SQL Hosting
You can run a database on your laptop, on a VM you manage, or on a fully managed cloud service. Most production apps in 2026 sit on managed.
The three tiers
| Tier | Example | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | MySQL on a Linode VM | Cheapest, most work — you patch, monitor, back up. |
| Managed | AWS RDS, Azure SQL, Google Cloud SQL | Database-as-a-service: provisioning, backups, failover. You pay extra. |
| Serverless | PlanetScale, Neon, Supabase, Aurora Serverless | Auto-scaling, branching, per-query pricing. Great for startups; surprising bills if you're not careful. |
What managed gives you
- Automatic point-in-time backups.
- One-click read replicas and failover.
- Encryption at rest and in transit by default.
- Patching during a configurable maintenance window.
- Monitoring dashboards and alerts.
What you still own
- Schema design and migrations.
- Query performance and indexes.
- Application connection pooling.
- Choosing the right size and tier — and downsizing when traffic drops.
Cost cheat-sheet
| Lever | Effect |
|---|---|
| Instance size | CPU, RAM, max connections. |
| Storage GB | Linear cost. IOPS often tied to it. |
| Read replicas | One per region — multiplies cost. |
| Backup retention | Each extra day = more S3-equivalent storage. |
Tip: Start managed. Only move to self-hosted when you have a senior DBA and a clear business reason — bandwidth costs, sovereignty rules, or an unusual workload.
Example
Example
-- Common managed hosts: -- AWS RDS, Azure SQL, Google Cloud SQL, PlanetScale, Neon, Supabase.Try it Yourself »
Exercise
AWS managed relational database service is called…
AWS
Three letters; Relational Database Service.
Discussion
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