Directus vs PlanetScale
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Directus and PlanetScale.
Directus Open source headless CMS and data platform | PlanetScale Serverless MySQL with database branching | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.5 (368 reviews) | 4.4 (357 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Developers wanting a no-code admin interface and instant API over an existing SQL database | Teams running MySQL at scale who need schema migrations without downtime |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 0 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 0 GB |
| Storage | — | 0 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 0 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | — | 6 |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | United StatesEuropean Union |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostableapi access | free tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapi access |
| Visit Directus → | Visit PlanetScale → | |
Directus
Pros
- + Instant REST and GraphQL API over any SQL database
- + No-code data studio UI
- + Open source and self-hostable
Cons
- - More CMS-like than pure database service
- - Complexity for simple REST API needs
PlanetScale
Pros
- + Non-blocking schema changes — no downtime migrations
- + Database branching like git
- + Auto-scales to handle traffic spikes
Cons
- - No foreign keys (Vitess architecture limitation)
- - Read replicas only on higher plans
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new AI tools, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.