Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service (BaaS) built on top of PostgreSQL. It gives you a database, authentication, file storage, real-time subscriptions, and auto-generated APIs — all without writing backend code.

Think of it as the open-source alternative to Firebase, but with a real relational database instead of a document store.

What you get out of the box

PostgreSQL database — a full relational database with SQL support, joins, indexes, and constraints. Unlike Firebase’s Firestore, you’re not locked into a proprietary data model.

Authentication — email/password, magic links, OAuth (Google, GitHub, etc.), and phone auth. Supabase handles sessions, JWTs, and user management.

Auto-generated REST API — Supabase reads your database schema and generates a REST API automatically. Create a table, and you immediately have CRUD endpoints.

Real-time subscriptions — listen for database changes in real-time via WebSockets:

const supabase = createClient(url, key);

supabase
  .channel('messages')
  .on('postgres_changes', { event: 'INSERT', schema: 'public', table: 'messages' },
    (payload) => console.log('New message:', payload.new)
  )
  .subscribe();

File storage — upload and serve files (images, documents, videos) with built-in CDN and image transformations.

Edge Functions — serverless functions written in TypeScript/Deno that run close to your users.

Quick example

import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';

const supabase = createClient(
  'https://your-project.supabase.co',
  'your-anon-key'
);

// Read data
const { data: posts } = await supabase
  .from('posts')
  .select('*')
  .order('created_at', { ascending: false })
  .limit(10);

// Insert data
await supabase.from('posts').insert({ title: 'Hello', content: 'World' });

// Auth
await supabase.auth.signInWithOAuth({ provider: 'github' });

Supabase vs Firebase

	Supabase	Firebase
Database	PostgreSQL (relational)	Firestore (document)
Query language	SQL	Proprietary
Open source	Yes	No
Self-hosting	Yes	No
Pricing	Generous free tier	Pay-as-you-go
Vendor lock-in	Low (it’s just Postgres)	High

Supabase wins on data modeling flexibility and portability. Firebase wins on ecosystem maturity and mobile SDKs. For a detailed comparison, see Convex vs Supabase.

When to use Supabase

Good fit:

• Side projects and MVPs that need a backend fast
• Apps with relational data (users, posts, comments, orders)
• Real-time features (chat, notifications, live dashboards)
• Teams that want SQL and don’t want vendor lock-in

Not ideal:

• Apps that need complex server-side logic (you’ll outgrow Edge Functions)
• High-write workloads (PostgreSQL has limits compared to purpose-built databases)
• If you need full control over your infrastructure

Self-hosting

Since Supabase is open source, you can run it yourself with Docker:

git clone https://github.com/supabase/supabase
cd supabase/docker
cp .env.example .env
docker compose up

This gives you the full Supabase stack locally — useful for development or if you want to avoid the hosted service.

FAQ

Is Supabase free?

Supabase has a generous free tier that includes 500MB database storage, 1GB file storage, 50,000 monthly active users for auth, and 500MB bandwidth. For most side projects and MVPs, you won’t need to pay anything until you have real traction.

Can I use Supabase with React Native or Flutter?

Yes, Supabase has official client libraries for React Native, Flutter, Swift, and Kotlin. The real-time subscriptions, auth, and storage APIs all work on mobile exactly as they do on the web, making it a solid choice for cross-platform apps.

What happens if Supabase shuts down?

Since Supabase is built on standard PostgreSQL, your data is never locked in. You can export your database as a regular Postgres dump and move it to any other PostgreSQL host. You can also self-host the entire Supabase stack using Docker if you want full control.

Learn more

• What is an ORM? — how ORMs compare to Supabase’s approach
• What is a REST API? — the API pattern Supabase generates
• PostgreSQL cheat sheet — SQL reference for your Supabase database
• Docker complete guide — for self-hosting Supabase