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Cloudflare vs PlanetScale
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Cloudflare and PlanetScale.
| Feature | Cloudflare | PlanetScale |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Paid |
| Free Tier | Yes | No |
| Monthly Cost (Solo) | $0 | $39 |
| Target Audience | solopreneurs, startups, developers | developers, startups |
| Verified | Yes | Yes |
| Solo-Friendly | Yes | Yes |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Editorial Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Categories | Security, Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Key Features | CDN & caching, DDoS protection, DNS management, SSL/TLS certificates, Workers (edge computing) | Serverless MySQL, Database branching, Schema migrations, Read replicas, Query insights |
| Free Tier Quality | excellent | None |
Pricing Breakdown
Cloudflare
Free: CDN, DDoS protection, SSL, DNS. Pro: $20/month (WAF, image optimization). Business: $200/month (custom WAF). Enterprise: custom. Workers: 100K requests/day free.
PlanetScale
Scaler: $39/month (10GB, 1B reads). Scaler Pro: $99/month (50GB). Enterprise: custom. No free tier.
Integration Overlap
Shared Integrations (2)
Only in Cloudflare (8)
Only in PlanetScale (8)
Use Case Fit
Cloudflare
- * CDN and website acceleration
- * DDoS protection and security
- * DNS hosting and management
- * Serverless computing (Workers)
- * Static site hosting (Pages)
PlanetScale
- * Serverless MySQL database
- * Zero-downtime schema migrations
- * Database branching for development
- * High-availability MySQL hosting
- * Horizontal database scaling
Cloudflare
Pros
- + Incredibly generous free tier
- + Fastest DNS in the world
- + Workers platform for edge computing
- + R2 with zero egress fees
Cons
- - Advanced features require Business/Enterprise
- - Complex Workers pricing at scale
PlanetScale
Pros
- + Database branching is revolutionary
- + Built on proven Vitess technology
- + Excellent developer experience
- + Non-blocking schema changes
Cons
- - No free tier anymore
- - MySQL only (not Postgres)
- - More expensive than Supabase
Editorial Verdict
Cloudflare takes the lead for solo founders — it offers better value and is explicitly solo-friendly. PlanetScale may still be the right pick if you need deep Developer Tools features or plan to scale to a larger team.
SaaSLens Editorial Team
Editorial Team