PocketBase vs PlanetScale
A detailed comparison to help you choose between PocketBase and PlanetScale.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
PocketBase
0 reviews
4.2/5
PlanetScale
0 reviews
PlanetScale is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.0). PocketBase is an open source backend consisting of a single executable file with embedded SQLite database, realtime subscriptions, auth, file storage, and an admin dashboard. Managed Postgres and MySQL (Vitess) databases with branching and zero-downtime schema changes. No free tier; Postgres starts at $5/month, Vitess at $39/month.
PocketBase Open-source backend with built-in database and real-time APIs | PlanetScale Serverless MySQL with database branching | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews) | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | free and open source (MIT); self-hosted, infrastructure costs only | paid |
| Starting price | Free tier available✓ | From $5/mo |
| Best for | Solo developers and small teams who want a self-hosted backend with auth, database, files and realtime — without running multiple services or paying a platform fee | Teams running MySQL (or Postgres) at scale who want Vitess-grade sharding and safe, reviewable schema migrations without operating the infrastructure themselves |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 0 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 1 GB |
| Storage | — | 10 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 0 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | — | 19 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | — | €5.00 |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | 12 AWS + 7 GCP regions incl. US, EU, APAC (Tokyo, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Seoul) and South America (Sao Paulo) |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | free tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapi access |
| Visit PocketBase → | Visit PlanetScale → | |
PocketBase
Pros
- + Complete backend (SQLite, REST API, auth, files, SSE realtime, admin UI) in one MIT-licensed binary
- + Zero software cost and no vendor lock-in: MIT licence explicitly permits commercial reuse and self-hosting
- + Fast local storage and simple deployment — Docker, any VPS, or embedded as a Go framework in your own binary
- + Extensible without Go via JS hooks and migrations; S3-compatible file storage and built-in backup tooling
- + Excellent documentation and a 61.5k-star community; auth covers password, OAuth2, OTP and MFA out of the box
Cons
- - Pre-1.0 with no backward-compatibility guarantee — v0.23 broke the core Go API and hooks
- - Single-node SQLite: no clustering, replication or managed failover; HA and backups are your job
- - Predominantly one maintainer, community support only — no SLA or support contract
- - No official managed hosting (third parties fill that gap), no job queue or cron built in
PlanetScale
Pros
- + Built by the Vitess maintainers — branching, deploy requests and online schema migrations are first-class
- + Three engines (Postgres, Vitess, sharded Neki) plus Metal local-NVMe tiers for I/O-heavy workloads
- + Unusually transparent pricing: published SKU tables and a SQL-queryable per-region pricing endpoint
- + Three-zone HA with automatic failover and a 99.99% SLA on HA configurations
- + 19 AWS/GCP regions plus a bring-your-own-cloud Managed option for data-residency needs
Cons
- - No free tier or trial — the Hobby plan was retired in April 2024
- - Metered extras (storage, egress, backups, branch hours) make the real bill higher than sticker prices
- - Vitess constraints: no foreign keys in the classic model and a real sharding learning curve
- - Single-node $5 entry is not highly available; production HA starts at $15/month before usage
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