Who should choose PlanetScale?

Teams that want serverless mysql platform

Who should choose CockroachDB?

Teams that want distributed sql database

Software comparison - Databases

PlanetScale vs CockroachDB: 2026 Comparison

PlanetScale offers serverless MySQL on a single SKU—scale traffic without provisioning. CockroachDB spreads data across regions, built for global consistency and high availability from the start. Choose PlanetScale if you're scaling a single region and want simplicity; choose CockroachDB if you need disaster recovery, global replicas, or multi-cloud. [compare](/compare) on your availability and data-residency demands.

Comparison dimensions

Dimension	PlanetScale	CockroachDB	Winner
Features	7/10PlanetScale is MySQL 8.0 with online schema changes. If you know MySQL, the learning curve is zero. It's MySQL-compatible, not MySQL-flavored—existing ORMs and queries work unchanged.	8/10CockroachDB is PostgreSQL-wire compatible but has different transaction semantics (SERIALIZABLE only, no explicit locks). Migration from PostgreSQL requires schema tweaks and testing—expect a 2-week port per app.	CockroachDB
Pricing	7/10PlanetScale pricing is per-connection and per-storage-GB. A sleepy MVP costs $19/month. Scaling to 1M requests/day is $99/month. Predictable and founder-friendly; no surprise egress charges.	9/10CockroachDB charges per vCPU and storage. A 3-node cluster starts at $200+/month. More transparent than AWS RDS, but pricier than PlanetScale for small workloads. Better economics at larger scales.	CockroachDB
Ease of Use	9/10PlanetScale's dashboard and CLI abstract complexity. Branching, online schema changes, and point-in-time recovery are one-click. Ops knowledge isn't required; junior devs can run production.	9/10CockroachDB requires ops thinking: node counts, replication zones, and disaster recovery planning. More knobs, more decisions. Teams comfortable with Kubernetes find it natural; others hit friction.	Tie
Integrations	7/10PlanetScale integrates Node.js, Python, Go, and Java seamlessly. Every standard library works. Prisma ORM has native support. Third-party tools rarely have gotchas.	8/10CockroachDB integrates well with Postgres tools but has quirks: no explicit locking, limited fulltext search, and some SQL dialects need refactoring. Test thoroughly before migrating.	CockroachDB
Support	7/10PlanetScale support is responsive for Tier 2+ customers ($100/month+). Documentation is clear. Community Slack is active. Free tier has longer response times.	8/10CockroachDB has dedicated support tiers and a strong community forum. For enterprise, SLAs include guaranteed response times. Community edition has best-effort support.	CockroachDB
Scalability	8/10PlanetScale auto-scales single-region infrastructure. Adding capacity is automatic when needed. Suitable for apps under 100 Gbps egress and 99.99% uptime requirements.	8/10CockroachDB spreads load across multiple regions. If one region fails, others serve traffic with zero downtime. For global applications or banking workloads, this is the differentiator.	Tie

Features

PlanetScale: PlanetScale is MySQL 8.0 with online schema changes. If you know MySQL, the learning curve is zero. It's MySQL-compatible, not MySQL-flavored—existing ORMs and queries work unchanged.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB is PostgreSQL-wire compatible but has different transaction semantics (SERIALIZABLE only, no explicit locks). Migration from PostgreSQL requires schema tweaks and testing—expect a 2-week port per app.

Pricing

PlanetScale: PlanetScale pricing is per-connection and per-storage-GB. A sleepy MVP costs $19/month. Scaling to 1M requests/day is $99/month. Predictable and founder-friendly; no surprise egress charges.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB charges per vCPU and storage. A 3-node cluster starts at $200+/month. More transparent than AWS RDS, but pricier than PlanetScale for small workloads. Better economics at larger scales.

Ease of Use

PlanetScale: PlanetScale's dashboard and CLI abstract complexity. Branching, online schema changes, and point-in-time recovery are one-click. Ops knowledge isn't required; junior devs can run production.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB requires ops thinking: node counts, replication zones, and disaster recovery planning. More knobs, more decisions. Teams comfortable with Kubernetes find it natural; others hit friction.

Integrations

PlanetScale: PlanetScale integrates Node.js, Python, Go, and Java seamlessly. Every standard library works. Prisma ORM has native support. Third-party tools rarely have gotchas.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB integrates well with Postgres tools but has quirks: no explicit locking, limited fulltext search, and some SQL dialects need refactoring. Test thoroughly before migrating.

Support

PlanetScale: PlanetScale support is responsive for Tier 2+ customers ($100/month+). Documentation is clear. Community Slack is active. Free tier has longer response times.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB has dedicated support tiers and a strong community forum. For enterprise, SLAs include guaranteed response times. Community edition has best-effort support.

Scalability

PlanetScale: PlanetScale auto-scales single-region infrastructure. Adding capacity is automatic when needed. Suitable for apps under 100 Gbps egress and 99.99% uptime requirements.

CockroachDB: CockroachDB spreads load across multiple regions. If one region fails, others serve traffic with zero downtime. For global applications or banking workloads, this is the differentiator.

Best for PlanetScale

Teams that want serverless mysql platform
Users prioritizing integrations
Growth-stage teams

Best for CockroachDB

Teams that want distributed sql database
Users prioritizing ease of use
Growth-stage teams

Decision notes

Choose PlanetScale for your first production database—cheaper, simpler, and faster to iterate. Choose CockroachDB if you need multi-region resilience or you're migrating from PostgreSQL at scale. Neither vendor locks you; both support exports. [free tools](/tools)

Export/import support between PlanetScale and CockroachDB
Team onboarding and learning curve
Pricing at your seat count
Integration coverage for your stack

Frequently asked questions

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