Neon Serverless Postgres vs. PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL) — Interactive Cost & Performance Calculator
Compare Neon Serverless Postgres vs PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL) side-by-side. Use our interactive calculator to estimate exact monthly costs, savings, and performance trade-offs at your scale.
Neon Serverless Postgres
Best for: Branchable serverless Postgres & AI vector workloads
PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL)
Best for: Horizontal MySQL sharding & zero-downtime migrations
Side-by-Side Technical & Commercial Breakdown: Neon Serverless Postgres vs. PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL)
| Dimension | Neon Serverless Postgres | PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL) |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Provider | Neon | PlanetScale |
| Base Monthly Plan | $19/mo | $39/mo |
| Compute Rate (per 1M reqs) | $0.18 | $0.15 |
| Storage / Bandwidth (per GB) | $0.100/GB | $0.250/GB |
| Typical Cold Start | 300 ms scale-from-zero | 0 ms (Clustered) |
| Included Free Tier | 0.5 GiB storage + instant database branching | Enterprise trial |
| Best Use Case | Branchable serverless Postgres & AI vector workloads | Horizontal MySQL sharding & zero-downtime migrations |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is more cost-effective in 2026: Neon Serverless Postgres or PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL)?
It depends on your workload volume. Use the interactive sliders above to model your exact monthly scale. Neon Serverless Postgres (Branchable serverless Postgres & AI vector workloads) and PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL) (Horizontal MySQL sharding & zero-downtime migrations) have different unit economics that cross over as volume scales.
When should an engineering team choose Neon Serverless Postgres over PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL)?
Choose Neon Serverless Postgres when your primary priority is: Branchable serverless Postgres & AI vector workloads. Choose PlanetScale (Vitess MySQL) when you prioritize: Horizontal MySQL sharding & zero-downtime migrations.