Convex vs PlanetScale for Solo Developers

Picking a database as a solo developer is one of those decisions that can either save you months of headaches or create them. Convex and PlanetScale both promise to take server management off your plate, but they approach the problem from completely different angles.

I have used both on side projects and production apps. Here is what actually matters when you are a one-person team trying to ship fast.

Convex Overview

Convex is a reactive backend platform that bundles your database, server functions, and real-time sync into one package. You define your schema in TypeScript, write queries and mutations as functions, and Convex handles the rest. There is no SQL involved. Everything is document-based and automatically reactive, meaning your frontend updates in real time without any extra WebSocket plumbing.

For solo developers, the appeal is clear. You skip writing API routes, setting up a database server, and wiring up real-time subscriptions. Your entire backend lives in a convex/ folder alongside your frontend code.

The free Starter tier gives you 1M function calls, 0.5 GB of database storage, 1 GB of file storage, and 20 GB-hours of action compute per month, with up to 6 developers on a team. That covers most side projects comfortably, and overages are pay-as-you-go rather than a hard wall (for example $2.20 per additional million function calls). See the Convex pricing page for the full breakdown.

PlanetScale Overview

PlanetScale is a serverless MySQL platform built on Vitess, the same technology that powers YouTube's database layer. It gives you a fully managed MySQL-compatible database with branching workflows similar to Git. You create branches to test schema changes, then merge them into production without downtime.

For solo developers, PlanetScale means you get a serious relational database without managing replication, backups, or connection pooling. The branching workflow is particularly nice when you want to experiment with schema changes safely.

PlanetScale's free Hobby tier was discontinued in March 2024 and has not returned. The good news for budget-conscious solo developers is that the floor has dropped a long way since then. As of October 2025 PlanetScale offers a single-node Postgres database (the PS-5 SKU, non-HA) starting at $5/month, so the entry point is far lower than the $39/month it once was. The catch is that $5 tier is non-highly-available and aimed at development and non-critical workloads. A high-availability Postgres cluster (PS-10, three nodes across availability zones) starts at $30/month on arm64 or $39/month on x86-64, and the MySQL-on-Vitess Scaler Pro path still starts around $39/month. There is still no free tier, which remains a real consideration when all you want to do is kick the tires.

Comparison Table

By the Numbers (2026)

Marketing copy ages fast, so here are the figures that actually decide the call, each checked on 2026-05-28.

Convex

• Free Starter tier: 1M function calls, 0.5 GB database storage, 1 GB file storage, 20 GB-hours of action compute, and up to 6 developers per team, all per month. Overage past the free limits is pay-as-you-go (for example $2.20 per additional million function calls and $0.22 per GB of database storage), so you do not hit a hard wall (Convex pricing).
• Professional tier: $25 per developer/month. Includes 25M function calls, 50 GB database storage, 100 GB file storage, and 250 GB-hours of action compute, with overages at $2 per additional million calls and $0.20 per GB (Convex pricing).
• Business and Enterprise: custom, with a $2,500/month minimum.
• Open source and self-hostable: the backend has roughly 11.7K stars on GitHub (get-convex/convex-backend).
• Client library adoption: the convex npm package pulled 731,105 downloads in the week ending 2026-05-27, at version 1.39.1 released 2026-05-15 (npm downloads API, npm registry).

PlanetScale

• No free tier. The Hobby plan was removed in March 2024 and has not come back (PlanetScale plans).
• Cheapest paid option: the PS-5 single-node Postgres database (non-HA) at $5/month, introduced October 30, 2025, with 1/16 vCPU and 512 MiB RAM ($5 PlanetScale, PlanetScale pricing).
• High-availability Postgres cluster (PS-10, three nodes): $30/month on arm64 or $39/month on x86-64, each with 1/8 vCPU and 1 GiB RAM (PlanetScale pricing).
• Metal HA (M-10) with 10 GiB of included local NVMe storage: $50/month on arm64 or $60/month on x86-64 (PlanetScale pricing).
• Network-attached storage is billed at $2.50 per GB on top of the cluster cost, and MySQL on Vitess (Scaler Pro) still starts around $39/month (PlanetScale pricing).
• Closed source, but built on Vitess, the open-source clustering layer that powers YouTube's database.

The headline correction since this comparison first went up is the PlanetScale floor. The old "no free tier, $39 to get in the door" framing is out of date. You can now run a real Postgres database for $5/month, as long as you accept that the $5 tier is a single node with no high availability.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

Numbers in isolation do not help much, so here is a worked example for a realistic solo-dev workload. Assume a small SaaS side project with light but real traffic.

Stated assumptions

• About 5 GB of stored data.
• Roughly 8M backend operations per month (Convex function calls, or a comparable volume of database queries behind your own API).
• A single developer, no team seats.
• One production environment.

Convex

At 8M function calls and 5 GB of database storage, you are over the 1M-call free allowance but well inside the Professional plan's 25M calls and 50 GB storage. So the cost is simply the Professional seat at $25/month for one developer, with no overage. If you stayed under the free tier's 1M calls and 0.5 GB instead, it would be $0/month. The pricing is per developer, not per request, so a solo dev pays a flat $25 once they outgrow the free tier (Convex pricing).

PlanetScale

You need a real database the moment you outgrow the free option, because there is no free option. For the same project you would choose at minimum the PS-5 single-node Postgres at $5/month, plus storage. With network-attached storage at $2.50 per GB, 5 GB adds about $12.50/month, landing near $17.50/month on the cheapest non-HA setup. If you want high availability (the thing you actually want for anything earning revenue), the PS-10 HA cluster starts at $30/month on arm64, again plus the $2.50-per-GB storage, so roughly $42.50/month for the same 5 GB with redundancy (PlanetScale pricing).

The takeaway

For a single developer on a small but live project, Convex Professional at a flat $25/month is cheaper than a high-availability PlanetScale cluster, and you get the backend, real-time sync, and storage in one bill. PlanetScale only wins on price at the very bottom (the $5 non-HA tier for a hobby or staging database) or much higher up the curve, where its row-based and Metal pricing scale more predictably for a heavy relational workload. The crossover point is exactly the high-availability decision. If you do not need it yet, PlanetScale is cheap; the day you do, the two converge and the choice goes back to data model and developer experience.

When to Pick Convex

Choose Convex if you are building something that benefits from real-time updates. Chat apps, collaborative tools, dashboards, or anything where multiple users need to see changes instantly. The developer experience is genuinely excellent. You define a function, call it from your React component, and the data stays in sync automatically.

It also makes sense if you want the fastest path from idea to deployed app. There is no separate API layer to build. No REST endpoints. No GraphQL schema. Just functions and a client.

Solo developers building SaaS products with Next.js or React will feel right at home. The TypeScript-first approach means your database queries are type-safe from end to end.

When to Pick PlanetScale

Choose PlanetScale if your data is inherently relational and you need the power of SQL. If you have complex joins, transactions across multiple tables, or reporting queries, a proper relational database is the right tool. PlanetScale gives you that without the operational burden of running MySQL yourself.

It is also the better choice if you want to avoid vendor lock-in. Your data model, queries, and migration history are all standard MySQL. If you ever need to move to self-hosted MySQL, Amazon RDS, or another provider, the migration is straightforward.

The branching workflow is a real differentiator for solo developers who iterate quickly on their schema. Instead of writing risky migration scripts, you test changes on a branch first.

Verdict

For most solo developers starting a new project in 2025, Convex gets you shipping faster. The integrated backend, real-time sync, and generous free tier mean you can validate ideas without spending anything. The trade-off is vendor lock-in and a non-standard data model.

PlanetScale is the stronger choice when your project demands relational data modeling or you need the flexibility to change providers later. The lack of a free tier makes it harder to justify for experiments, but for a serious product with revenue, $39/month is reasonable for a database you never have to manage.

If your app needs real-time features, start with Convex. If your app needs complex relational queries, go with PlanetScale. Both are solid choices that let you focus on building instead of managing infrastructure.

Sources

All figures above were checked on 2026-05-28.

• Convex pricing and tier limits: https://www.convex.dev/pricing
• Convex production limits: https://docs.convex.dev/production/state/limits
• Convex backend repository and stars: https://github.com/get-convex/convex-backend
• Convex npm weekly downloads: https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-week/convex
• Convex npm registry (latest version and release date): https://registry.npmjs.org/convex
• PlanetScale pricing and plans: https://planetscale.com/pricing
• PlanetScale plans documentation: https://planetscale.com/docs/planetscale-plans
• PlanetScale $5 single-node Postgres announcement: https://planetscale.com/blog/5-dollar-planetscale