# MCP Toolbox for Databases vs PlanetScale MCP Server (slim)

> MCP Toolbox for Databases scores 77.7 (BB) to PlanetScale's 69.6 (B) for sql databases. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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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.

- MCP Toolbox for Databases: BB 77.7, rank #27 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mcp-toolbox-databases.min.md
- PlanetScale MCP Server: B 69.6, rank #233 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/planetscale-mcp.min.md
- MCP Toolbox for Databases, good 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 Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; Runs on your own machine; Open source.
- PlanetScale MCP Server, good 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 A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.

| Category | MCP Toolbox for Databases | PlanetScale MCP Server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 78 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 85 | 82 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 82 | 74 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 75 | 77 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 15 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 95 | 80 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 64 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | MCP Toolbox for Databases | PlanetScale MCP Server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Google | PlanetScale |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://mcp.pscale.dev/mcp/planetscale` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| 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 |
| 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) |

Why the edge:
- 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.)
