Tools / PlanetScale
About PlanetScale
PlanetScale is a managed cloud database platform offering two main products: Vitess (sharded MySQL) and Neki (sharded Postgres). Vitess was originally developed at YouTube by PlanetScale's founders to scale their main MySQL database across 70,000 nodes in 20 data centers, and is now maintained and managed by PlanetScale. The platform handles horizontal scaling through explicit sharding, online schema changes, no-downtime upgrades, and built-in connection pooling, with all shards routed through a single database connection. Databases run on NVMe drives, which the company says provide unlimited IOPS. Deployment options include a bring-your-own-cloud offering called PlanetScale Managed for security and compliance requirements. The site lists case studies from Cash App, MyFitnessPal, Barstool Sports, Dub, and others, and notes that Vitess also powers databases at Slack, HubSpot, Blizzard, Etsy, GitHub, Block, Bloomberg, and Yelp.
What PlanetScale offers
PlanetScale hosts two database products:
- Vitess (MySQL) — horizontal scaling via explicit sharding, with a shared-nothing architecture that distributes data across nodes behind a single connection endpoint (VTGate).
- Neki (Postgres) — a newer sharded Postgres product, announced as recently available on the homepage.
Both products target workloads that outgrow a single node. Features highlighted on the site include online schema changes, no-downtime upgrades, and built-in connection pooling.
Infrastructure
Databases run on NVMe drives, which PlanetScale markets as providing unlimited IOPS. Multiple deployment options are documented for different security and compliance needs, including PlanetScale Managed, a bring-your-own-cloud option.
Background
Vitess was developed at YouTube by PlanetScale's founders to scale YouTube's main MySQL database to petabytes of data on 70,000 nodes across 20 data centers. PlanetScale now maintains the project and manages it as a hosted service.
Pricing
Pricing details are on the site's pricing page; the homepage excerpt doesn't include specific plan costs.
FAQ
What databases does PlanetScale support? MySQL (via Vitess) and Postgres (via Neki, its sharded Postgres product).
Is PlanetScale only for very large databases? It's built for workloads that outgrow a single node, but the site doesn't state a minimum size or workload requirement.
Can I run PlanetScale in my own cloud account? Yes — PlanetScale Managed is a bring-your-own-cloud deployment option.
How much does it cost? The homepage doesn't list pricing; see the pricing page on planetscale.com.
Alternatives
Similar to PlanetScale
New tools, once a week.
One weekly email with curated tools and founder insights. Unsubscribe anytime. Check our privacy policy.