PlanetScale - the world’s fastest and most scalable cloud databases

What it is

PlanetScale is a cloud database platform offering high-performance and scalable managed database services. It provides both Postgres and Vitess (a MySQL-compatible sharding solution) databases. The service is designed for businesses and developers requiring high-speed, reliable, and scalable database infrastructure, from startups to large enterprises with tier-0 applications.

Main Features

Performance & Hardware

• Utilizes NVMe drives to deliver unlimited IOPS and drastically lower latencies.
• Offers PlanetScale Metal, a deployment option for running databases on high-performance servers.

Scalability

• Features Vitess, an open-source technology for horizontal scaling of MySQL databases through explicit sharding.
• Supports a shared-nothing architecture, distributing data across thousands of nodes.

Reliability & Uptime

• Offers a 99.999% SLA for multi-region deployments and a 99.99% SLA for single-region deployments.
• Enables online operations, including schema changes, version updates, and cluster resizing, with no downtime.

Security & Compliance

• Compliant with SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2+, HIPAA, and PCI DSS 4.0 standards.
• HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) are available on all plans.

Platform & Management

• Includes database branching and deploy requests for zero-downtime, reviewable schema changes.
• Provides full database observability with Insights for monitoring cluster health and query performance.
• Supports vector data storage alongside relational MySQL data.
• Features a Global Edge Network to automatically route query traffic to local nodes.

Integrations

• Integrates with various data and analytics tools, including Fivetran, Airbyte, Hightouch, Datadog, Vantage, and Debezium.

How it works

Horizontal Scaling with Sharding

Users can scale their MySQL databases horizontally by explicitly sharding their data across multiple nodes. All shards are accessed through a single database connection managed by Vitess's VTGate component, which routes queries appropriately.

Zero-Downtime Schema Changes

Developers can create database branches to test schema changes. They then create deploy requests to merge these changes into the production database. Changes are applied online and can be reverted with zero data loss if necessary.

High-Performance Workloads

Applications connect to the PlanetScale database via a standard connection string. The platform's infrastructure, particularly the Metal option, is designed to handle high-throughput, low-latency workloads common in large-scale web applications.

Key Points

• The core Vitess technology was originally developed at YouTube and is now maintained by PlanetScale. It powers databases for major companies like Slack, GitHub, and Bloomberg.
• PlanetScale positions itself as offering a superior price-to-performance ratio compared to other cloud database services like Amazon Aurora and Google Cloud SQL for most workloads.
• The platform is opinionated and built by infrastructure experts from companies like Facebook, GitHub, and Twitter, focusing on preventing human error and providing deep operational insights.

Additional Details

• Pricing: Pricing is based on usage and deployment options. Custom quotes are available, and discounts are offered for bring-your-own-cloud commitments via PlanetScale Managed.
• Marketplace Availability: Can be purchased through the AWS Marketplace and the GCP Marketplace.
• Support: Offers best-in-class support alongside comprehensive documentation and a public status page.
• Early Access: PlanetScale for Postgres is available through an early access request program.