How to export your data from PlanetScale

PlanetScale databases are exported with the official pscale CLI's "database dump" command, which creates a local backup of a branch's schema and data as SQL, JSON (JSONL), or CSV files, optionally limited to specific tables or columns.

Formats: SQL, JSON, CSVPlan: Any paid Vitess database plan (dump/restore-dump are CLI features tied to Vitess databases, not available for Postgres/Neki databases)Role: An account with CLI access to the database (service token or interactive login with permission on the org/database)

✓ Verified against PlanetScale's official documentation, February 2026

Step by step

1Install and set up the pscale CLI and authenticate (pscale auth login) or configure a service token, as described in the CLI setup docs.
2Identify the database and branch you want to export, e.g. my-database and main.
3Run pscale database dump <DATABASE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME> to create a local dump directory containing the schema and data.
4Optionally choose an output format with --output-format=sql (default), --output-format=json, or --output-format=csv.
5Optionally limit the export with --tables <TABLES_LIST> for specific tables, or --columns 'table:col1,col2' (repeatable) for specific columns per table.
6Optionally set --output <DIRECTORY_NAME> to control where the dump is written (defaults to the current directory) and --threads <N> to control dump parallelism (default 16).
7Verify the dump directory contents, then use pscale database restore-dump <DATABASE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME> --dir <DIRECTORY_NAME> to restore into another PlanetScale Vitess database, or load the SQL/CSV/JSON files into a different MySQL-compatible database.

What the export includes

✓Table schema for the selected branch
✓Row data for all tables (or only the tables/columns you specify with --tables / --columns)
✓Data in your chosen format: MySQL INSERT statements (SQL), JSONL with one JSON object per line (JSON), or CSV with headers (CSV)

What it doesn't include

✗Branch/deploy request history, schema change history, and Insights query data (not part of the dump)
✗Organization/account settings, service tokens, webhooks, and other workspace configuration
✗Postgres/Neki databases are not covered by pscale database dump (Vitess-only feature); Postgres data is exported with standard pg_dump/pg_restore instead

Before you start

⚠pscale database dump and restore-dump are Vitess-only; they do not work on PlanetScale Postgres or Neki databases.
⚠The --columns flag only filters the data files; the schema dump still contains the complete table definition.
⚠--output-format only affects the data files, not the schema file.
⚠Default thread count for dump is 16 (restore-dump defaults to 1), which affects how fast large databases export/import.
⚠To move a database between PlanetScale organizations, dumping the origin and restoring into a new database is the documented approach (the importer cannot duplicate a database already hosted on PlanetScale).

Where to take your data

Free and cheaper tools that can take a PlanetScale export. See all PlanetScale alternatives →

DigitalOcean Managed MySQL

Load the SQL-format dump with the mysql client against your DigitalOcean MySQL cluster connection string, or restore table-by-table from the CSV files with LOAD DATA.

Railway

Alternatives

Provision a MySQL service on Railway, then import the SQL dump with mysql -h <host> -u <user> -p <database> < dump.sql using the connection details from Railway's variables panel.

Neon

Neon is Postgres-based, so a MySQL SQL/CSV/JSON dump from pscale needs schema translation first (e.g. with pgloader or a manual CSV import via psql \copy) rather than a direct SQL import.

Exporting from PlanetScale: common questions

Can I export my PlanetScale database without the CLI, e.g. from the web dashboard?+

The documented export method is the pscale CLI's database dump command; there is no documented one-click dashboard export button for bulk data.

What format should I use to move data into another MySQL database?+

Use the default SQL format, since it produces MySQL INSERT statements you can load directly with mysql; CSV and JSON are better suited for analysis or custom import pipelines.

Can I export just one table instead of the whole database?+

Yes, pass --tables <TABLES_LIST> to pscale database dump to limit the export to specific tables.

Does PlanetScale export my schema history or branch/deploy request history?+

No. The dump command only exports the current schema and data for the branch you target, not historical schema changes or deploy request records.

Does this work for PlanetScale Postgres?+

No. pscale database dump and restore-dump apply to Vitess databases only; PlanetScale Postgres databases are exported/migrated using standard pg_dump and restored with pg_restore or psql.

Can I exclude sensitive columns from my export?+

Yes, use the --columns 'table:col1,col2' flag (repeatable per table) to export only specific columns, which is useful for leaving out sensitive fields.