Neon vs PlanetScaleThe verdict in 22 seconds
Nice Pick's call: Neon.
PlanetScale killed their free tier and lost a lot of goodwill. Neon is Postgres (better ecosystem), has a generous free tier, and branching that actually works. Unless you need MySQL specifically, Neon wins.
What this verdict settles
The video is the short version. These are the decision points behind Nice Pick's call, drawn from the full comparison rather than a generic highlight reel.
- Database
- Neon: PostgreSQL · PlanetScale: MySQL (Vitess) — edge: Neon
- Free Tier
- Neon: Yes (generous) · PlanetScale: No (removed 2024) — edge: Neon
- Branching
- Neon: Copy-on-write (fast) · PlanetScale: Full copy — edge: Neon
- Scale to Zero
- Neon: Yes · PlanetScale: Yes (paid only) — edge: Neon
Pick Neon if You want Postgres, need a free tier, care about foreign keys, or want instant branching. This is most new projects.
Pick PlanetScale if You're already on MySQL, need Vitess-level horizontal scaling, or your company is paying and prefers the PlanetScale workflow.