PlanetScale

PlanetScale is a managed cloud database service built on Vitess, a MySQL scaling system, and on Neki, a sharded Postgres product. It is aimed at apps whose data grows beyond a single database server.

PlanetScale runs MySQL and Postgres databases for you and can split them across many nodes when one server is not enough. Vitess sits in front of the data and routes each query to the right shard, so the app keeps one connection. Schema changes and upgrades can run without taking the database offline.

• Sharding for MySQL with Vitess
• Sharded Postgres with Neki
• Online schema changes
• Built-in connection pooling
• Bring your own cloud deployment option

Teams whose database has outgrown one server, companies with large MySQL or Postgres workloads, and engineers who want planned growth without rewriting the app.

Plans and prices are listed on the vendor's pricing page and can change, so check there before you commit. Sharding adds design work, because your data model needs a sensible shard key. For small projects, one managed database is usually simpler. Vitess was first built at YouTube.