Staxly

Convex vs PlanetScale

The reactive database where queries are TypeScript code
vs. Serverless MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres at scale

Convex websitePlanetScale website

Pricing tiers

Convex

Starter (Free)
Free with overage via usage-based billing. Great for prototypes.
Free
Professional
$25/developer/month. Overage: $2/M function calls. Daily backups, email support, custom domains.
$25/mo
Business / Enterprise
From $2,500/month. SAML/SSO, SLA, dedicated deployments, Slack Connect support.
$2500/mo
Convex website

PlanetScale

Postgres EBS single-node — PS-5
Single-node EBS, 512 MiB RAM, arm64. Entry point for Postgres.
$5/mo
Postgres EBS HA — PS-5
3-node (primary + 2 replicas), 512 MiB, arm64.
$15/mo
Vitess (non-Metal) — PS-10
Vitess MySQL sharded cluster, 1 GiB RAM.
$39/mo
Postgres Metal — M-10
3-node Metal, 1 GiB RAM + 10 GiB local storage. Much higher IOPS.
$50/mo
Vitess Metal — M-160
Vitess Metal, 16 GiB RAM + 110 GiB storage.
$609/mo
Enterprise
Custom agreements, dedicated regions, 99.99% SLA.
Custom
PlanetScale website

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing starter on Convex vs pg-ebs-nonha-starter on PlanetScale.

MetricConvexPlanetScale
db storage gb0.5 GB
deployments40 deployments
egress gb month1 GB/month
file storage gb1 GB
function calls month1000000 calls/month
ha0 nodes
ram mib512 MiB
team members6 users

Features

Convex · 18 features

  • ActionsNon-deterministic functions for external I/O (fetch, AI APIs, email). Cannot rea
  • AuthenticationConvex Auth (built-in) or BYO provider (Clerk, Auth0, Kinde, WorkOS). ID tokens
  • Convex AgentsAI agent framework with durable memory, threads, tool use. Works with OpenAI / A
  • Convex AuthFirst-party auth library: passwords, magic links, OAuth, phone — stored in your
  • Convex ComponentsReusable backend modules (rate limiter, workflow, aggregate, action-retrier, etc
  • Cron JobsRecurring schedules defined in convex/crons.ts. UTC, cron-style patterns.
  • Durable WorkflowsLong-running multi-step workflows with retries and at-least-once guarantees.
  • Exception ReportingAuto-capture errors to Sentry, Axiom, Datadog.
  • File StorageUpload/download via storage API. Returns storage IDs referenced in documents.
  • Full-Text SearchBM25 search index on table fields. withSearchIndex query helper.
  • HTTP ActionsExpose public HTTP endpoints for webhooks, OAuth callbacks, third-party integrat
  • Log StreamsStream function logs to Axiom, Datadog, Sentry. Pro+.
  • MutationsTransactional write functions. All reads + writes in one mutation are ACID; conf
  • Preview DeploymentsEvery Git branch gets its own isolated deployment. Integrates with Vercel/Netlif
  • QueriesDeterministic read-only TS functions. Automatically cached and re-run when under
  • Real-Time SubscriptionsuseQuery auto-subscribes; server invalidates when data a query read changes. No
  • Schedulerschedule.after / schedule.at — enqueue functions to run later. Durable, survives
  • Vector SearchNative vector index on tables. withIndex + filter fields. Up to 4096 dims.

PlanetScale · 12 features

  • BackupsAutomated daily backups with retention.
  • Database BranchingGit-like branches of your DB schema (not data). Create, diff, merge via deploy r
  • Deploy RequestsSchema changes in a feature branch get reviewed + auto-applied to main with zero
  • HIPAAHIPAA-compliant deployments (Enterprise).
  • Metal (NVMe)Dedicated NVMe local storage. 10x IOPS vs EBS, latency-critical workloads.
  • PgBouncer PoolerManaged PgBouncer for Postgres clusters. Optional dedicated pooler.
  • PlanetScale BoostQuery result cache with sub-ms reads.
  • Point-in-Time RecoveryRestore cluster to any point within retention window.
  • Postgres on PlanetScalePostgreSQL 15+ with the same branching + deploy-request flow. Launched 2024.
  • Query InsightsPer-query performance analytics, slow query tracking, explain plans.
  • Read-only RegionsRoute reads to the nearest region for lower latency.
  • Vitess (MySQL at scale)Horizontally-sharded MySQL (YouTube-scale) — original PlanetScale offering.

Developer interfaces

KindConvexPlanetScale
CLIConvex CLIPlanetScale CLI (pscale)
SDKAndroid / Kotlin Client, iOS / Swift Client, JavaScript/TypeScript Client, Next.js Integration, Python Client, React Client (useQuery), Rust Client, Svelte Client, Vue Client@planetscale/database
RESTDeploy / Dashboard API, HTTP ActionsManagement API
MCPPlanetScale MCP
OTHERWebSocket SubscriptionsMySQL Wire Protocol, Postgres Wire Protocol
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Convex and PlanetScale are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.

Want this comparison in your AI agent's context? Install the free Staxly MCP server.