PlanetScale vs Redis / Upstash(2026)
PlanetScale is better for teams that need non-blocking schema changes. Redis / Upstash is the stronger choice if ultra-fast reads/writes. PlanetScale is paid (from $39/month) and Redis / Upstash is freemium (from $0 (free tier)).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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PlanetScale
PlanetScale is a MySQL-compatible serverless database with branching workflows for schema changes.
Starting at $39/month
Visit PlanetScaleRedis / Upstash
Redis is the most popular in-memory data store for caching, sessions, and pub/sub. Upstash offers serverless Redis.
Starting at $0 (free tier)
Visit Redis / UpstashHow Do PlanetScale and Redis / Upstash Compare on Features?
| Feature | PlanetScale | Redis / Upstash |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | $39/month | $0 (free tier) |
| MySQL-compatible | ✓ | — |
| Database branching | ✓ | — |
| Non-blocking schema changes | ✓ | — |
| Query insights | ✓ | — |
| Replication | ✓ | — |
| Key-value store | — | ✓ |
| Pub/Sub | — | ✓ |
| Sorted sets | — | ✓ |
| Streams | — | ✓ |
| Persistence | — | ✓ |
| Edge-compatible (Upstash) | — | ✓ |
PlanetScale Pros and Cons vs Redis / Upstash
PlanetScale
Redis / Upstash
Should You Use PlanetScale or Redis / Upstash?
Choose PlanetScale if…
- •Non-blocking schema changes
- •MySQL compatibility
- •Excellent performance
Choose Redis / Upstash if…
- •Ultra-fast reads/writes
- •Simple data structures
- •Upstash serverless is edge-ready