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PlanetScale Offering $5 Databases

(planetscale.com)
231 points ryanvogel | 18 comments | 30 Oct 25 15:20 UTC | HN request time: 0.774s | source | bottom
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reducesuffering ◴[30 Oct 25 21:02 UTC] No.45765316[source]▶
I like PlanetScale, but they already have precedent very recently for having a free-tier and then cancelling it for a minimum of $40/month plan, which made many people switch. What's to stop them from doing the same here?

Be wary of building a cheap hobby project on it expecting pricing to stay consistent. If $40+ isn't feasible for you, you may be trying to switch off to a hosted PostgreSQL option, with all the pain MySQL->Postgres entails, soon.

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1. samlambert ◴[30 Oct 25 21:05 UTC] No.45765347[source]▶
Why would we? we make a (small) profit on these cheaper tiers. We are a sustainable and profitable company. Also the free tier wasnt cancelled very recently it was 1.5 years ago so you are reaching a bit here.
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2. jszymborski ◴[30 Oct 25 21:12 UTC] No.45765434[source]▶
A bit of unsolicited advice:

This post is the first time I've heard of your company and your blog post interested me.

When proprietors go to the mat in the comment section, I immediately lose any interest in patronizing them.

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3. randomNumber7 ◴[30 Oct 25 21:15 UTC] No.45765462[source]▶
Why would a company squeeze customers after making them dependendent? Never heard of it.

Also what was capitalism again?

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4. samlambert ◴[30 Oct 25 21:17 UTC] No.45765492[source]▶
why is it going to the mat? i had to correct something that was untrue. 1.5 years is not very recently.
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5. samlambert ◴[30 Oct 25 21:18 UTC] No.45765497[source]▶
the reason we make sure all our products are gross margin positive is so this doesn't have to happen.
replies(2): >>45766193 #>>45767487 #
6. mrbluecoat ◴[30 Oct 25 21:18 UTC] No.45765499[source]▶
I think it's great evening entertainment. Keep fanning the flames while I go make some popcorn!
7. beoberha ◴[30 Oct 25 21:32 UTC] No.45765639[source]▶
Sam is a great twitter follow
replies(1): >>45765691 #
8. gdulli ◴[30 Oct 25 21:34 UTC] No.45765653[source]▶
I know comments section drama is fun, but I'm not seeing it here and it feels like you're trying to create it from scratch.
9. samlambert ◴[30 Oct 25 21:39 UTC] No.45765691{3}[source]▶
thank you
replies(1): >>45766735 #
10. debo_ ◴[30 Oct 25 21:43 UTC] No.45765733[source]▶
This is a lazy response.
11. bryanlarsen ◴[30 Oct 25 21:53 UTC] No.45765838{3}[source]▶
1.5 years ago is recently IMO.
12. CryptoBanker ◴[30 Oct 25 21:55 UTC] No.45765857[source]▶
You currently make a small profit on cheaper tiers. Things change
replies(1): >>45766514 #
13. czl ◴[30 Oct 25 22:34 UTC] No.45766193{3}[source]▶
Your $5 plan may be gross margin positive but incentives are to push users into higher margin plans and from this pov this new plan looks much like your previous free plan which was rug pulled. Offering a free service to buy users then imposing migration costs on these users when you rug pull damaged your reputation. Next time perhaps grandfather existing users instead. If you want this new plan to be taken seriously update your terms to promise you will not rug pull again.
14. reducesuffering ◴[30 Oct 25 23:11 UTC] No.45766497{3}[source]▶
Case in point. Potential customers will see this dismissal as the equivalent of how long they expect this pricing to remain. You’re free to increase the price in a year and when customers are irked, “why isn’t it $5 anymore?” They’ll be met with “that’s not recent.” “That was so long ago”

If you want to rebuild reputation with hobby tier, you’ll probably want to put in a 3 year pricing guarantee, not 1 month like the notice last time.

15. otterley ◴[30 Oct 25 23:13 UTC] No.45766514[source]▶
Compute, storage, and network throughput are only getting cheaper over time. Assuming all other costs hold steady, it should only get more profitable.
16. selcuka ◴[30 Oct 25 23:37 UTC] No.45766735{4}[source]▶
Off-topic, but you have a typo on your pricing page: "high-availablity"
17. TheTaytay ◴[31 Oct 25 02:16 UTC] No.45767644[source]▶
He's responding in good faith to people expressing doubt that they will maintain this pricing tier, and is responding to rebuttals. Whether you agree with his point of view is different.
18. rs_rs_rs_rs_rs ◴[31 Oct 25 06:40 UTC] No.45769028[source]▶
Your loss, Planetscale is an amazing product.