PlanetScale killed their hobby plan (and how to migrate off)

The Nugget

Migrating from PlanetScale to another database service, such as Railway for MySQL, is a viable solution for those affected by PlanetScale's discontinuation of their free hobby plan. The process involves dumping, organizing, and transferring data to a new MySQL database, adjusting environment variables in your application to connect to the new database.

Key quotes

"PlanetScale... removed their hobby plan and now you have to pay $40 a month for their database services."
"I'm cheap and so I decided to migrate off PlanetScale."
"The service I migrated to is Railway, but there's tons of other services out there."
"Migrating from a PlanetScale database to another database service is doable, with MySQL as the recommended target due to compatibility."
"The database is probably the most critical piece of infrastructure, and you should be paying for it."

Decision to Migrate: The decision was driven by the discontinuation of PlanetScale's hobby plan, which previously allowed free database service usage, prompting users to look for more cost-effective alternatives.
Choosing a New Service: Railway was chosen for the migration because it supports MySQL, similar to the underlying database used by PlanetScale, making the transition smoother.
Process Overview: Migrating involves steps like turning off compute functions to prevent new data insertion, dumping existing data from PlanetScale, organizing it into a cohesive schema file, and running these scripts in the new database environment.

Initial Steps: The process begins by stopping active data insertion and dumping the database content using pscale database dump.
Data Organization: The dumped SQL files are combined into a single schema file for ease of use, this involves concatenating various SQL scripts.
Database Setup on the New Service: Setting up the new MySQL database on Railway involves updating environment variables and ingesting the organized SQL scripts to reconstruct the database structure and content.
Final Adjustments: The last step is updating the application's environment variables to connect to the new database, ensuring functionality without PlanetScale.

🔄 Migrate wisely: When PlanetScale drops its hobby plan, look towards services like Railway for a smooth transition.
💾 SQL we go again: Use pscale database dump and then concatenate all files into a single schema for simpler database setup elsewhere.
🌐 Environment Variables are Key: Updating your app’s environment variables to point to a new database is the final step toward migration success.
💰 Pay for stability: "The database is probably the most critical piece of infrastructure, and you should be paying for it."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.