Managed Database Hosting Compared: PandaStack vs RDS vs PlanetScale vs Neon

The Managed Database Landscape in 2025

Managed databases are one of the fastest-growing segments of cloud infrastructure. Instead of provisioning EC2 instances, installing Postgres, configuring backups, and managing failover yourself, you pay a provider to handle all of that.

But the pricing and feature differences between providers are enormous. Let's break them all down.

The Contenders

Amazon RDS

AWS RDS is the incumbent. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and SQL Server. It's battle-tested, feature-rich, and deeply integrated with the AWS ecosystem.

PostgreSQL on RDS:

• db.t3.micro: $12.41/month (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM)
• db.t3.small: $24.82/month (2 vCPU, 2GB RAM)
• Multi-AZ adds ~2x cost
• Storage: $0.115/GB/month
• Backup storage: $0.095/GB/month

Pros: Battle-tested, deep AWS integration, every feature imaginable

Cons: Complex pricing, expensive for small workloads, steep learning curve

PlanetScale

PlanetScale is a MySQL-compatible database built on Vitess (the same technology that scales YouTube). It's known for its branching workflow and sharding capabilities.

Pricing:

• Hobby: Free (1 database, 5GB storage, 1B row reads/month)
• Scaler: $29/month (10 databases, 25GB storage)
• Scaler Pro: $39+/month per cluster
• Note: PlanetScale killed its free hobby tier in 2024

Pros: Incredible horizontal scaling, branching for schema changes

Cons: MySQL-only, no foreign keys (Vitess limitation), expensive for multi-DB setups

Neon

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL provider that pioneered storage-compute separation. It's popular with developers who want PostgreSQL with scale-to-zero.

Pricing:

• Free: 1 project, 0.5GB storage, scale to zero
• Launch: $19/month (10 projects, 10GB storage)
• Scale: $69/month (50 projects, 50GB storage)

Pros: True serverless PostgreSQL, branching, scale-to-zero, great DX

Cons: PostgreSQL-only, latency on cold start, can get expensive at scale

Supabase

Supabase packages PostgreSQL with an auto-generated API, auth, real-time subscriptions, and file storage.

Pricing:

• Free: 2 projects, 500MB storage (pauses after 1 week of inactivity)
• Pro: $25/month per project
• Team: $599/month

Pros: Full backend platform, excellent DX, open source

Cons: Expensive for multiple projects, free tier pauses

PandaStack Databases

PandaStack takes a different approach: managed databases are included in the platform subscription, not priced separately.

What's included:

• Free tier: 1 database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB)
• Starter ($12/month): 3 databases
• Pro ($29/month): 10 databases
• Business: Unlimited

Supported engines: PostgreSQL 14+, MySQL 8.0+, MongoDB 6.0+

Features:

• Automatic daily backups (7-day retention on free, 30-day on paid)
• Point-in-time recovery (Starter+)
• Connection pooling built-in
• Automatic SSL
• One-click restore
• Metrics and query analytics

Price Comparison: Realistic Scenarios

Scenario 1: Single Startup Database (PostgreSQL, 5GB)

Scenario 2: Three Databases (PostgreSQL + MySQL + MongoDB)

Scenario 3: High-Traffic App (50GB PostgreSQL, PITR needed)

Feature Matrix

Performance Comparison

We ran pgbench on PostgreSQL instances across providers (smallest available tier):

All providers are competitive for typical workloads.

Our Recommendation

• Use Neon if you need serverless PostgreSQL with branching and scale-to-zero
• Use PlanetScale if you need horizontal sharding and MySQL compatibility
• Use RDS if you need Oracle/SQL Server or deep AWS integration
• Use PandaStack if you want multi-engine support (PostgreSQL + MySQL + MongoDB) included in your app platform subscription — by far the best value

[Try PandaStack Databases free →](https://dashboard.pandastack.io/database)