PlanetScale
Railway
| Feature | PlanetScale | Railway |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $39/mo | Free / from $5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | saas-companies, startups, developer-teams, high-traffic-apps | indie-developers, startups, hackathon-teams, side-projects |
| Founded | 2018 | 2020 |
| Database Branching | ✓ | ✗ |
| Schema Changes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Scaling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Read Replicas | ✓ | ✗ |
| Insights Dashboard | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cli Tools | ✓ | ✗ |
| Connection Pooling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Instant Deploy | ✗ | ✓ |
| Databases | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cron Jobs | ✗ | ✓ |
| Private Networking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Github Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Environments | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ PlanetScale Pros
- Git-like branching for database schema changes
- Non-blocking schema changes with no downtime
- Built on Vitess (powers YouTube's database)
- Excellent developer experience and CLI
✗ PlanetScale Cons
- Free tier was removed in 2024
- MySQL-compatible only (no PostgreSQL)
- Foreign key constraints not supported in traditional way
✓ Railway Pros
- Deploy anything in seconds (Docker, Node, Python, Go)
- Instant Postgres, Redis, MySQL provisioning
- Usage-based pricing — pay only for what you use
- Beautiful dashboard with real-time logs
✗ Railway Cons
- Can get expensive for high-traffic apps unexpectedly
- Limited regions compared to AWS/GCP
- Less enterprise features than larger clouds
The Verdict
PlanetScale is built for saas companies and startups, with a focus on database-branching and schema-changes. Railway targets indie developers and startups and leads with instant-deploy and databases.
On pricing, Railway is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $5/mo compared to $39/mo for PlanetScale. That $34/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Railway has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. PlanetScale requires a paid subscription from day one.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.