Head to head · SQL databases · October 2026 research run
MCP Toolbox for Databases vs PlanetScale MCP Server
MCP Toolbox for Databases scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against PlanetScale MCP Server's 69.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. PlanetScale MCP Server leads on transparency & trust. Both do sql databases.
Best database, file and memory tools for AI agents · All 97 databases comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Agents and coding assistants that need one server across Google Cloud data services and common databases, or production agents with curated SQL tools.
Ahead on
- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 74
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 95 against 80
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source
Watch for
--allowed-origins and --allowed-hosts default to *, which the docs call unsafe
Best for Agents that inspect and tune an existing PlanetScale database, using Insights, schema recommendations, error patterns and logs, with SQL when granted.
Ahead on
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 64
Also in its favour
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
Watch for
DELETE and DDL confirmation is a confirm_destructive flag the model sets, not a prompt the client shows the person
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Payments & pricing MCP Toolbox for Databases +45
MCP Toolbox for Databases 60
Free, self-hosted, nothing to buy, so 20 + 20 + 20. No payment protocol (0).
PlanetScale MCP Server 15
No x402, MPP or L402 in the MCP docs, the pricing page or the source (0). Monthly prices for every cluster size are public without a login, as a Markdown page and as a read-only SQL catalogue, from $5 a month for a single-node Postgres PS-5. Storage, backup and egress rates were not on the page read, and there is no per-call price (15). No free tier or trial was found, and the billing docs say all plans need a valid payment method on file (0). A person signs up in a browser and authorises OAuth or creates a service token in organisation settings (0). Total 15.
Maintenance & community MCP Toolbox for Databases +15
MCP Toolbox for Databases 95
v1.16.0 on 5 November 2026, one day before this check (30). Eight releases from v1.10.0 (27 August) to v1.16.0 in the 90 days (20). Pull requests merge daily and new tools land in each fortnightly release, though 432 issues and pull requests are open (20). io.github.googleapis/mcp-toolbox is in the official registry at 1.16.0 (15). Release automation, lint, tests and conformance workflows (10). 30 + 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 = 95.
PlanetScale MCP Server 80
The changelog's newest MCP entry is 9 October 2026 (planetscale_get_branch_metrics), and the repository's last commit is 11 October 2026 (30). Commits on 13 days from 18 August to 11 October added query tags, payment tools, annotations, Neki support and branch metrics, and the changelog has MCP or OAuth entries on 28 September, 8 October and 9 October (20). Closed hosted service with a dated public changelog, a support desk and a Discord community. The repository's issues and pull requests were not read (10). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.planetscale/mcp-server, a GitHub-verified namespace, still at version 1.0.0 published 15 April 2026 (15). Dependencies are current (@modelcontextprotocol/sdk ^1.30, zod 4) and the repository has unit tests, but no CI workflow is published (5). Total 80.
Agent ergonomics MCP Toolbox for Databases +8
MCP Toolbox for Databases 82
The PostgreSQL prebuilt set lists 29 tools (15), split into five toolsets a client can load one at a time, and write tools disappear in read-only mode (plus 8). Results are bounded per tool, some prebuilt tools take limits, and BigQuery tools compact empty schema fields (14). Errors come back as tool errors; paths are sanitised from file errors since 1.15.0 (12). readOnlyHint and destructiveHint are set per tool and switch with the source's read-only state (18). Prebuilt sets need only environment variables, and SDKs exist in Python, JavaScript, Go and Java (15). 23 + 14 + 12 + 18 + 15 = 82.
PlanetScale MCP Server 74
26 tools since planetscale_get_branch_metrics arrived on 9 October (15). The insights-only endpoint drops the two SQL tools, and OAuth scopes limit which tool groups a client is granted (5). Insights, error, tag and log tools take limit with documented maxima and report truncated or has_next, and the logs tool pages. planetscale_execute_read_query returns every row with no cap (15). Error texts say what to do next, for example the safe-migrations message with two ways forward, the postgres_rls_active warning on empty results and the full-access message on a payment 403 (15). The 14 source tools set readOnlyHint and destructiveHint, with a test that fails on a missing annotation. Annotations on the 12 generated tools were not read. No idempotency for writes was found, though the payment tool tells the model not to start a second setup while one is pending (15). Sensible defaults (replica routing, 24-hour windows, curated metrics), but three identifiers are required on nearly every call. Official SDKs do not apply to a hosted MCP server and none were checked (9). Total 74.
Transparency & trust PlanetScale MCP Server +8
MCP Toolbox for Databases 64
Apache-2.0 (30). A self-hosted server; data goes only to the configured sources and to a telemetry exporter if one is set. There is no data-handling statement of its own (15). A versioning policy defining breaking changes, UPGRADING.md and a notice for the repository rename; prebuilt tool removals are listed in the changelog (16). Telemetry is off unless --telemetry-otlp or --telemetry-gcp is set, and the docs say so (16). 30 + 15 + 16 + 16 = 77.
PlanetScale MCP Server 72
The tools PlanetScale maintains by hand are public under Apache-2.0. The hosted server, its OAuth layer and the 12 generated tools are closed, under the Terms of Service of 25 August 2026 (22). Privacy Policy of 23 July 2026, a DPA covering all plans and a data-locality statement in the security docs. Retention is described without periods, and the DPA was not read (20). The Terms of Service promise at least six months' notice before material functionality is discontinued, with exceptions. The docs say the local pscale mcp server has been removed, with no date (14). Customers choose the cloud region and the security docs refer to sub-processors, but the list was not read. The MCP endpoint's response headers name Gram, Speakeasy's hosting platform, and no page read says how tool calls are handled there (10). Total 66.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | MCP Toolbox for Databases | PlanetScale MCP Server | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 80 | 78 | MCP Toolbox for Databases +2 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 85 | 82 | MCP Toolbox for Databases +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 82 | 74 | MCP Toolbox for Databases +8 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 75 | 77 | PlanetScale MCP Server +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 15 | MCP Toolbox for Databases +45 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 95 | 80 | MCP Toolbox for Databases +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 64 | 72 | PlanetScale MCP Server +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | BB 77.7/100 | B 69.6/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | MCP Toolbox for Databases | PlanetScale MCP Server |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | MCP server | MCP server |
| Vendor | PlanetScale | |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | https://mcp.pscale.dev/mcp/planetscale |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary hosted service under PlanetScale's Terms of Service. The 13 tools in planetscale/mcp-server are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 29 | 26 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | io.github.googleapis/mcp-toolbox | io.github.planetscale/mcp-server |
| Last release | 2026-11-05 | 2026-10-11 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 17k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |
How the scores have moved
MCP Toolbox for Databases
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
MCP Toolbox for Databases
One self-hosted server reaches 57 source types, with engine-level read-only locks, toolsets, optional OAuth 2.1 and fortnightly semver releases under Apache-2.0. Prebuilt sets list 9 to 41 tools, origin and host checks default to any, and 432 issues and pull requests are open.
PlanetScale MCP Server
OAuth scopes set no, read-only or full database access per organisation or database, each query runs on a credential created and deleted for that call, and an insights-only endpoint drops both SQL tools. Destructive statements are gated by a flag the model sets itself, no limit is stated for the MCP server, and every plan needs a card.
Before you call either
MCP Toolbox for Databases
- Load one toolset (such as data) rather than the whole prebuilt set to keep context small
- Turn on the source's read-only mode for exploration; write tools then disappear from tools/list
- Start the HTTP server with --allowed-hosts and --allowed-origins set; the defaults accept any
- Prefer custom tools with fixed SQL over execute_sql for production agents
PlanetScale MCP Server
- Use
https://mcp.pscale.dev/mcp/planetscale-insights-onlywhen the task needs no SQL. It omits both query tools - Pass
organization,databaseandbranchon every query call. Record them inAGENTS.mdto skip the listing calls - Show the person the exact DELETE or DDL statement and get approval before setting
confirm_destructive: true - Keep queries under 50 seconds and add your own
LIMIT. The query tools cancel at 50 seconds and return every row - For a service token send
Authorization: Bearer pscale_tkn_...with the secret only. Theid:secretform is rejected
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, MCP Toolbox for Databases or PlanetScale MCP Server?
MCP Toolbox for Databases scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against PlanetScale MCP Server's 69.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. PlanetScale MCP Server leads on transparency & trust.
Do MCP Toolbox for Databases and PlanetScale MCP Server need an API key?
Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call MCP Toolbox for Databases and PlanetScale MCP Server without installing anything?
MCP Toolbox for Databases runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. PlanetScale MCP Server has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.pscale.dev/mcp/planetscale.
Are MCP Toolbox for Databases and PlanetScale MCP Server open source?
MCP Toolbox for Databases is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for PlanetScale MCP Server.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/mcp-toolbox-databases-vs-planetscale-mcp.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/mcp-toolbox-databases.json·/api/v1/tools/planetscale-mcp.json - From a terminal
anchor compare mcp-toolbox-databases planetscale-mcp(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "mcp-toolbox-databases", "b": "planetscale-mcp"}at/mcp, no key