for the same period as your oldest backup.”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction

Read replicas

Turso
Limited — Embedded replicas run inside your app; managed multi-region Data Edge replica locations are deprecated for new users.
PlanetScale
Supported — Two replicas come with the High Availability shape, across three availability zones.
Sources (2) →

Backup retention

Turso
Continuous rather than scheduled: backups are taken at every COMMIT and kept for the plan's restore window — 24 hours on Free, 10 days on Developer, 30 on Scaler, 90 on Pro. Turso publishes no separate backup retention setting.
PlanetScale
Automatic backups every 12 hours on production and development branches, retained 2 days by default. Custom schedules and manual backups can set a longer period, and are charged for it.
Sources (2) →
  • Point-in-Time Recovery - Turso Documentation ↗

    “Free plan users can restore to any point in time within the last 24 hours. Developer, Scaler, and Pro users can restore to any point in time within the last 10, 30, or 90 days, respectively.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Back up and restore — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “All PlanetScale Postgres databases include automatic scheduled backups that run every 12 hours for production and development branches. Default backups are created automatically and don't require any setup. There are no additional charges for these backups. [...] The default, included backup schedule retains backups for 2 days. You can set a custom retention period for custom backup schedules and manual one-off backups.”

    Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction

Support on entry paid plan

Turso
Community support on Free and on Developer ($4.99/month), the entry paid plan. Priority email support starts at Pro ($416.58/month); Enterprise adds 24x7.
PlanetScale
Enterprise lists Slack-based support with a private shared channel, and business support with enhanced response times from support engineers. The self-serve plans have no support level named on the page.
Sources (2) →
  • Turso Pricing ↗

    “1 day community sign up developer $4.99/month [...] 30 day retention priority email + support get pro enterprise custom pricing [...] 24x7 priority email + support”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — PlanetScale ↗

    “slack-based support private shared slack channel for fast communication more deployment options multi-tenant, single-tenant, or in your own aws / gcp account business support included enhanced response times from support engineers”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

SOC 2

Turso
Volume-level encryption at rest is described as part of Turso's SOC 2 standards; the docs point to Turso's trust center for details.
PlanetScale
SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 + HIPAA reports, available on all plans on request via PlanetScale's Trust Center.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Turso
Turso states it is HIPAA compliant and will provide a HIPAA compliance BAA letter to Pro plan and Enterprise users on request.
PlanetScale
HIPAA-eligible via a Business Associate Agreement for qualifying customers; PlanetScale notes HHS does not recognize a formal HIPAA certification, so compliance is a shared responsibility rather than a badge.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

Turso
A database confined to EU locations never leaves the EU; the exception is backups, which are stored in S3 in the us-east-2 region.
PlanetScale
Complies with GDPR; data locality follows the AWS/GCP region a database is created in, and EU-region databases keep data in-region unless a read-only replica is added elsewhere.
Sources (2) →
  • Turso's Trust Center - FAQ ↗

    “By creating a database that only spans locations in the European Union, your data will never leave the European Union. The exception are backups. Backups are stored in S3, in the us-east-2 region.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Security and compliance — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “PlanetScale complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other global privacy regulations, where applicable. [...] If you create a database in a Europe-based region, your data does not leave the region the database was created in, unless you create a read-only region in another region.”

    Read 2026-09-12 · official docs · Report a correction

Encryption at rest

Turso
All databases in Turso Cloud are encrypted at rest at the volume level, which Turso describes as part of its SOC 2 standards.
PlanetScale
AES encryption at rest on the storage media serving database branches and backups.
Sources (2) →

Private networking / VPC

Turso
AWS PrivateLink VPC endpoints keep traffic to Turso databases inside AWS's private network; offered in six AWS regions.
PlanetScale
AWS PrivateLink or GCP Private Service Connect on all plans; PlanetScale Managed on AWS additionally offers fully private network isolation.
Sources (2) →
  • Turso Cloud Private Endpoints ↗

    “Set up an AWS VPC endpoint to securely access Turso databases through AWS PrivateLink, keeping all traffic within AWS's private network. [...] us-east-1 us-east-2 us-west-2 eu-west-1 ap-south-1 ap-northeast-1”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Security and compliance — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “Optionally, you can connect privately to databases through AWS PrivateLink or GCP Private Service Connect. [...] PlanetScale Managed on AWS also supports: Fully private network isolation”

    Read 2026-09-12 · official docs · Report a correction

Dedicated infrastructure

Turso
Pro and Enterprise can use their own S3 / S3-Express buckets so data lives in their infrastructure; compute in your own account is roadmap, not shipped.
PlanetScale
Two single-tenant options: Enterprise single-tenant, deployed into an AWS/GCP account owned by PlanetScale, or PlanetScale Managed, deployed inside the customer's own AWS or GCP account.
Sources (2) →
  • Durability Guarantees - Turso Documentation ↗

    “Pro and Enterprise customers can use their own S3 / S3-express buckets, guaranteeing that data lives inside their infrastructure. In our future roadmap, compute will also be runnable inside your account, for a full BYOC solution”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Security and compliance — PlanetScale Docs ↗

    “PlanetScale single-tenant deployment options are deployed into a dedicated AWS Organizations member account or GCP organization owned by PlanetScale. [...] PlanetScale Managed is a single-tenant deployment of PlanetScale within your Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account.”

    Read 2026-09-12 · official docs · Report a correction

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

Kind of free offerTurso: Free tier
Credit card to startTurso: No
Egress over allowancePlanetScale: 100 GB of egress included, then $0.06/GB
Managed connection poolingPlanetScale: Supported
When idleTurso: Databases are archived after 10 days of inactivity on the free plan; an unarchive call through the CLI or Platform API brings the group back. Turso publishes no archival window for paid plans.
Rewind in placeTurso: Not supported — PITR restores forward into a fresh database; the existing database cannot be rewound in place.
Audit logsPlanetScale: In addition to the audit log feature available to all PlanetScale plans, Enterprise plans can use our EventBridge configuration to send logs to your AWS account.
Max vector dimensionsTurso: 65536 dimensions maximum per vector, listed under "Vector Limitations" for libSQL native vector search on Turso Cloud
PCI DSSPlanetScale: PlanetScale Managed — the single-tenant product deployed into the customer's own AWS/GCP account — holds a PCI DSS 4.0 Attestation of Compliance as a Level 1 Service Provider. Not documented for the shared multi-tenant product.
Customer-managed keysTurso: BYOK on Pro and Enterprise: each database can be encrypted with a key you supply, and Turso never sees or stores the keys.PlanetScale: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about PlanetScale.
Role-based access controlTurso: Organization members hold one of three roles - admin, member or viewer - and only an admin or owner can change a member's role.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Turso or PlanetScale?

Turso: $4.99/month for Developer, the cheapest paid plan. Scaler is $24.92 and Pro $416.58.

PlanetScale: $5/month for a single-node Postgres database on network-attached storage; PlanetScale Metal with local NVMe starts at $50/month

Free tier: Turso or PlanetScale?

Turso: Yes

PlanetScale: No — $5/month is the cheapest SKU on PlanetScale's whole price list; the document prices no free plan.

Storage (entry plan): Turso or PlanetScale?

Turso: 9 GB on Developer, then $0.75 per GB. The free plan includes 5 GB; Scaler is 24 GB at $0.50 and Pro 50 GB at $0.45.

PlanetScale: First 10 GB free on network-attached storage, then per-GB pricing; storage is included for Metal databases

Should I choose Turso or PlanetScale?

Pick Turso if Applications that want a database per tenant or per user — 100 databases on the free plan and unlimited above it make that a shape you can actually build.

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.

Provider pages

TursoManaged SQLite built on libSQL, priced per database with rows read and written as the metered units.PlanetScaleManaged Postgres and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters, sold by node size with replicas across availability zones.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.