Supabase
activeby Supabase, Inc. · since 2020 · also known as Supabase Postgres
Open-source Postgres backend platform: database, auth, storage, realtime and edge functions in one project.
Overview
Supabase gives every project a dedicated PostgreSQL database plus the services most apps need around it: auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs (PostgREST, pg_graphql), authentication tied to Postgres row-level security, S3-compatible file storage, realtime change broadcasts, edge functions and pgvector for AI features. Because everything is plain Postgres, you can drop to SQL, use any extension it ships, or leave with pg_dump. It has become the default backend for AI app builders like Lovable and Bolt. The free plan pauses idle projects and caps databases at 500 MB. Horizontal write scaling is not yet available; Supabase's answer is Multigres, still in alpha.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Full Postgres with superuser-like access, extensions and no lock-in
- +Auth, storage, realtime and APIs integrated with row-level security
- +Instant REST and GraphQL APIs generated from the schema
- +pgvector and AI tooling built in for RAG apps
- +Fully open source and self-hostable with Docker
Trade-offs
- −Free projects pause after a week of inactivity and are small
- −No horizontal write scaling yet (Multigres is alpha)
- −Self-hosting the whole stack is complex compared with the hosted service
- −Row-level security policies are easy to get wrong, exposing data via the public API
Great for
- +MVPs and startups needing a complete backend quickly
- +AI-generated apps from Lovable, Bolt and similar builders
- +Mobile and web apps with auth and file uploads
- +Realtime collaborative features via Postgres changes
- +Semantic search with pgvector
Think twice for
- −Write volumes beyond a single large Postgres
- −Teams wanting only a bare database without platform services
- −Strict offline-first mobile sync
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 16 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- None
- Multi-region
- Read replicas
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Primary replica, Client server
- Query languages
- SQL, PL/pgSQL, GraphQL
One Postgres primary per project with vertical compute add-ons and read replicas in other regions; Multigres (alpha) is the planned sharding layer.
Deployment
available on · AWS · Vercel
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Supabase
Google's app platform: Firestore, Realtime Database and Data Connect, plus auth, functions and hosting.
supabase vs firebase →Serverless Postgres with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero, now part of Databricks.
supabase vs neon →Open-source backend platform with databases, auth, storage, functions and realtime, self-hosted or cloud.
supabase vs appwrite →Open-source backend in one Go binary: SQLite database, auth, files, realtime and admin UI.
supabase vs pocketbase →Reactive TypeScript backend with a transactional document database, server functions and live queries.
supabase vs convex →Serverless Postgres that makes tenants a first-class primitive, with per-tenant isolation and placement.
supabase vs nile →Supabase FAQ
What is Supabase?
Supabase is a relational database by Supabase, Inc., first released in 2020. Supabase gives every project a dedicated PostgreSQL database plus the services most apps need around it: auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs (PostgREST, pg_graphql), authentication tied to Postgres row-level security, S3-compatible file storage, realtime change broadcasts, edge functions and pgvector for AI features. Because everything is plain Postgres, you can drop to SQL, use any extension it ships, or leave with pg_dump. It has become the default backend for AI app builders like Lovable and Bolt. The free plan pauses idle projects and caps databases at 500 MB. Horizontal write scaling is not yet available; Supabase's answer is Multigres, still in alpha.
Is Supabase open source?
Yes. Supabase is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.
Does Supabase support ACID transactions?
Yes. Supabase supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does Supabase scale horizontally?
Supabase does not scale horizontally; it runs on a single node, so you scale it up rather than out. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB). It supports cross-region read replicas.
How can I run Supabase?
You can self-host it and use the vendor's managed cloud. Managed offerings include Supabase Cloud. It is available on AWS and Vercel.
What is Supabase best for?
Supabase is a strong fit for MVPs and startups needing a complete backend quickly; AI-generated apps from Lovable, Bolt and similar builders; and mobile and web apps with auth and file uploads. Think twice for write volumes beyond a single large Postgres.
What are the best alternatives to Supabase?
Common alternatives to Supabase include Firebase, Neon, Appwrite, PocketBase and Convex. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is Supabase?
Supabase ranks #23 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (54.3/100), and #7 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.