PlanetScale vs Supabase: Which Database Platform is Right for You?

Compare PlanetScale and Supabase for your database needs. PlanetScale offers MySQL-compatible serverless databases with branching (and now a Postgres beta), while Supabase provides Postgres with built-in auth, storage, and real-time features.

Updated 2026-09 · 2026

PlanetScale

MySQL-compatible serverless database with Git-like branching

No free tier; paid plans from $39/monthper database

Strengths

+Git-like branching workflow for schema changes
+Automatic horizontal sharding and scaling
+Non-blocking schema changes with zero downtime

Weaknesses

-No free tier anymore — removed in April 2024
-Postgres support is new (beta) and less mature than the MySQL offering
-No built-in authentication or storage services

Best for

Teams needing MySQL at scale with sophisticated schema management and zero-downtime deployments, willing to pay from day one

Supabase

Open source Firebase alternative with Postgres database

Free tier available, paid plans from $25/monthper project

Strengths

+Full Postgres database with extensions support
+Built-in authentication and authorization
+Real-time subscriptions out of the box

Weaknesses

-Free tier projects pause after 1 week of inactivity
-Can be complex for simple use cases
-Real-time features add overhead

Best for

Developers building full-stack applications who want Postgres with batteries-included backend services

Feature Comparison

Feature	PlanetScale	Supabase
Database Engine	MySQL (Vitess-based); Postgres in beta	PostgreSQL
Free Tier	None — removed April 2024; plans start at $39/month	2 projects, 500MB database, 1GB file storage, 5GB bandwidth, 50K MAUs
Schema Branching	Yes - Git-like workflow with deploy requests	No - manual migrations
Built-in Authentication	No	Yes - email, OAuth, magic links, phone
Real-time Subscriptions	No	Yes - built-in via Postgres replication
Auto-generated APIs	No	Yes - REST and GraphQL
File Storage	No	Yes - S3-compatible storage
Horizontal Scaling	Automatic sharding	Manual (read replicas on paid plans)
Connection Pooling	Built-in, highly optimized	PgBouncer included
Edge Functions	No	Yes - Deno-based serverless functions
Open Source	No (built on open source Vitess)	Yes - fully open source
Self-hosting	No	Yes - Docker support

The Verdict

Choose PlanetScale if you need MySQL at scale with sophisticated schema management and your application already handles auth/storage separately — just budget for it, since there's no longer a free tier. Choose Supabase if you want a complete backend platform with Postgres, built-in auth, real-time features, and a usable free tier for prototyping. Supabase offers more features out of the box, while PlanetScale excels at pure database operations with enterprise-grade scaling.

How to switch from PlanetScale to Supabase

1Export your PlanetScale database by connecting via its MySQL-compatible connection string and running mysqldump to a .sql file, or use PlanetScale's export feature to dump backups as Parquet files to S3.
2Convert the MySQL schema to Postgres — rewrite AUTO_INCREMENT columns, TINYINT booleans, and MySQL-specific functions into Postgres equivalents, using a tool like pgloader to automate most of the conversion.
3Create a new Supabase project and import the converted schema and data using pgloader's direct MySQL-to-Postgres migration or Supabase's SQL editor with COPY for CSV data.
4Rebuild the backend services PlanetScale didn't provide: set up Supabase Auth for user accounts, configure Storage buckets for file uploads, and recreate any real-time behavior using Postgres replication triggers.
5Update your app's environment variables and ORM connection strings to point to Supabase's pooled Postgres connection, and re-test queries for MySQL-vs-Postgres syntax differences (quoting, LIMIT/OFFSET, JSON functions).
6Run both databases in parallel briefly to verify data parity, then cut over production traffic to Supabase and decommission the PlanetScale database once the team confirms everything works.

PlanetScale vs Supabase: common questions

How do I export my data from PlanetScale to move to Supabase?+

Connect to your PlanetScale database using the MySQL-compatible connection string and run mysqldump to export your schema and data to a .sql file. Alternatively, use PlanetScale's built-in database export feature, which dumps backups as Parquet files to an S3 bucket you control, if you prefer a backup-based export.

What do I lose by switching from PlanetScale to Supabase?+

You lose PlanetScale's Git-like schema branching, non-blocking schema changes, and automatic Vitess-based horizontal sharding — Supabase relies on manual Postgres migrations and read replicas instead. In exchange you gain built-in auth, storage, real-time subscriptions, and auto-generated APIs that PlanetScale doesn't offer.

Is Supabase's free tier enough for a small team?+

For prototypes or low-traffic apps, yes — 500MB database, 1GB storage, and 5GB bandwidth covers early-stage usage. But free projects pause after a week of inactivity and the limits are tight for production traffic, so most small teams move to the $25/month Pro plan once they go live.

Does Supabase work with the same tools and ORMs as PlanetScale?+

Yes — Supabase's Postgres database works with Prisma, Drizzle, and other standard Postgres ORMs, and it has native integrations for Vercel and GitHub Actions similar to PlanetScale. You'll need to switch your ORM's dialect from MySQL to Postgres and update any MySQL-specific query syntax.

Will switching from PlanetScale to Supabase cost more or less over time?+

For small teams, Supabase is usually cheaper since it has a real free tier and its Pro plan starts at $25/month versus PlanetScale's $39/month minimum with no free option. At larger scale, costs depend on usage — Supabase's Team plan is $599/month while PlanetScale's pricing scales with database size and reads/writes, so compare based on your actual traffic before committing.