Amazon Aurora vs PlanetScale comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and PlanetScale are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5, while PlanetScale is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 3.0% mindshare in SQL, compared to PlanetScale’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of PlanetScale users who would recommend it.

Amazon Aurora

Read 18 Amazon Aurora reviews

2,410 Views
1,575 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

PlanetScale

Read 6 PlanetScale reviews

126 Views
26 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon Aurora

PlanetScale

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Amazon Aurora and PlanetScale compete in the cloud database market. Amazon Aurora has a robust architecture tailored for enterprise-level scalability and seamless AWS integration, while PlanetScale offers a serverless, developer-friendly approach.

Features: Amazon Aurora provides automatic scaling, fault-tolerant architecture, and seamless integration with AWS, which ensures high availability and reliability. It offers features like continuous backups, automated failover, and advanced security measures. PlanetScale features a serverless database option, enabling horizontal scaling with minimal configuration. It offers version control for database changes and a simplified deployment process, enhancing developer flexibility.

Room for Improvement: Amazon Aurora could improve its pricing transparency and complexity, reducing costs for smaller deployments. Some users find the learning curve steep due to the extensive AWS ecosystem. Additionally, Aurora's cross-region replication could be more user-friendly. PlanetScale could enhance its support for larger enterprise requirements, offer more detailed documentation for complex use cases, and provide better insights into performance metrics for larger data volumes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon Aurora benefits from extensive AWS support and comprehensive documentation, which aids deployments for AWS-experienced users. However, its integration process can be complex for those unfamiliar with AWS. PlanetScale offers an intuitive deployment process with an easy-to-navigate interface, and reliable customer support facilitates quick iteration, making it appealing to teams prioritizing rapid development cycles.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon Aurora uses a pay-as-you-go model, appealing to enterprises needing scalability with potential for enterprise discounts. Its ROI is optimized for large-scale deployments, thanks to predictable cost management. PlanetScale offers a transparent, developer-friendly pricing model with a free tier that supports smaller teams and startups, allowing for practical budget management and quick ROI, especially valuable for innovators focusing on flexibility and cost-efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Aurora vs. PlanetScale Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Aurora vs. PlanetScale

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PlanetScale

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

16th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 3.0%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PlanetScale is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Adnan Shafiq

Associate Vice President - Database Management (Principal Solutions Architect) at Northbay

High availability and geographical redundancy ensure reliable performance and cost efficiency

Amazon Aurora ( /products/amazon-aurora-reviews ) provides up to fifteen to sixteen read replicas. It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR. As a managed service, maintenance tasks like backup and restore are handled by AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ), saving my organization significant time and money. Additionally, its fast cloning feature allows us to create a new clone from a large database swiftly, similar to a zero-copy cloning feature in Snowflake ( /products/snowflake-reviews ). This makes Amazon Aurora a compelling choice for my organization.

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Neeraj Sameer Allu

Founder at Tuft

Manages databases in serverless environments and easy to get started with

The main thing I didn't like about PlanetScale was that we couldn't run analytical queries on it. They bill based on the number of rows read, so even a simple count query could easily use up our allocated resources. Apart from that, I actually loved it. It's based on MySQL, so it doesn't have foreign key constraints or cascades. We have to delete manually or use an ORM. As it's based on MySQL, we can use log posters for complex queries, but it only supports MySQL. I feel like Postgres is more useful for custom or complex queries.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"One of the standout features of Amazon Aurora is that we do not need to maintain disaster recovery or manage availability zones."

"My overall experience with Amazon Aurora is very positive. I rate it ten out of ten for its reliability and efficiency."

"The provision of custom read and write endpoints eliminates the need for managing a separate proxy load balancer."

"Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to do multiple-read and single-write. These are the kinds of features that we were interested in, and Aurora takes care of that natively."

"One of the most valuable features is storage scaling."

"The most valuable features of Amazon Aurora include the global instance with the global writer endpoint, which allows failovers and instance switches without requiring changes in my code, thanks to the default global Route 53 endpoint."

"The most valuable feature is that the maintainability is offloaded to the service provider. I don't have to maintain a database or do any administrative tasks, which comes in handy."

More Amazon Aurora pros

"I did not face any downtime when using the product."

"I like the solution's developer experience. When you deploy changes to the database in the portal, you can use different deployment strategies and see how things work. You can put changes into different branches, like deployment and staging. This is built into the product, allowing you to navigate changes through different branches."

"The branching feature is also good for developer experience."

"The solution is beginner-friendly. Like any new platform, it can be a bit confusing at first. But after spending about an hour with it, you can get a clear idea of what everything is for. It's not very confusing; I think they've improved it recently."

"The database is accessible 24/7, ensuring my project runs smoothly without interruptions."

Cons

"It is a bit costly. The features are quite good, and I wouldn't say it requires any technical improvements. But from a cost perspective, some clients wouldn't go for Aurora because of that."

"The product's distributed query process for MySQL needs improvement."

"There are tuning challenges."

"While Amazon Aurora meets your current scaling and storage needs, there is room for improvement in cryptography and scalability compared to other databases."

"I would like to see more AI-related features in future releases."

"In Oracle, tools like Veridata allow for comparing databases and certifying data accuracy, even offering repair capabilities, which are missing in Aurora. There should be a similar comparison tool in Aurora."

"A challenge I noticed is during migration from PostgreSQL RDS to Amazon Aurora. There are technical challenges, such as the inability to provision the database using a PostgreSQL snapshot directly."

"There is improvement needed to have more developer focus. Additionally, it would be helpful to have a stand-alone solution outside of Amazon. Amazon has a tendency to favor developing web-based clients, which may not always provide the fastest or most responsive solution as desired."

More Amazon Aurora cons

"I am not sure, but I think recently, the tool removed the free version."

"I used PlanetScale for hobby projects, so my perspective differs from someone using it commercially. Unfortunately, they've removed the free tier in recent months and pivoted to a business-to-business model. This is sad for hobby developers like me because it's a great product, but I understand they have costs to cover."

"The main thing I didn't like about PlanetScale was that we couldn't run analytical queries on it."

"When I tried to integrate the solution with Firebase for authentication, I faced some interruptions. Also, when using it with Next.js and NextAuth.js for Google and social logins, I had some troubles."

"We encountered some initial issues during the product deployment, which required me to search for solutions on forums."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"The tool’s pricing depends on the instance type. For cost optimization purposes, we use the result instance category."

"The price could be lower compared to its competitors."

"It is quite expensive."

"It is an expensive solution."

"There is no need to buy a license for the product. We can pay as per the use case."

"The solution is expensive for beginners. That's why I wasn't motivated to use it more. But they were already providing many features for free for beginners, which was great."

"I am currently using the product's free version, which has been sufficient for my portfolio project."

"Last time, when I wanted to use the tool in a project, I could see it was only paid, so I didn't use the service."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Aurora?

Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?

Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost. I rated it as two to three on a scale where ten is very expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?

Amazon Aurora should upgrade its base PostgreSQL ( /products/postgresql-reviews ) versions more frequently and offer all PostgreSQL extensions. Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL release...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PlanetScale?

I am currently using the product's free version, which has been sufficient for my portfolio project. The paid version ranges from $39 to $1,000, depending on the features and scale required.

See all answers

What needs improvement with PlanetScale?

I would like PlanetScale to have a feature where the database can be accessed in the cloud with a link, allowing for a more user-friendly interface compared to the terminal. This would make it easi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for PlanetScale?

I have used PlanetScale as it is an advanced version of MySQL. It functions as a platform where MySQL is live, similar to AWS. I use PlanetScale to store data in a live environment where queries ca...

See all answers

Comparisons

SQL Server vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 31% of the time

Oracle Database vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 21% of the time

MariaDB vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 7% of the time

Citus Data vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 7% of the time

YugabyteDB vs Amazon Aurora

Compared 7% of the time

More Amazon Aurora Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Aurora

June 2025

Download Amazon Aurora product report

Buyer's Guide

Relational Databases Tools

June 2025

Download PlanetScale product report

Overview

Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud, that combines the performance and availability of traditional enterprise databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.

Amazon Aurora is up to five times faster than standard MySQL databases and three times faster than standard PostgreSQL databases. It provides the security, availability, and reliability of commercial databases at 1/10th the cost. Amazon Aurora is fully managed by Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), which automates time-consuming administration tasks like hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups.

Amazon Aurora features a distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage system that auto-scales up to 64TB per database instance. It delivers high performance and availability with up to 15 low-latency read replicas, point-in-time recovery, continuous backup to Amazon S3, and replication across three Availability Zones (AZs).

Visit the Amazon RDS Management Console to create your first Aurora database instance and start migrating your MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

PlanetScale offers seamless database management with features tailored for modern development environments, enabling enhanced project operations through efficient integration and ease of use.

PlanetScale is designed to support modern developer workflows through features like automated connection pooling and constant availability, making it ideal for serverless applications. Its integration with tools like GitHub and Prisma enhances the developer experience, allowing fast setup and effortless database interactions. However, users note challenges with analytical queries due to row-based billing and the absence of foreign key constraints. Integration with platforms such as Firebase and Next.js presents additional hurdles. Recent changes, such as the removal of the free tier, have impacted adoption by hobby developers, highlighting a need for more accessible pricing plans.

What are the most important features of PlanetScale?

Automated Connection Pooling: Optimizes database connections for serverless environments.
Constant Availability: Ensures uninterrupted operations and workflow efficiency.
Developer-Friendly: Integrates seamlessly with GitHub and Prisma for enhanced project management.
Quick Setup: Simplifies setup processes in corporate environments, allowing immediate use.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating PlanetScale?

Uninterrupted Project Operations: Facilitates constant availability for high-performance applications.
Enhanced Developer Experience: Offers intuitive integrations and project management capabilities.
Ease of Integration: Works well with popular tools like Prisma and MySQL for efficient workflows.

PlanetScale finds significant use in hosting databases for portfolios, company websites, and academic projects. Its compatibility with Prisma facilitates seamless MySQL database management online. Users leverage its capabilities for analytical queries and manage data environments effectively. Teams value the platform for specialized tasks such as URL shortening and social media automation, which are crucial in rapidly evolving digital industries.

PlanetScale

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Aurora vs. PlanetScale

June 2025

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