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PlanetScale vs Vitess

PlanetScale: Performance-focused managed MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres, with NVMe-backed Metal clusters and branching. Vitess: CNCF-graduated sharding and clustering layer that makes a fleet of MySQL servers look like one database.

key differences

  • Licensing: PlanetScale is proprietary (Proprietary (managed service; Vitess is Apache-2.0)); Vitess is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Transactions: PlanetScale offers full ACID; Vitess offers limited.
  • Only PlanetScale has vector search, triggers, stored procedures, encryption at rest, branching.

choose planetscale for

  • +High-traffic SaaS backends sensitive to tail latency
  • +Teams that want safe, reviewable schema changes in CI
  • +Outgrowing a single MySQL primary
  • +Migrating from RDS/Aurora to faster NVMe-backed Postgres

best at · OLTP, Content, Metadata

choose vitess for

  • +Scaling a large MySQL application beyond one primary
  • +Multi-tenant SaaS sharded by customer
  • +Consolidating many MySQL databases under one routing layer
  • +Zero-downtime schema migrations on huge tables

best at · OLTP, Metadata, Content

PlanetScalePerformance-focused managed MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres, with NVMe-backed Metal clusters and branching.
VitessCNCF-graduated sharding and clustering layer that makes a fleet of MySQL servers look like one database.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Vector
Document
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
PlanetScale, Inc.
Vitess Authors (CNCF; maintained largely by PlanetScale)
First release
2021
2012
Latest version
–
24.0.5 (Oct 13, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (managed service; Vitess is Apache-2.0)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
25.7
21.2
Rank
#118
#142
GitHub stars
671
21.4K
Stack Overflow questions
60
54
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Limited
Consistency
Strong, Eventual
Strong, Eventual
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Primary replica, Distributed
Distributed, Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud
–
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
✓
Triggers
✓
—
Stored procedures
✓
—
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
—
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
✓
—
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
✓
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL
Client languages
JavaScript, Go, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, Rust
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, C#
Best for
OLTP, Content, Metadata, Vector search
OLTP, Metadata, Content
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

PlanetScale vs Vitess: FAQ

What is the difference between PlanetScale and Vitess?

PlanetScale: Performance-focused managed MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres, with NVMe-backed Metal clusters and branching. Vitess: CNCF-graduated sharding and clustering layer that makes a fleet of MySQL servers look like one database. Licensing: PlanetScale is proprietary (Proprietary (managed service; Vitess is Apache-2.0)); Vitess is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Transactions: PlanetScale offers full ACID; Vitess offers limited. Only PlanetScale has vector search, triggers, stored procedures, encryption at rest, branching.

When should I choose PlanetScale over Vitess?

Choose PlanetScale for high-traffic SaaS backends sensitive to tail latency; teams that want safe, reviewable schema changes in CI; and outgrowing a single MySQL primary. Choose Vitess for scaling a large MySQL application beyond one primary, multi-tenant SaaS sharded by customer and consolidating many MySQL databases under one routing layer.

Is PlanetScale or Vitess more popular?

PlanetScale ranks #118 on the WhichDB Score (25.7/100) and Vitess ranks #142 (21.2/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are PlanetScale and Vitess open source?

No. PlanetScale is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. Vitess is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.