PlanetScale vs Aiven Pricing (2026)
Compare / PlanetScale vs Aiven
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Team size
25 seats

PlanetScale vs Aiven

Database as a Service pricing comparison · 2026

PlanetScale pricing ranges from $5–$50/month, while Aiven ranges from $0–$270/varies. These products use different pricing models (Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.

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See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit PlanetScale pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Aiven pricing
Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · Database as a Service
Side-by-side · live
PlanetScale
PlanetScale pricing starts with a free tier at $0/month for hobby projects.
verified 5w ago
$360 $3.6K
View pricing →
Aiven
Aiven is a managed open-source data infrastructure platform offering hosted services inclu
verified 11d ago
$360 $3.6K
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
Custom rates
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Hobbyist
$3.6K/yr
year 1 license · $12/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
Median annual
$360/yr
Vendr · n=9 · limited data
No Vendr data
—
Not in Vendr's deal flow
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 4 sourced facts
3 hidden-cost · Vendr median
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 5 sourced facts
4 hidden-cost · 1 review platform
Last verified 1w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
2 documented
  • High storage costs compared to competitors
    $2.50/GB storage (vs $0.34-$1/GB competitors)
    1 source
  • Confusing row-based pricing model
    10-30% of license costs
    2 sources
3 documented
  • Dedicated Infrastructure Premium at Small Scale
    20-30% above multi-tenant alternatives at small scale
    2 sources
  • Self-Signed TLS Certificate Configuration Overhead
    5-10% of license costs
    1 source
  • Migration Complexity
    10-25% of annual license costs
    1 source
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Development and low-traffic production
Watch out
Confusing pricing model
TrustRadius
8.9out of 5 (3)
Best for
Evaluation and personal experiments
Watch out
More expensive than self-managed or major cloud provider equivalents (AWS RDS, CloudSQL) at small scale
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit PlanetScale pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Aiven pricing
Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Database as a Service

PlanetScale

$5–$50
/month
4 plans
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Database as a Service

Aiven

$0–$270
/varies
7 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
⚖

Different Pricing Models

Direct price comparison isn't meaningful here — PlanetScale uses Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) pricing while Aiven uses Per-seat subscription pricing. Your actual cost will depend on usage volume, team size, or both. Here's each product in its native unit.

Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)

PlanetScale

$5–$50 / month
See full PlanetScale pricing →
vs
Per-seat subscription

Aiven

$0–$270 / varies
See full Aiven pricing →

PlanetScale and Aiven both operate in the database as a service category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan PlanetScale Aiven
postgres_single $5 /month Free /month
ps_5 $15 /month $5 /month
metal_ha $50 /month $12 /month
enterprise Custom $75 /month
Business — $180 /month
Premium — $270 /month
Enterprise / BYOC — Custom

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

PlanetScale 2 hidden costs

medium
High storage costs compared to competitors $2.50/GB storage (vs $0.34-$1/GB competitors)
medium
Confusing row-based pricing model 10-30% of license costs
See all PlanetScale hidden costs →

Aiven 3 hidden costs

medium
Dedicated Infrastructure Premium at Small Scale 20-30% above multi-tenant alternatives at small scale
low
Self-Signed TLS Certificate Configuration Overhead 5-10% of license costs
medium
Migration Complexity 10-25% of annual license costs
See all Aiven hidden costs →

Continue researching

PlanetScale

Aiven

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