PlanetScale vs Prisma for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

PlanetScale Overview

PlanetScale is a database hosting platform. It gives you serverless MySQL built on Vitess, with database branching and non-blocking schema changes. Think of it as "where your data lives." You create databases, manage schemas, and PlanetScale handles the infrastructure, scaling, and deployment of those schema changes.

The developer workflow is PlanetScale's strongest feature. You branch your database (like git), make schema changes on the branch, test them, and merge with a deploy request. No more running migrations against production and praying. It's a genuine improvement over traditional database management.

But the pricing hurts. No free tier, starting at $39/mo. And the default lack of foreign key support (a Vitess limitation) means your database won't enforce referential integrity the way you'd expect from SQL.

Prisma Overview

Prisma is an ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) for TypeScript and JavaScript. It doesn't host your data. It's a tool that sits between your application code and whatever database you choose. You define your schema in a .prisma file, Prisma generates type-safe client code, and you query your database with full TypeScript autocomplete.

I've used Prisma in TypeScript projects and the developer experience is legitimately excellent. You define a User model in your schema, run prisma generate, and suddenly your code knows every field, every relation, every possible query. Autocomplete fills in your queries. Type errors catch mistakes at compile time. Prisma Studio gives you a visual browser to inspect your data.

The migration system is solid too. prisma migrate dev generates SQL migrations from your schema changes. It tracks what's been applied. It handles the tedious parts of database schema management.

Key Differences

These tools solve different problems. PlanetScale is infrastructure: where your data physically lives and how it scales. Prisma is application tooling: how your code talks to the database. They're not competitors. They're complementary. You can (and many people do) use Prisma with PlanetScale.

Schema management approaches differ. PlanetScale wants you to use its branching and deploy request workflow for schema changes. Prisma wants you to use prisma migrate. When you use both together, you need to decide who owns the schema. Typically, you let PlanetScale handle schema changes and tell Prisma to just read the existing schema rather than manage migrations.

Prisma works with anything. PlanetScale is MySQL only. Prisma supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and CockroachDB. PlanetScale only gives you MySQL. If you use Prisma, you can start with SQLite locally, develop against Postgres on Neon, or use PlanetScale's MySQL. You're not locked in.

Cost comparison is apples to oranges, but still worth noting. PlanetScale costs $39/mo minimum for the database host. Prisma is free and open source. Prisma Accelerate (their connection pooling and caching layer) has a free tier. So Prisma costs nothing, and you pair it with whatever database host fits your budget.

Foreign keys and relations. Prisma's entire value proposition is modeling relations between your data. PlanetScale disables foreign keys by default. This creates tension. Prisma will still work (it enforces relations at the application level), but you lose database-level referential integrity. It works, but it's not ideal.

When to Choose PlanetScale

• You need a MySQL database host with managed infrastructure
• Zero-downtime schema changes are important to your workflow
• You're building an app with moderate to high traffic
• You want database branching for safe schema development
• You can budget $39/mo for database hosting

When to Choose Prisma

• You're building with TypeScript and want type-safe database queries
• You want an ORM that works with multiple database providers
• You need auto-generated types and excellent IDE support
• You want visual database browsing with Prisma Studio
• You want a free tool that makes database work more productive

The Verdict

This comparison is a bit misleading because PlanetScale and Prisma aren't really alternatives. PlanetScale hosts your database. Prisma helps your code talk to the database. You can use both together.

But if the question is "which should I invest in as a solo developer?", Prisma gives you more value. It's free, it works with any SQL database, and the type safety genuinely prevents bugs. PlanetScale's $39/mo for MySQL without foreign keys is a harder sell when Neon gives you free Postgres that works beautifully with Prisma.

My recommendation: use Prisma as your ORM and pair it with Neon or Supabase for hosting. You'll get a better database (Postgres), better pricing (free tiers), and Prisma handles the developer experience on top. That's the sweet spot for solo developers in 2026.