PlanetScale vs CockroachDB
A detailed comparison to help you choose between PlanetScale and CockroachDB.
PlanetScale Serverless MySQL with database branching | CockroachDB Distributed SQL database that survives failures | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.4 (357 reviews) | 4.4 (357 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Teams running MySQL at scale who need schema migrations without downtime | Applications requiring high availability across multiple regions where database availability is mission-critical |
| 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 tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapi access | free tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access |
| Visit PlanetScale → | Visit CockroachDB → | |
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
CockroachDB
Pros
- + Survives datacenter failures by design
- + Postgres-compatible SQL
- + Automatic geographic distribution
Cons
- - More complex than standard Postgres
- - Free tier limits apply
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