Pricing Units, Proprietary Limits & Migration Complexity
The operational fine print U.S. SaaS founders and small business owners check before committing.
| Evaluation Dimension | PocketBase | Google DNS |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price & Billing Unit How your monthly bill scales | $0 Open Source ($4–$6 VPS) Self-Hosted Single Binary ($5 VPS) | From $29/mo Cloud Compute & Storage |
| Free Tier & Included Quotas Sandbox vs production allowance | 100% Free MIT Open Source — embedded SQLite + Auth + File Storage in 1 Go binary | Paid plans start at $29/mo (free trial available) |
| Proprietary Limits & Gotchas Caps, lock-in & overage cliffs | Single-node vertical scaling (SQLite); easily handles 10,000+ concurrent realtime connections on a $5 VPS | Higher-tier SSO, custom audit logs, and volume overages gated on higher commercial plans |
| Migration Complexity Engineering & ops switching effort | Moderate (2–4 hrs) Deploy single binary on Hetzner/DigitalOcean/Fly.io and import JSON/CSV collections via Admin UI | Moderate (2–4 hrs) Standard CSV/JSON data export, API sync, or webhook integration |
| Target Company Stage Best operational fit | Solo Makers & Bootstrapped SaaS | Growing Teams & Mid-Market (10–250+) |
| Data Privacy & Compliance U.S. & enterprise governance | MIT Open Source100% Data SovereigntySelf-Hosted US/EU | GDPR / CCPA ReadyEnterprise SSO Options |
Interactive Workload & Infrastructure Cost Simulator
Compare realistic monthly & annual platform spend by production workload stage (not fake per-seat math).
PocketBase: Self-Hosted Single Binary ($5 VPS)
Google DNS: Cloud Compute & Storage
Estimated Annual Savings with PocketBase: $276/yr
Saves ~79% annually at this workload tier based on published USD rates.
Technical Capability Matrix
Side-by-side feature, API, and data-ownership checklist.
| Feature Specification | PocketBase | Google DNS |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Click Full Data Export data-ownership | Supported Single SQLite file backup | Not Included |
| Full API & Webhooks developer | Supported Instant REST API & JS/Dart SDKs | Supported REST API & integrations |
| No Vendor Lock-In data-ownership | Supported MIT open-source license | Not Included |
| Self-Hostable / Open Source infrastructure | Supported Single standalone executable binary | Not Included Cloud-only proprietary SaaS |
| Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing pricing | Not Included | Not Included Per-seat or usage-tiered pricing |
Official Published USD Pricing Tiers
Verified plan structure for PocketBase and Google DNS.
PocketBase Plans USD Verified
100% Free Open Source
monthly
Google DNS Plans USD Verified
Pro / Team Seat
monthly
Business / Enterprise
monthly
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Frequently Asked Questions
Key pricing, quota, migration, and security answers for PocketBase vs Google DNS.
What is the main difference between PocketBase and Google DNS in 2026?
PocketBase ($0 Open Source ($4–$6 VPS), billed by self-hosted single binary ($5 vps)) is best suited for: Indie MVPs and internal tools wanting $0 recurring BaaS bills and zero cloud vendor lock-in. By contrast, Google DNS (From $29/mo, billed by cloud compute & storage) is best for: Enterprise backend database platform for teams and organizations
How do PocketBase and Google DNS compare on free tiers and USD pricing?
PocketBase: 100% Free MIT Open Source — embedded SQLite + Auth + File Storage in 1 Go binary. Google DNS: Paid plans start at $29/mo (free trial available). Always compare based on your real workload metric (Self-Hosted Single Binary ($5 VPS) vs Cloud Compute & Storage) rather than headline base tier alone.
What proprietary feature limits or overages should founders watch out for?
On PocketBase: Single-node vertical scaling (SQLite); easily handles 10,000+ concurrent realtime connections on a $5 VPS. On Google DNS: Higher-tier SSO, custom audit logs, and volume overages gated on higher commercial plans.
How difficult is migrating from Google DNS to PocketBase, and what compliance is supported?
Estimated migration effort to PocketBase is Moderate (2–4 hrs) (Deploy single binary on Hetzner/DigitalOcean/Fly.io and import JSON/CSV collections via Admin UI). Security & data governance signals for PocketBase include MIT Open Source, 100% Data Sovereignty, Self-Hosted US/EU, while Google DNS offers GDPR / CCPA Ready, Enterprise SSO Options.
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