Our take
Pick PlanetScale if app teams who will start Base at $5/month (single-node Postgres) or $30/month (PS-10 arm64 HA in us-east-1) while they open a first Cluster configuration screen, then add $5 PS-DEV branches or extra production SKUs when they need a deploy-request workflow. Pick Xata if teams who will stay on Cloud micro at $0.012 / hour + $0.28 / GB-month (no card) while they open a first Projects list, then size
branching database desk
Best for
PlanetScale A cluster you start at $5 / $30
Xata Copy-on-write branches you start without a per-branch fee
Free plan
PlanetScale No free plan
Xata No free plan
Lowest paid
PlanetScale Storage overage $0.50
Xata Xata Cloud $0.012
Next step up
PlanetScale Postgres single-node $5/mo
Xata
Runs where
PlanetScale
Xata Hosted
Watch out
PlanetScale There is no $0 Hobby card
Xata Cloud $0.012 / hr is a running micro, not unlimited
Last checked
PlanetScale 2026-10-23 · planetscale.com/pricing.md
Xata 2026-10-23 · xata.io/pricing
app teams who will start Base at $5/month (single-node Postgres) or $30/month (PS-10 arm64 HA in us-east-1) while they open a first Cluster configuration screen, then add $5 PS-DEV branches or extra production SKUs when they need a deploy-request workflow.
Read the PlanetScale pageteams who will stay on Cloud micro at $0.012 / hour + $0.28 / GB-month (no card) while they open a first Projects list, then size up to small / medium when a branch needs 2–4 GB RAM.
Read the Xata page