SurrealDB vs PlanetScale Vitess
A detailed comparison to help you choose between SurrealDB and PlanetScale Vitess.
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
SurrealDB
10 reviews
4.8/5
PlanetScale Vitess
205 reviews
PlanetScale Vitess is rated higher (4.8 vs 3.9). SurrealDB is a multi-model database that handles relational, document, graph, and full-text queries in a single database. Schema-optional, built-in auth, and real-time subscriptions. PlanetScale is built on Vitess, the database scaling technology developed at YouTube and used to serve billions of queries. Horizontal sharding, schema migrations via Pull Requests, and serverless scaling.
SurrealDB Multi-model database with built-in real-time sync and WebSocket support | PlanetScale Vitess MySQL-compatible serverless — Vitess under the hood | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (10 reviews) | 4.8 (205 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Teams building real-time web and mobile applications requiring flexible data models and permission controls without operational complexity of managing multiple databases. | Database engineers wanting to understand or self-host the Vitess technology underlying PlanetScale |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostableapi access | free tieropen sourceself hostableapi access |
| Visit SurrealDB → | Visit PlanetScale Vitess → | |
SurrealDB
Pros
- + Query multiple data models without context-switching between databases
- + Push real-time data updates to clients via built-in WebSocket support
- + Define row-level permissions directly in the database schema
- + Reduce infrastructure complexity with consolidated data layer
Cons
- - Smaller ecosystem and community compared to PostgreSQL or MongoDB
- - Learning curve for developers unfamiliar with its query syntax and schema approach
- - Limited third-party tool integrations for analytics and BI platforms
PlanetScale Vitess
Pros
- + Open-source Vitess powering PlanetScale
- + YouTube-scale tested
- + Horizontal sharding for MySQL
Cons
- - Complex to self-host
- - No foreign key support in Vitess
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