Supabase

The open source Firebase alternative

5.0•769 reviews•

42K followers

The open source Firebase alternative

5.0•769 reviews•

42K followers

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Databases and backend frameworks

Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service that provides real-time databases, authentication, and API services. It enables developers to build and scale applications quickly without managing server infrastructure.

Supabase Reviews

The community submitted 769 reviews to tell us what they like about Supabase, what Supabase can do better, and more.

5.0

Based on 769 reviews

Review Supabase?

Reviewers broadly see Supabase as a fast, practical backend for shipping products, especially early on. The most repeated praise is the all-in-one mix of Postgres, auth, storage, realtime features, and strong developer experience, with many valuing open-source roots, easy setup, clear UI, and less lock-in than Firebase. Makers of CatDoes and QA.tech call it stable, reliable, and scalable in production. Main complaints are thinner documentation in spots, auth UX complexity, cold starts, free-tier limits, and a steep plan jump.

+772

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Pros

authentication features (58)

PostgreSQL integration (42)

easy setup (37)

scalable infrastructure (34)

developer experience (27)

real-time capabilities (27)

open source (24)

storage solutions (24)

fast performance (18)

seamless integration (17)

Cons

documentation gaps (3)

limited free tier (2)

Pros

Cons

FramerLaunch websites with enterprise needs at startup speeds.

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4.8(246 reviews)

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•19 reviews

What's great

fast performance (18)developer experience (27)easy setup (37)seamless integration (17)scalable infrastructure (34)authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)

Built a full marketplace as a solo founder on Supabase (auth, postgres, RLS, storage, edge functions, realtime, serverless webpages). I'd have needed a small backend team to wire all of that up myself. Postgres underneath means I'm never locked in and never fighting a custom DSL.

RLS in particular is the unlock, security policies live next to the data, not buried in middleware that drifts out of sync.

What needs improvement

limited free tier (2)

Edge function cold starts are still slower than I'd like for user-facing calls. The dashboard's SQL editor is good but loses your unsaved query if you accidentally navigate away, would love a draft auto-save,

Oh, and the pricing jump from Pro to Enterprise is steep for solo founders who outgrow the free tier but don't need a whole org plan yet a middle "indie" tier would be welcome.

vs Alternatives

Firebase

Looked at Firebase (no SQL, vendor lock-in), Pocketbase (single binary is great but no managed scaling), and rolling my own on raw Postgres +Hasura + custom auth.

Supabase wins because it gives you real Postgres with the production wiring already done, but doesn't hide the database

behind an opinion. Migrations are SQL files. Queries are SQL.

If I ever leave, I leave with my data and schema intact

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

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30 views16d ago

•2 reviews

What's great

fast performance (18)easy setup (37)real-time capabilities (27)authentication features (58)self-hosting option (5)

Running Supabase locally feels like having a full backend “starter kit” living right next to your code.

I spin it up and suddenly I’ve got Postgres, auth, file storage, and realtime all running together, plus a clean web dashboard so I’m not wrestling with random containers or config files. It still feels like my stack though - it’s just Postgres and open-source services under the hood, so there’s no weird lock-in or mystery billing later.

For side projects and experiments, local Supabase has basically become my default backend: I start it, point my app at it, and I’m off building features instead of wiring up yet another database + auth + storage combo.

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Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

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174 views6mo ago

•1 review

Supabase is an excellent alternative to Firebase, offering a robust set of features like real-time databases, authentication, and storage with a more open-source approach. One thing to note, though, is that apps may get suspended after a period of inactivity (like a week), which can be resolved by triggering a simple read request to reactivate the service. Overall, I’ve used Supabase in several freelancing projects and have been impressed by its scalability and ease of integration—great for both small and large applications.

What's great

open source (24)seamless integration (17)scalable infrastructure (34)real-time capabilities (27)authentication features (58)storage solutions (24)

What needs improvement

suspension after inactivity (1)

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121 views1yr ago

•3 reviews

I've always been drawn to MongoDB for its ease of schema updates in tables, but performance issues have been a constant challenge. However, Supabase allows for table updates just as swiftly while retaining all the advantages of PostgreSQL. The time required to deploy a new API has been reduced from several hours to just a few minutes. I can no longer imagine developing applications without Supabase.

What's great

PostgreSQL integration (42)automatic API generation (2)

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63 views2yr ago

•3 reviews

It's such a solid environment to work in. Because, even at this stage, there's a lot of things you can have going at one time, they should do more to support the UX by helping the user understand how changes in one place can impact another service they may have running. Overall though, I feel like I'm working smarter (not just working more easily) when I'm using it.

What's great

developer experience (27)

What needs improvement

documentation gaps (3)

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57 views8mo ago

•11 reviews

Awesome product with great support. Especially useful in the beginning stages of a product. They provide so many things out-of-the-box: authentication, file storage, etc. When a project grows, I find myself replacing some supabase's pre-built solutions with custom solutions. Even then, it holds up great, as it's just a Postgres database under the hood.

What's great

responsive support (5)authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)storage solutions (24)

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53 views1yr ago

•11 reviews

Especially useful in the beginning stages of a product. They provide so many things out-of-the-box: authentication, file storage, etc. When a project grows, I find myself replacing some supabase's pre-built solutions with custom solutions. Even then, it holds up great, as it's just a Postgres database under the hood.

What's great

authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)storage solutions (24)

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49 views1yr ago

•10 reviews

What's great

authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)storage solutions (24)

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46 views1yr ago

•10 reviews

What's great

authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)storage solutions (24)

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43 views1yr ago

•3 reviews

What's great

Postgres, auth, and storage with zero infrastructure management burden. User friendly and intuitive with great docs.

What needs improvement

Solves a lot of problems for us, would be hard to think of a better product offering.

vs Alternatives

Modern backend that’s quick to spin up and easy to maintain.

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

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59 views6mo ago

used Supabase to build ClawSecure

•8 reviews

What's great

fast performance (18)developer experience (27)open source (24)easy setup (37)seamless integration (17)scalable infrastructure (34)real-time capabilities (27)authentication features (58)PostgreSQL integration (42)storage solutions (24)

Supabase is incredible, and not just because of the product's utility and features. What sets it apart is how accessible the entire experience is. The UI, the configuration, the documentation. Everything is designed so that even non-technical teams can navigate it without needing an engineer on call. We use Supabase as our database layer at ClawSecure and it's been one of the most reliable pieces of our stack. Being able to jump into the dashboard, inspect data, manage tables, and configure settings without writing raw SQL every time is a genuine productivity unlock. Supabase removes a barrier that most database tools don't even acknowledge exists.

vs Alternatives

It was an easy choice. UX, costs, and customer service are incredible

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58 views1mo ago

used Supabase to build ClawSecure

•8 reviews

Supabase has been one of the standout pieces of our stack. The product itself is excellent, but what really sets it apart is how accessible the whole experience feels — the UI, the configuration, the documentation. Everything is designed so that even non-technical operators can navigate it confidently without needing an engineer on call. We use Supabase as the database layer at ClawSecure, and it's been remarkably reliable. The ability to jump into the dashboard, inspect data, manage tables, and configure settings without writing raw SQL every time has been a genuine productivity unlock for how we move. Supabase quietly removes a barrier most database tools don't even acknowledge exists, and that lowered friction shows up everywhere; faster iteration, fewer blockers, more time spent on the actual product.

Alternatives Considered

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2 views3d ago

used Supabase to build Socrati instead of Firebase

•5 reviews

Picked Supabase over Firebase because I needed proper Postgres with row-level security on every user table — RLS meant I never wrote a single auth-check function in my edge code. Deno edge functions gave me a clean place to proxy Gemini calls with server-enforced usage caps. Six months in, the entire backend is one Supabase project.

Alternatives Considered

Firebase

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4 views4d ago