Features
- Serverless MySQL powered by Vitess
- Database branching for schema changes
- Non-blocking schema migrations
- Connection pooling and query insights
Pros
- Git-like branching workflow for database changes
- Zero-downtime schema migrations
- Scales automatically with Vitess sharding
Cons
- No foreign key constraints (by design for sharding)
- MySQL only — no PostgreSQL option
- Free tier was removed; paid plans only
Overview
PlanetScale is a serverless MySQL platform built on Vitess, the database clustering system that powers YouTube. It brings a modern developer workflow to MySQL with database branching, deploy requests (like pull requests for schema changes), and non-blocking migrations.
PlanetScale’s branching model lets you create isolated database branches, test schema changes, and merge them into production without downtime. The platform handles connection pooling, automatic scaling, and provides detailed query analytics to help optimize performance.
When to Use
PlanetScale is the right choice when you need MySQL at scale with a modern developer workflow, when zero-downtime schema migrations are critical, or when building applications that need to scale horizontally. Note that it intentionally omits foreign key constraints to enable sharding.
Getting Started
# Install CLI
brew install planetscale/tap/pscale
# Connect to your database
pscale connect mydb main --port 3306
# Use with any MySQL client
mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 -u root