Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PlanetScale VS SST

Compare PlanetScale VS SST and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

PlanetScale logo PlanetScale

The last database you'll ever need. Go from idea to IPO.

SST logo SST

Work on your serverless apps live
  • PlanetScale Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15
  • SST Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27

PlanetScale features and specs

  • Scalability
    PlanetScale is designed for massive scale, leveraging the Vitess engine that powers YouTube. This makes it suitable for applications requiring high scalability for both read and write operations.
  • Global Distribution
    Offers multi-region deployment, ensuring low-latency access and higher availability, beneficial for globally distributed applications.
  • Serverless Approach
    The platform takes a serverless approach to database management, which means automatic scaling, less infrastructure to manage, and potential cost savings.
  • Branching and Sharding
    Supports database branching for isolated environments like development, testing, and production. It also supports sharding, which helps in distributing data across multiple nodes for better performance and reliability.
  • High Availability
    PlanetScale provides high availability with automated failover mechanisms, ensuring minimal downtime.
  • Strong Data Integrity
    Uses Vitessโ€™s strong consistency models to ensure data integrity across distributed systems.
  • Developer Friendly
    Includes tools and features that make it easier for developers to manage, such as automatic migrations and simplified schema management.
  • Integration
    Can be easily integrated with various cloud service providers, making it flexible for different deployment environments.

Possible disadvantages of PlanetScale

  • Learning Curve
    The platform comes with a learning curve, especially for teams unfamiliar with Vitess or managing distributed databases.
  • Cost
    While it can offer cost savings in some areas, the pricing for large-scale deployments and multi-region setups can be relatively high.
  • Complexity of Advanced Features
    Advanced features like sharding and branching can add complexity to the database management operations.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established databases, the ecosystem and community around PlanetScale might be smaller, which can affect the availability of third-party tools and community support.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using a proprietary platform can lead to vendor lock-in, making it harder to switch to other database services if needed.
  • Early-stage Platform
    While promising, PlanetScale is relatively new compared to some other established database services, which means it may lack some maturity or have bugs that older platforms have ironed out.

SST features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    SST is designed to simplify the process of building serverless applications, providing developers with higher-level abstractions and tools that streamline development.
  • Integration with AWS
    SST is well-integrated with AWS services, allowing developers to leverage the full power of AWS infrastructure while maintaining a focus on serverless architecture.
  • Live Lambda Development
    SST supports live Lambda development, enabling developers to make real-time changes and see them reflected immediately without the need for lengthy deployment processes.
  • Infrastructure as Code
    With SST, developers can define their infrastructure programmatically, which promotes version control, scalability, and collaboration among team members.
  • Flexibility
    SST provides flexibility to developers, allowing them to use popular libraries and frameworks alongside serverless components, thus accommodating various use cases.

Possible disadvantages of SST

  • Learning Curve
    Developers unfamiliar with SST and its abstractions may face a learning curve in understanding how to effectively use the toolkit and take full advantage of its features.
  • AWS Lock-in
    As SST is tightly integrated with AWS services, it can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging for organizations to switch to other cloud providers in the future.
  • Complexity for Small Projects
    For smaller projects, the overhead introduced by SST's abstractions and tooling might be unnecessary, adding complexity without significant benefits.
  • Dependency on Community Support
    SST relies on community support for maintenance and feature development, which could pose a risk if the community's interest wanes or if support does not keep pace with AWS innovations.

Analysis of PlanetScale

Overall verdict

  • PlanetScale is a strong choice for developers and companies looking for a scalable, reliable, and developer-friendly database solution. Its foundations on proven technology and modern features make it a good option for various use cases.

Why this product is good

  • PlanetScale is known for its serverless database platform designed to be simple, scalable, and efficient. It is built on Vitess, which powers companies like YouTube and Slack, offering great performance at scale. PlanetScale provides features such as branching, sharding, and horizontal scaling without downtime, appealing to developers who need robust infrastructure. Additionally, it's designed to integrate seamlessly with developer workflows, providing tools like a CLI and a web console for easy database management.

Recommended for

  • Developers building cloud-native applications
  • Teams needing scalable databases with no downtime
  • Organizations requiring seamless integration with existing development workflows
  • Startups and tech companies looking for robust infrastructure

PlanetScale videos

PlanetScale Beta - Release Radar

More videos:

  • Review - Using PlanetScale (MySQL) with Next.js and Vercel!
  • Review - PlanetScale and Prisma: building in the cloud - Nick Van Wiggeren | Prisma Day 2021

SST videos

Performix sst review fat burner

More videos:

  • Review - Hornady 129gr SST Recovered Bullet Review: 6.5 Creedmoor Deer Load ๐ŸฆŒ
  • Review - SST Energy Seltzer Review; The Energy Drink by Performix.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PlanetScale and SST)
Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
78 78%
22% 22
Open Source
0 0%
100% 100
Vitess
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PlanetScale should be more popular than SST. It has been mentiond 105 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PlanetScale mentions (105)

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2026)
    PlanetScale | https://planetscale.com/ | Software Engineer - PlanetScale Postgres | Remote (AMER, LATAM & EMEA) | Base range: $120,000 - $290,000 USD I'm the hiring manager for this position. Come build the best Postgres product on the planet with super talented folks, very high autonomy, tier-zero databases for some of the biggest and fastest growing data sets. Apply at... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • PlanetScale announces Postgres is GA
    i'll take the opposite side. I was very impressed with their website. The very first line: > The worldโ€™s fastest and most scalable cloud databases the second line: > PlanetScale brings you the fastest databases available in the cloud. Both our Postgres and Vitess databases deliver exceptional speed and reliability, with Vitess adding ultra scalability through horizontal sharding. I know exactly what they do. Zero... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Serverless Backend: A New Era for Developers
    Database: It helps storing, managing and retriving data in a structured manner (e.g. NeonDB, PlanetScale, DynamoDB). - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: What's the best free database provider out there?
    Https://planetscale.com/ would be a good bet. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • List of 45 databases in the world
    PlanetScaleโ€Šโ€”โ€ŠServerless database platform built on MySQL and Vitess. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
View more

SST mentions (31)

  • Best/low maintenance devops toolchain for basic sass?
    After researching all night, https://github.com/serverless-stack/sst seems like a good trade off between flexibility, simplicity and features. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Dynamodb design with Appsync
    I use https://github.com/serverless-stack/serverless-stack โ€” not the serverless project. This one is far better. Source: over 4 years ago
  • A magical AWS serverless developer experience
    That said: SST is open source, so you could maybe somehow reimplement their debug stack which is the websockets magic + the Lambda shim in terraform to get it working... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Anti-Patterns to Avoid in Lambda Based Apps
    If you are using CDK then check out SST: https://github.com/serverless-stack/serverless-stack It's based on CDK and has a great local development environment for Lambda. It allows you to set breakpoints and test it locally: https://serverless-stack.com/examples/how-to-debug-lambda-functions-with-visual-studio-code.html. - Source: Hacker News / almost 5 years ago
  • Introducing Serverless Cloud: AWS Serverless Power for Back-Endsโ€”Without the Complexity
    I'll just plug what we built, SST: https://github.com/serverless-stack/serverless-stack. Source: almost 5 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PlanetScale and SST, you can also consider the following products

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

Netlify - Build, deploy and host your static site or app with a drag and drop interface and automatic delpoys from GitHub or Bitbucket

Datomic - The fully transactional, cloud-ready, distributed database

Coolify - An open-source, hassle-free, self-hostable Heroku & Netlify alternative.

Vercel - Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration.

MarkLogic Server - MarkLogic Server is a multi-model database that has both NoSQL and trusted enterprise data management capabilities.