Supabase has become a go-to “Postgres-first” backend for builders who want instant APIs, auth, realtime, and storage without giving up SQL or open-source flexibility. But the alternatives landscape is broader than “Firebase, but open source”: some teams want a full mobile app platform with analytics, crash reporting, and push baked in (Firebase), others want pure serverless Postgres with database branching and scale-to-zero cost dynamics (Neon), and some prefer a more visual or TypeScript-native backend model that optimizes for workflow speed and reactive apps (Xano, Convex). Appwrite sits in a different sweet spot for teams who want an open-source, self-hostable BaaS that can also bundle frontend hosting into the same console.
In evaluating Supabase alternatives, we looked at how each option balances developer experience with long-term scalability, how easy it is to get started (and to debug locally), and whether the platform stays “standard” enough to avoid lock-in. We also weighed the completeness of the stack (database, auth, functions, hosting, realtime, observability), pricing predictability, and the collaboration/governance features that start to matter as projects grow from solo prototypes into team-run production systems.