Turso vs PlanetScale
A comparison of Turso and PlanetScale built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
6 sourced criteria separate them:
- Free tier
- Turso: Yes
- PlanetScale: No
- 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
- 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 node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Turso 0
PlanetScale 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Turso | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| 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 model | 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. | Priced by node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas |
| 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 |
| Data | ||
| Engine | 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. | PostgreSQL, and MySQL-compatible Vitess clusters with horizontal sharding |
| Database branching | Supported | Supported |
| Point-in-time recovery | 10 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. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Turso
- Yes
- PlanetScale
- No
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Turso ↗
“Free $0 Sign up [...] Databases Free 100 [...] Storage Free 5GB [...] Monthly Rows Read Free 500 Million [...] Monthly Rows Written Free 10 Million”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- PlanetScale pricing (machine-readable) ↗
“Postgres EBS non-HA (single node) | PS-5 | x86-64 | 1/16 | 512 MiB | $5 |”
Read 2026-09-07 · official pricing
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) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Turso ↗
“Developer $ 4.99 /month Get Developer Scaler $ 24.92 /month Get Scaler Pro $ 416.58 /month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- 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
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 node size and storage rather than usage, with high-availability clusters sold as a primary plus two replicas
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“A primary and two included replica nodes ideal for high-availability workloads. 99.99% SLA.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Turso ↗
“Storage Free 5GB Developer 9GB + $0.75 / GB Scaler 24GB + $0.50 / GB Pro 50GB + $0.45 / GB”
Read 2026-09-06 · 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
- 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) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Turso ↗
“Embedded Replicas Database Branching Backups & Recovery Platform API Turso Database Quickstart”
Read 2026-09-06 · official site
- Pricing — PlanetScale ↗
“MySQL-compatible with horizontal sharding for massive scale. Runs on network-attached storage or PlanetScale Metal.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official site
Point-in-time recovery
10 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Turso ↗
“Point-In-Time Restore Free 1 day Developer 10 days Scaler 30 days Pro 90 days”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- 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
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Which should you choose?
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.
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.
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
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.