On March 6, PlanetScale announced the discontinuation of their free “Hobby” plan. The cheapest option is now $39/month. I have thoughts.
The Problem
The shutdown leaves hobby developers without a home. If you’re looking for alternatives, here’s where I’d look:
- Supabase - generous free tier, PostgreSQL-based
- Neon DB - PostgreSQL-focused, solid developer experience
- Singlestore - newer option worth evaluating
- Coolify - self-hosted approach for those who want control
The Real Issue
The blog post announcing this change barely acknowledged the simultaneous layoffs. That’s what actually bothered me.
PlanetScale’s team - particularly their YouTube content creators - significantly contributed to the company’s reputation and growth. These were people who invested their careers in building the platform. The announcement treated the pricing change as a triumph while glossing over the human cost.
Developer Matt Holt put it well: “I get it, companies do layoffs… but this one felt icky… like the people were the problem… after sacrificing their livelihoods, the executives juxtaposed ‘PlanetScale forever’ as if declaring a triumph.”
Verdict
I can’t recommend PlanetScale’s services going forward. Not because of the pricing change itself - businesses need to be sustainable - but because of how they handled it.
“PlanetScale forever” hit differently when it came right after showing the door to the people who built it.
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