Supabase
Open-source Firebase alternative: Postgres, auth, APIs, realtime, edge functions.
If you want production-grade Postgres with auth, realtime, and edge functions without server chores, Supabase is a safe bet. The $25/mo Pro plan plus $10 compute credit is hard to beat for startups. Just know you're committing to the Postgres world — pure NoSQL shops should look elsewhere.
Verified 4d ago · liveness 97/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/supabase
- Startups building MVPs quickly with auth, database, and realtime built in
- Developers who want a portable Postgres backend with SQL flexibility
- AI apps needing vector storage and retrieval with OpenAI or Hugging Face
- Solo founders and indie hackers shipping weekends projects
- Projects requiring strict on-premise or air-gapped deployments (self-hosted only)
- Teams deeply locked into AWS/GCP native services
- Use cases needing a pure non-relational or document database
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Skip Supabase if you need a non-relational database, if you're deeply integrated with AWS/GCP native services, or if you require strict on-premise deployments without self-hosting effort.
Going past 100,000 monthly active users on Pro adds $0.00325 per MAU, which can add up quickly for consumer apps.
Supabase's free tier is generous (50,000 MAU, 500 MB DB), and Pro starts at $25/mo with $10 compute credits. This beats Firebase's more opaque usage pricing for many startups. However, for very high scale, AWS Aurora or managed Postgres like Neon might be cheaper if you overuse Supabase's MAU and egress overages.
In short
Supabase — Open-source Firebase alternative: Postgres, auth, APIs, realtime, edge functions. Best for Startups building MVPs quickly with auth, database, and realtime built in, Developers who want a portable Postgres backend with SQL flexibility, AI apps needing vector storage and retrieval with OpenAI or Hugging Face. Free to start; paid plans from $25/mo.
What's new in Supabase
Checked 3 days agoAcross the latest 10 updates: 6 feature updates, 3 changelog entries and 1 community discussion.
Fixed stale database credentials left behind after a restore
Physical restores now reapply current credentials, preventing stale passwords. Fixes clone status tracking data-loss path.
Sign in with ChatGPT is in beta on Supabase
Supabase Auth beta adds Sign in with ChatGPT, letting users authenticate with ChatGPT credentials.
Fixed a panic in project metrics collection that could drop metrics
Concurrent metrics requests no longer share a parser instance, fixing intermittent panics and dropped metrics.
Observability for every Supabase project with Grafana Cloud
Supabase now integrates with Grafana Cloud for observability, bringing metrics and logs to your dashboards.
Migration of Supabase Management API logs.all analytics endpoint to logs endpoint
logs.all endpoint removed Sep 23, 2026. New ClickHouse-backed logs endpoint requires SQL conversion and source_name filtering.
Supabase Pipelines is now in Public Alpha
Supabase Pipelines moves to public alpha, enabling data pipelines directly from your Postgres database.
Unified Logs is now in open beta
Unified Logs open beta: single logs table for all sources, ClickHouse SQL querying via API and dashboard.
Searchable field-level encryption on Supabase with CipherStash
HN discussion on CipherStash field-level encryption blog post.
Searchable field-level encryption on Supabase with CipherStash
CipherStash integration enables searchable field-level encryption for sensitive data in Supabase.
Agentic Coding on Supabase with OpenCode
OpenCode integration brings agentic coding capabilities to Supabase projects.
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Supabase? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: August 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Full Postgres database per project
- Row Level Security for granular access control
- Instant REST APIs from tables via PostgREST
- Realtime data sync over WebSockets
- Edge Functions with serverless deployment
- File Storage for large media
- Vector embeddings for AI/ML workloads
- Table Editor with CRUD
- SQL Editor for direct queries
- Database branching for previews
- MCP integration for Claude Code and Cursor
- Supabase Assistant for AI-guided development
- Unified Logs (open beta)
- Supabase Pipelines to BigQuery (public alpha)
- One-click Grafana Cloud integration
About Supabase
Supabase is the open-source Firebase alternative that bundles a full Postgres database with Authentication, Row Level Security, instant REST APIs, Realtime subscriptions, Edge Functions, File Storage, and Vector embeddings into one platform. It targets developers who want a production-ready backend without managing servers, from weekend MVPs to fintech-scale workloads. Every project runs a dedicated Postgres instance you can port anywhere, and you manage it all through a dashboard with Table Editor, SQL Editor, and RLS Policies. Recent releases extend the platform's observability and data-movement story. Unified Logs (open beta) consolidates logs from multiple sources, while Supabase Pipelines (public alpha) streams Postgres changes to BigQuery in near real time — both available on paid plans. A one-click Grafana Cloud integration with pre-built dashboards and alerting now ships on all plans, including free. These additions matter if you're running production apps and need deeper visibility. On the AI side, Supabase vector embeddings work with OpenAI and Hugging Face, and the Supabase Assistant plus MCP integration help you scaffold schemas and security in Claude Code or Cursor. Templates like the Stripe Subscriptions Starter and AI Chatbot get you from zero to deployed fast. Firecrawl switched from Pinecone to Supabase Vector, and Rally built a fully licensed fintech on it in three months. Compared to Firebase, Supabase offers a portable Postgres core with SQL flexibility and open-source transparency. Versus AWS or GCP, it abstracts infrastructure so you ship faster — build in a weekend, scale to millions.
Behind the Verdict
When you pick Supabase, you get a fully managed Postgres that feels like a cheat code for shipping. The dashboard alone — Table Editor, SQL Editor, RLS Policies — removes the tedious parts of backend work. A solo dev can go from zero to auth plus realtime in 20 minutes, which is rare in this space. The free tier is genuinely usable: 500 MB database, 50K MAUs, unlimited API requests. But remember, free projects pause after a week of inactivity, and you're capped at two active projects. If you outgrow it, Pro at $25/mo includes one Micro instance and 8 GB disk — solid value. Where Supabase bites: the Management API logs.all endpoint is deprecated, moving to a ClickHouse-backed logs endpoint that needs SQL tweaks. And extension version pinning is going away, so your scripts may need cleaning. These are housekeeping pains, not deal-breakers. On the observability front, Unified Logs and the Grafana Cloud integration are welcome but still maturing — Unified Logs is open beta, Pipelines is public alpha. If you need stable, battle-tested features today, weigh that. For comparison, Neon offers a leaner Postgres experience with branching, but Supabase bundles auth, storage, and edge functions that Neon doesn't. Firebase remains the choice if you're locked into NoSQL. In practice, Supabase shines for startups and indie hackers who want speed without lock-in. The open-source core means you can self-host if needed, though self-hosting isn't a one-click affair. Teams heavily invested in AWS/GCP native services may find migration friction, and pure document-store needs are better served elsewhere. Choose it when you want Postgres plus the batteries, skip it when you need guaranteed single-tenant or offline-first.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Supabase actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You need auth, a database, and a simple API for a small app without managing servers.
Outcome: Use the Supabase CLI to init a project, create a table with the SQL Editor, enable Row Level Security, and deploy an Edge Function. You'll have a working backend in under an hour with the free tier.
Your existing Firebase app has auth and Firestore, but you need SQL and more control.
Outcome: Follow Supabase's migration guides for Firebase Auth and Firestore to import users and data. Leverage Postgres RLS and realtime to replace Firestore listeners. You can test locally with the CLI and deploy to production in a weekend.
You need to store and search embeddings for an AI chatbot, and you're currently using Pinecone.
Outcome: Enable the pgvector extension in Supabase, store embeddings in a table, and use the built-in vector search. Integrate with OpenAI for generation. Firecrawl did exactly this and found Supabase more efficient and accurate.
Use Cases
- Build a real-time chat app with Auth and Realtime subscriptions
- Create a SaaS product with user sign-ups and row-level security
- Host and serve user-uploaded images with on-the-fly transformations
- Add vector search to an AI application using pgvector
- Develop a serverless API using Edge Functions and Postgres
- Migrate a Firebase app to an open-source Postgres stack
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-08-15
Limitations
- Free projects are paused after 1 week of inactivity.
- Limit of 2 active projects.
- Log retention is limited: 7 days on Pro, 28 days on Team.
- The Management API logs.all endpoint is deprecated; you must migrate to the new ClickHouse-backed logs endpoint by 23 September 2026.
as of 2026-08-01
Verification history
We have re-verified Supabase 16 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it, GitHub stars
Showing the 6 most recent of 16 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Supabase tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free
$0/mo
Ideal for
Passion projects, simple websites, and early-stage prototypes with up to 50K monthly active users and a small database.
What this tier adds
This is the starting tier with $0/month, unlimited API requests, 500 MB database, 1 GB storage, but only 2 active projects and community support.
Pro
$25/mo
Ideal for
Production applications ready to scale, with a budget for usage-based pricing and a need for email support.
What this tier adds
Adds daily backups, 7-day log retention, email support, and $10/month compute credits, but charges for extra MAUs, disk, and egress.
Team
$599/mo
Ideal for
Teams requiring SOC2/ISO 27001 compliance, SSO for the dashboard, and priority support.
What this tier adds
Adds SOC2 & ISO 27001, SSO, 14-day backups, 28-day log retention, and priority support with SLAs, at a higher base price.
Enterprise
Custom
Ideal for
Large-scale applications needing custom SLAs, dedicated support, and the ability to BYO cloud.
What this tier adds
Custom pricing, includes designated support manager, uptime SLAs, BYO Cloud, 24/7 premium support, private Slack channel, and custom security questionnaires.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Supabase's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Supabase's free tier is generous (50,000 MAU, 500 MB DB), and Pro starts at $25/mo with $10 compute credits. This beats Firebase's more opaque usage pricing for many startups. However, for very high scale, AWS Aurora or managed Postgres like Neon might be cheaper if you overuse Supabase's MAU and egress overages.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Supabase — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Most developers get a first project running in under 15 minutes using the quickstart guides for React, Next.js, or Flutter. Local development with the CLI and Docker may take an extra hour to configure. Migrating from Firebase can take a weekend depending on your schema.
Switching to or from Supabase
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Firebase: Use the official migration guides to import Auth users and Firestore data to Postgres tables.
- →From Heroku Postgres: Use pg_dump and pg_restore to migrate your database seamlessly.
- →From Neon: Use the migration guides to bring your Postgres schema and data without downtime.
- ↗To Neon: Since Supabase is just Postgres, you can pg_dump and pg_restore to Neon.
- ↗To Amazon RDS: Use standard Postgres migration tools.
- ↗To Vercel Postgres: Migrate using pg_dump and restore, though you lose Supabase-specific features like Realtime.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Documentationsupabase.com
Supabase Docs
Supabase is the Postgres development platform providing all the backend features you need to build a product.
- Quickstartsupabase.com
Getting Started
Resources for getting started with Supabase.
- Guidesupabase.com
Database
Use Supabase to manage your data.
- Guidesupabase.com
Auth
Use Supabase to Authenticate and Authorize your users.
- Guidesupabase.com
Storage
Use Supabase to store and serve files.
- Guidesupabase.com
Realtime
Send and receive messages to connected clients.
- Guidesupabase.com
Edge Functions
Globally distributed TypeScript functions.
- Guidesupabase.com
AI & Vectors
The best vector database is the database you already have.
Tutorials & Learning
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Frequently Asked Questions
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