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PlanetScale vs SAP IQ comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

PlanetScale
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
16th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP IQ
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (13th)
 

Featured Reviews

Neeraj Sameer Allu - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Tejas Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation
I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 branching feature is also good for developer experience."
"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 database is accessible 24/7, ensuring my project runs smoothly without interruptions."
"I did not face any downtime when using the product."
"The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves moving data from SAP HANA to SAP NLS, which is essentially archiving. This allows us to retain access to the data via a link whenever it is required."
"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."
"Unbeatable speed and compression with a colummn-structured relational database."
"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."
"Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance."
"Valuable features for us include the compression, speed, fast response time, and easy object maintenance."
 

Cons

"The main thing I didn't like about PlanetScale was that we couldn't run analytical queries on it."
"We encountered some initial issues during the product deployment, which required me to search for solutions on forums."
"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."
"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."
"I am not sure, but I think recently, the tool removed the free version."
"The room for improvement would be the marketing of the product, because this product is much better than advertised."
"Concurrency and functional error messaging."
"There is very little documentation available."
"The tool gets stuck sometimes."
"I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set."
"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."
"The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru."
"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."
"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."
"Negotiate based on the features required."
"Negotiation is very important."
"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."
"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
46%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?
IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.
What needs improvement with SAP IQ?
The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.
What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?
I worked on implementing new databases, migration data in production, and developer environments with SAP IQ.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase IQ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about PlanetScale vs. SAP IQ and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.