PlanetScale's pricing page is short because the product is narrow. Postgres single node starts at $5 a month for development and low-traffic production; Metal, with local NVMe storage, starts at $50; high availability is one primary and two replicas across three availability zones with automated failover. Schema changes deploy fully online and can be reverted with zero data loss, version updates run online, and clusters resize and reshard online. Billing depends on topology, storage, backup storage, network usage and add-ons such as development branch hours, with SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA listed, and purchase available through the AWS and GCP Marketplaces.
TL;DR
PlanetScale sells a database: Postgres single node from $5 a month, Metal from $50 with local NVMe, high availability as one primary plus two replicas across three zones, online schema deploys and revertable migrations. Supabase sells a backend around Postgres: Pro from $25 a month with the first project included, 100,000 monthly active users, 8GB of disk and 250GB of egress before per-unit overages, plus auth, storage, realtime and edge functions, and $10 of compute credits that cover a Micro instance. Choose PlanetScale if you already have an application server and want only the database; choose Supabase if you want the database plus auth, storage and APIs under one bill.
Supabase layers a platform on the database. Free gives unlimited API requests, 50,000 monthly active users and a 500MB database on shared compute, with projects pausing after a week of inactivity and a two-project cap. Pro starts at $25 a month with the first project included and extra projects from $10, and meters the rest: 100,000 monthly active users then $0.00325 each, 8GB of disk per project then $0.125 per GB, 250GB of egress then $0.09 per GB, cached egress at $0.03 per GB and file storage at $0.0213 per GB past 100GB. Paid plans carry $10 of compute credits that cover one Micro instance; larger compute runs from $15 a month for Small to $3,730 for a 16XL with 64 vCPUs and 256GB of RAM. Team starts at $599 a month for SSO, SOC2 and ISO 27001 certifications and HIPAA.
The distinction is where the rest of your stack lives. If auth, storage and a generated API already exist - or the app is a traditional server talking to a database - PlanetScale's $5 node is the cheaper, simpler purchase and its online schema tooling is the feature you are actually buying. If you are building the application layer as you go, Supabase's Pro tier folds auth with row-level security, storage, realtime and functions into the same bill as the database, and the free tier is usable enough to start. Teams frequently start on Supabase and keep the option to move the database elsewhere, since Supabase states its stack is 100% portable.
| Feature | PlanetScale | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Postgres single node from $5/month | Free plan at $0 with 500MB database; paused after 1 week idle |
| Mid tier | Metal from $50/month with local NVMe storage | Pro from $25/month: first project included, extra from $10/mo |
| Top tier | High availability: 1 primary + 2 replicas across 3 AZs | Team from $599/month with SSO, SOC2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA |
| Billing model | Node price plus topology, storage, backup storage and network usage | Plan plus meters: MAU, disk, egress, file storage and compute |
| Included platform | Database only - pooling via PgBouncer on port 6432 | Postgres plus auth, storage, realtime, edge functions and generated APIs |
| Compute scaling | Node size and replicas chosen in configuration | Compute add-ons from $15 Small to $3,730 16XL; $10 credits on paid plans |
| Free tier | Not listed; the $5 node is the entry | 50,000 MAU, 500MB database, unlimited API requests, 2 projects max |
| Schema workflow | Fully online deploys, revertable with zero data loss, online resharding | Migrations through the dashboard or CLI; 60 direct and 200 pooled connections on Micro |
Pick PlanetScale if
PlanetScale fits stacks that already have an application layer and need a managed Postgres with serious migration tooling. A $5 single node is a trivial line item, the HA shape is published rather than negotiated, and fully online, revertable schema changes remove the main risk from shipping migrations. You keep auth, storage and APIs in the systems you already run.
Pick Supabase if
Supabase suits teams building the product and the backend together: auth with row-level security, storage, realtime and functions arrive in the same $25 Pro bill as the database, and the free tier is large enough to prove the stack. The cost curve is usage-shaped - MAU, disk and egress meters decide the bill - so it rewards early-stage products and needs watching as they scale.
No independent ratings or user quotes are reproduced here; we collected none for this pair. All prices were read from planetscale.com/pricing and supabase.com/pricing on 2026-10-13.
At the base, yes: PlanetScale's single node is $5 a month against Supabase Pro at $25. Supabase's Pro tier includes auth, storage, realtime and APIs plus 100,000 MAU and 8GB of disk, so the comparison depends on whether you would otherwise buy those pieces separately.
Supabase lists a free plan with 50,000 monthly active users, a 500MB database and unlimited API requests, with projects pausing after a week of inactivity. PlanetScale's pricing page lists no free plan; the entry is the $5 single node.
PlanetScale's cost follows topology, storage, backup storage and network usage on top of the node price. Supabase meters users, disk, egress and compute: past 100,000 MAU the rate is $0.00325 each, disk past 8GB is $0.125 per GB and egress past 250GB is $0.09 per GB, with compute from $15 a month.
PlanetScale describes HA as one primary and two replicas across three availability zones with automated failover. Supabase's answer is a paid tier jump: Team at $599 a month adds SSO, backup control and certifications such as SOC2 and ISO 27001.
Supabase states its stack is 100% portable. PlanetScale runs standard Postgres and offers managed migration support, with databases purchasable through the AWS or GCP Marketplace if your procurement prefers it.
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