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Microsoft Azure HorizonDB vs PlanetScale comparison

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Executive Summary

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

Microsoft Azure HorizonDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
30th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (20th)
PlanetScale
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
19th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Alex Park - PeerSpot reviewer
AVP - Business Analysis - FX Options at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Data platform has transformed analytics and now provides seamless storage and insight on user behavior
Microsoft Azure HorizonDB scales perfectly. It automatically scales whenever there is a load on the application. I have configured the deployment files on my projects, and the database is able to handle automatic scaling by itself, so I do not have to put much attention on that aspect. It scales down automatically as well. I monitored the scaling and scaling out one or two times during the initial stage when I was first including this database in my project. After the first and second times, I checked only the logs for automatic scaling and scaling out. I have not encountered any issue on the scaling side, and it provides consistent performance for both scaling and scaling out.
Shrikant S - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at RanceLab
Query insights have cut infrastructure costs and let full‑stack teams manage databases independently
In my opinion, the best features PlanetScale offers are recommendations and statistics on queries. Insights on queries have helped me and my teams significantly. For example, once while I was a CTO at Commutech, I received insights from a query that showed one specific query which checked permissions was selecting all permissions for a user instead of selecting a specific row. This increased the load on the database. Receiving that one insight helped me rewrite that query to only select the permission that needed to be checked, which made scaling possible. Such insights that pinpoint exact problems help in resolving scaling issues. PlanetScale positively impacts my organization by greatly improving productivity and saving significant costs. Typically, if I were to manage my own database, I would need someone to manage that infrastructure, keep updating things, and maintain backups. PlanetScale handles all of that, including backups. We can restore to a point in time using PlanetScale. All these things would normally require a specially skilled person to manage a database. Instead of that, we can have the full-stack developer developing the product manage the database themselves instead of hiring a specialized person just for management. Rather than spending on a DevOps person, we can spend that budget on a developer and build more features instead of spending money on just maintaining infrastructure.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Since we are in the proof of concept phase, we have noticed some early improvements and potential benefits that stand out so far in terms of speed, reliability, and ease of management."
"Microsoft Azure HorizonDB has positively impacted my organization by reducing latency issues, improving performance, and providing a good recovery time."
"I appreciate the features that Microsoft Azure HorizonDB provides, particularly the seamless transformation of the database, data collection, and database access along with the analytics features."
"Using Microsoft Azure HorizonDB provides better scalability and performance in terms of database administration."
"The database is accessible 24/7, ensuring my project runs smoothly without interruptions."
"One feature I appreciate about PlanetScale is its ability to handle migrations and commands without the need to run them manually in the database."
"In my opinion, one of the best features PlanetScale offers is the ability to lock all changes to the database, so no particular developer can do changes that could break things for others."
"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."
"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."
"I recommend using PlanetScale as it provides ease of access and control over database changes using commands from the local terminal."
"PlanetScale positively impacts my organization by greatly improving productivity and saving significant costs."
 

Cons

"Regarding needed improvements, I feel that we need more documentation on Microsoft Azure HorizonDB."
"I want to say that the costing of Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is too high and should be less."
"So far, I have not seen any return on investment from Microsoft Azure HorizonDB in terms of cost."
"One area I can identify for improvement is query performance during peak traffic situations."
"The main thing I didn't like about PlanetScale was that we couldn't run analytical queries on it."
"I am not sure, but I think recently, the tool removed the free version."
"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."
"Recently we started noticing that because of the distance between the database and the server and our particular field, there may be some lagging and that may not be acceptable."
"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."
"Regarding needed improvements, I wish PlanetScale would have a free tier so that startups could try it and then opt in for a paid feature."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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
No data available
Computer Software Company
34%
Construction Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
17%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is that the pricing is good.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
Improvements for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB mean that we still have not gotten actual usage of real issues. We just started the proof of concept phase, so we might discover what the exact real issue...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB?
My main use case for Microsoft Azure HorizonDB is that we were experiencing performance issues in Azure PostgreSQL flexible server, so we wanted to eliminate those issues and started using Microsof...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PlanetScale?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that pricing is good enough to be used at enterprise level. It is not cheap, but it is appropriately priced. I do not find it costly at all.
What needs improvement with PlanetScale?
Regarding how PlanetScale could be improved, especially considering my experience so far, if it were possible to handle the lagging problem, I suppose it is something that cannot really be changed ...
What is your primary use case for PlanetScale?
My main use case for PlanetScale is that currently, in the company, we are considering changing our current local database to PlanetScale for stability and other benefits, but it has not been deplo...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Block, Intercom, Convex, MyFitnessPal
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure HorizonDB vs. PlanetScale and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.